Constructing Music: Musical Explorations in Creative Coding

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Teresa M. Nakra (Professor of Music, Design, and Creative Technology, Professor of Music, Design, and Creative Technology, The College of New Jersey)

Constructing Music

Musical Explorations in Creative Coding

Teresa M. Nakra (Professor of Music, Design, and Creative Technology, Professor of Music, Design, and Creative Technology, The College of New Jersey)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
24 February 2025

Techniques of music & music tutorials; Music recording & reproduction; Acoustic & sound engineering

"Why does music exert such a strong pull on us? How does it work? Traditional courses in music fundamentals give students a basic understanding of the building blocks of music and how to put them together to make a result that produces an intended effect. Constructing Music: Musical Explorations in Creative Coding takes students a step further: through a series of step-by-step tutorials and lessons, author Teresa M. Nakra presents a new method for teaching music fundamentals that foregrounds creative coding practices and builds upon the computing skills that today's students already possess. By encouraging experimentation with computer code, this book gives students tools to actively investigate, simulate, and engage with the structure of music, ultimately leading to greater understanding about the processes that underlie music's power over us.

Designed to support computer-based learning in tonal harmony, musicianship, and music theory, Constructing Music avoids the lens of Western music notation and instead explains music content through analogies with toy bricks and references ideas from creative technology, engineering, and design. Students also engage directly with the components of musical structure using editable short code ""patches"" developed in Max, a visual coding environment for interactive music, audio, and media. Dozens of patches accompany the book and allow readers to play with the building blocks of sound, reinforcing each topic by tinkering, modifying, and creating their own versions of the material. Each chapter explains core music theory concepts in detail and supports every description through code simulations, progressing through the topics with increasing complexity. In the final chapter, Nakra explores the questions and theories that emerge from the lessons, considering the role of music as a proto-form of AI and its impacts on emotion, wellness, and creativity."

By: Teresa M. Nakra (Professor of Music Design and Creative Technology Professor of Music Design and Creative Technology The College of New Jersey)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 244mm, Width: 185mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 431g
ISBN: 9780197669204
ISBN 10: 0197669204
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 24 February 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dedication Foreword Preface Acknowledgements About the Companion Website Introduction 1 Tutorials 2 Building Blocks 3 Pitch-based Structures 4 Time-based Structures 5 Finer Granularities 6 Reflections Glossary Index

Teresa M. Nakra is Professor of Music, Design, and Creative Technology at The College of New Jersey, where she coordinates Music Technology activities. She is a recipient of the Doris Cohen Levi Prize, the David McCord Prize, the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship, and research fellowships from IBM, Motorola, and Interval Research Corporation. Nakra has designed interactive music systems for museums, music festivals, and concert halls across the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Reviews for Constructing Music: Musical Explorations in Creative Coding

"""Nakra presents a wonderful conception-that the building blocks of music theory and computational thinking can be (and should be!) learned in tandem. Using Max/MSP as the programming language, Nakra guides the reader through clear tutorials, grounded explanations, and easily digestible examples of musical structures, algorithms, and the mathematical reasoning that binds them together."" -- Eran Egozy, co-founder of Harmonix (creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band); Professor of the Practice in Music Technology, MIT"