While science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is still a dominant paradigm in contemporary society, many people are engaging in STEAM (STEM with the arts included) in a robust manner. President Obama’s recent announcement of a Computer Science for All initiative (and $4 billion in funding) is an important development in STEM education as well as the potential for a larger presence of STEAM in instances where the arts might otherwise be absent.
CS For All and related initiatives provide music educators with an opportunity to take a lead role in identifying the potential for STEAM and substantive connections between music engagement, teaching, and learning and computer science.
Creating music with programming and code is just one approach to having people engage with aspects of STEAM and make connections to computer science. Alex Ruthmann, Gena Greher, and Jesse Heins have made significant inroads to demonstrating how music can be a context for computational thinking through their NSF-funded Performamatics program.
In the UK, Pamela Burnard is also engaging in some interesting work with Sonic pi as a means of connecting music and coding. VJ Manzo and Will Kuhn’s book [affiliate links] Interactive composition: Strategies using Ableton Live and Max for Live or Manzo’s book Max/MSP/Jitter for Music: A Practical Guide to Developing Interactive Music Systems for Education and More (there’s a 2nd edition on the way) also provides a great starting point for exploring the potential of coding, programming, musical engagement, and learning.
Here’s a recent example of how people can create (in this case arrange and perform) music with code (you can even read a discussion regarding the code’s and music’s accuracy in the associated YouTube comment section):
Consider reading Sébastien Rannou’s detailed and informative account of his process to re-create Daft Punk’s Aerodynamic through programming with Sonic Pi.
You can also listen to and observe Sonic Pi‘s Sam Aaron and Ben Smith jam with guitar and live programming:
It’s up to music educators to engage in the curricular, pedagogical, and philosophical inquiry and dialogue to better understand the implications of this type of engagement and how to situate coding in relation to music teaching and learning and musical engagement in relation to computational thinking/coding/programming/computer science teaching and learning. The arts and music education can likely have a place in CS For All and vice versa. I’m excited about related work taking place through the Consortium for Innovation and Transformation in Music Education‘s (CITME) Music, Science, and Society initiative at Arizona State University.
We love hearing from music educators interested in connecting music education, STEM, and STEAM! Feel free to contact me about the potential to partner, collaborate, or even join our music education community to take part in related initiatives at Arizona State University!
Hi. I’m a computer science professor at a liberal arts college in Maryland with an undergraduate degree in music education. I’m developing a course for undergraduate students of varying majors about computer music and I have found numerous materials and books to help me develop this course. The one thing that I find lacking is a significant anthology of recorded computer generated music for listening and demonstration of what’s possible with todays technology. Might you know of a source of content that shows a range of computer music genres. Anything with accompanying code would be extremely helpful. Thanks for reading.