By the early 1980s, artists had too much freedom to express themselves through sound. The consequences of avant-garde experimentalism were…
Computer scientist Alan Kay once noted, “Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody…
Western music is built around concepts of melody and harmony - the idea that one form of sonic expression should…
Many define “jazz” as the meeting of African rhythms and European harmonies. In a sense, this narrative is accurate -…
The process of mining - digging deep into the earth to find an essential material - dates back at least…
Far too often, people tend to compartmentalize and localize matters of concern. However, such an approach minimizes the true scale…
In the late 1850s, two decades before Thomas Edison’s phonograph, French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville created the first sound…
Western literature has long noted the disconnection between perception and reality. In 1175, French monk Alain de Lille "Do not…
We continue our conversation with Fred Frith (read part one here) with a focus on his work with homemade instruments,…
When first learning about music, students are often taught to classify instruments by their sound. In the abstract, this basic…