Creative Music Making

Most musicians focus on learning technique (learning how to play an instrument), rather than on developing an individual, unique voice. Creative Music Making focuses on the creative development of musicians from all levels of experience and in all styles of music. Based on the author's experience leading workshops for performers around the world, the easy-to-follow exercises in this text will enable any musician--from beginner to professional--to improve creativity and self-expression. Creative Music Making will open the ears of all musicians, vocalists or instrumentalists, in classical, popular, or jazz styles, to a world of new possibilities.

Children's Creative Music-Making with Reflexive Interactive Technology discusses pioneering experiments conducted with young children using a new generation of music software for improvising and composing. Using artificial intelligence techniques, this software captures the children’s musical style and interactively reflects it in its responses. The book describes the potential of these applications to enhance children’s agency and musical identity by reflecting players’ musical inputs, storing and creating variations on them. Set in the broader context of current music education research, it addresses the benefits and challenges of incorporating music technologies in primary and pre-school education. It is comprised of six main chapters, which cover the creation of children's own music and their musical selves, critical thinking skills and learner agency, musical language development, and emotional intent during creative music-making. The authors provide a range of straight-forward techniques and strategies, which challenge conceptions of ‘difficult-to-use music technologies’ in formal music education. These are supported by an informative collection of practitioner vignettes written by teachers who have used the software in their classrooms. Not only are the teachers’ voices heard here, but also those of children as they discover some of the creative possibilities of music making. The book also provides free access to a companion website with teacher forums and a large bank of activities to explore. A toolkit serves as a database of the teaching activities in which MIROR applications have been used and provides a set of useful ideas regarding its future use in a variety of settings. This book demonstrates that music applications based on artificial intelligence techniques can make an important contribution to music education within primary and pre-school education. It will be of key interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of music education, music technology, early years and primary education, teaching and learning, and teacher educators. It will also serve as an important point of reference for Early Years and Primary practitioners.

"Hand-held mobile devices such as iPads, tablets, or smartphones hold potential for creative music making experiences within P-12 and higher education contexts. Yet, navigating this technology and associated apps while embracing pedagogical change can be a daunting task. Creative Music Making at Your Fingertips explores the enormous potential of one rather small technological device to transform the music making experiences of students. In this book the authors provide evidence, ideas, and examples of the role that mobile technology, such as an iPad, tablet, or other hand-held device plays in the development of musical thinking and musical engagement of our students--in- or outside of school. The promise of mobile devices for music education lies in their possibilities. In this book and on the companion website, the authors share strategies that will spark your imagination to explore digital musicianship and the use of mobile devices for your students' musical engagement"--

How do you take the sounds you imagine in your head and make them come out of the speakers? Making Sound takes some different but very effective perspectives on learning to use the tools at hand to create the sounds you want. Following these techniques and philosophies will help bridge the gap between the tools you use and the ideas in your head. Apart from the more in-depth topics in the 19 chapters there are 95 short inspiring tips and tricks that you can reference and use while creating music. Making Sound is philosophical at times, highly practical and packed with actionable tips, tricks and creative techniques. The content is designed to give you new ideas and perspecitves to help you fuel your creativity and ultimately make the techniques your own. The second edition also includes interviews with some top music industry professionals that reveil their processes for the first time. The topics in the book include: Use common tools to create different moods and textures Make virtual instruments sound realistic Advanced sound design Ways to become more productive The secret of contrast in mixing and composition Techniques to get the low end of the mix perfect The art of arrangement Create compelling and exciting grooves Create different kinds of space in a mix How to "glue" a mix Techniques for dealing with stress Essential music theory for composers and producers Ways to overcome digital "sterility" or harshness Dealing with clients What do people in the industry say about the book? "This book will open your eyes!" - Joey Sturgis, legendary music producer "You've got to check this book out!" - iZotope "This opened my eyes more than once! Absolute must-read." - Chris Leon, Your Music Radio "He has a way of presenting things that makes you want to immediately open your DAW and start experimenting." - Dan Comerchero, founder of The Pro Audio Files "A really great practical book that asks the question 'Why?'" - Brian Funk, Music Production Podcast

Students are drawn to mobile technologies such as iPads and smartphones because of the sheer endless possibilities of the digital worlds they hold. But how can their potential for stimulating the imagination be effectively used in the music classroom to support students' development of musical thinking? Countering voices that see digital technologies as a threat to traditional forms of music making and music education, this collection explores the many ways in which hand-held devices can be used to promote student learning and provides teachers with guidance on making them a vital presence in their own classrooms. Creative Music Making at Your Fingertips features 11 chapters by music education scholars and practitioners that provide tried-and-true strategies for using mobile devices in a variety of contexts, from general music education to ensembles and from K-12 to college classrooms. Drawing on their own experiences with bringing mobile devices and different music apps into the classroom, contributors show how these technologies can be turned into tools for teaching performance, improvisation, and composition. Their practical advice on how pedagogy and mobile technologies can be aligned to increase students' creative engagement with music and help them realize their musical potential makes this book an invaluable resource for music educators who want to be at the forefront of pedagogical transformations made possible by 21st-century technologies.

'Musicians in the Making' explores the creative development of musicians in formal and informal learning contexts. It promotes a novel view of creativity, arguing that creative learning is a complex, lifelong process. Sixteen extended chapters by leading experts are featured alongside ten 'insights' by internationally prominent performers and teachers.

Teach Your Students How to Use Computing to Explore Powerful and Creative Ideas In the twenty-first century, computers have become indispensable in music making, distribution, performance, and consumption. Making Music with Computers: Creative Programming in Python introduces important concepts and skills necessary to generate music with computers. It interweaves computing pedagogy with musical concepts and creative activities, showing students how to integrate the creativity and design of the arts with the mathematical rigor and formality of computer science. The book provides an introduction to creative software development in the Python programming language. It uses innovative music-creation activities to illustrate introductory computer programming concepts, including data types, algorithms, operators, iteration, lists, functions, and classes. The authors also cover GUIs, event-driven programming, big data, sonification, MIDI programming, client–server programming, recursion, fractals, and complex system dynamics. Requiring minimal musical or programming experience, the text is designed for courses in introductory computer science and computing in the arts. It helps students learn computer programming in a creative context and understand how to build computer music applications. Also suitable for self-study, the book shows musicians and digital music enthusiasts how to write music software and create algorithmic music compositions. Web Resource A supplementary website (http://jythonMusic.org) provides a music library and other software resources used in the text. The music library is an extension of the jMusic library and incorporates other cross-platform programming tools. The website also offers example course and associated media resources.