NYC Gazette

Some fans of electronic music, drawn by the heavy bass of London's hyperdub or the slick synths of American hyperpop, may not have considered the genre's global origins or its cultural ties to Africa, Jamaica, and New York City. However, students in "Global Electronic Music I" explore these roots as part of their studies.

Delia Martinez, a producer, composer, and DJ who teaches the course, explains: “A lot of electronic music is invented somewhere, but then because of politics, economics, or marketing, it gets appropriated, reinvented, and sold as something else.” The course allows students to study these transformations and use them creatively in their own work.

Offered by the Music Technology Program at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, "Global Electronic Music I" integrates history with technology. Students engage in musical analysis to understand rhythm and harmony while also participating in hands-on production tasks. “We do musical analysis that helps students think about rhythm and harmony," says Martinez.

In one class session, Martinez reviewed an assignment requiring students to incorporate elements they typically dislike into their compositions. She demonstrated this process using her digital audio workstation while offering practical advice: “Pro-tip: Always label and save these experiments,” she said.

Throughout the semester, Martinez organizes material geographically. She presents sounds from New York to Japan to expand students' references. “The global focus widens their scope of references,” she notes.

By semester's end, students will have mastered electronic music production through assignments on improvisation and acoustic analysis. Their final project includes a three-minute piece shared during a classroom concert.

Martinez highlights that the course's multidisciplinary approach attracts diverse students—from musicians to those fulfilling history requirements—emphasizing creativity as its core output. “It reaches across multiple disciplines," she states. "But the main output of the class is creative."