University of Massachusetts Lowell
Depts. of Music and Computer Science
Depts. of Music and Computer Science
Computational Thinking through Computing and Music
an interdisciplinary NSF TUES project
The UMass Lowell Depts. of Music and Computer Science
are pleased to offer a series of
interdisciplinary Performamatics workshops
on Computational Thinking through Computing and Music. The purpose
of this workshop is to share our techniques and materials and to provide
an environment in which other pairs of professors can work together to
develop interdisciplinary relationships and materials of their own
to use in courses at their “home” institutions.
Participants’ comments on our workshops
The workshop will demonstrate assignments and activities that we use in our Sound Thinking course, soundthinking.uml.edu. This is a “General Education” course listed in both the Dept. of Computer Science and the Dept. of Music. Students in the Arts earn Technology credit, while those in the Sciences earn Arts & Humanities credit.
In addition to exploring our work, you will develop assignments and course materials targeted to your own courses at your own institutions. Other participants will try out and review materials that you develop, and you will likewise try out and review theirs.
Sample activities include:
- creating compositions from digitized sounds,
- flowcharting songs,
- sequencing sounds algorithmically,
- coding songs as lists in such a way that they can be easily transposed, and
- prototyping physical interfaces for music making.
Workshop participants are required to attend in interdisciplinary pairs, preferably from the same institution. This will ensure that the workshop itself models interdisciplinary collaboration and produces outcomes that connect directly to participants’ own situations. We welcome professors and instructors from 2- and 4-year colleges. High school teachers should contact the instructors to attend by special arrangement.
We no longer offer public workshops because our National Science Foundation funding is now over. If you would like to schedule a private workshop for yourself and your colleagues, please email Jesse Heines at Jesse_Heines@uml.edu or Gena Greher at Gena_Greher@uml.edu. Thank you.
Jesse Heines is a Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at UMass Lowell with a strong interest in the power of music to engage students and help them learn computing concepts as they explore music applications. He is now retired, but he taught courses on graphical user interfaces, web programming, and C++.
Gena Greher is a Professor of Music Education at UMass Lowell. Her research focuses on creativity and listening skill development in children and examining the influence of integrating multimedia technology into urban music classrooms and in the music teacher education curriculum.
S. Alex Ruthmann is an Associate Professor of Music Education and Music Technology at New York University. His research explores social/digital media musicianship and creativity and the development of technologies for music learning, teaching, and engagement in schools and community-based arts+computing programs.
Please contact:
- Jesse Heines — Jesse_Heines@uml.edu — 1-978-821-9626
- Gena Greher — Gena_Greher@uml.edu — 1-978-934-3893
- Alex Ruthmann — Alex.Ruthmann@nyu.edu — 1-212-998-5607