Music

Algorithmic music appears to be at a turning point in its history, with many new systems and communities of practice developing together, as vibrant musical culture. This handbook brings together dozens of leading researchers and practitioners in the field, blending technical, artistic, cultural and scientific viewpoints into a whole that considers the making of algorithmic music as a rich, and essentially human activity. The book is organised into four sections, the first grounding the topic in the history, philosophy and psychology of algorithmic music. The second section asks 'what can algorithms in music do?', finding answers in computer science, mathematics, machine learning, bio-inspired computation, manipulation of pattern, computational creativity, and live coding. The third section focuses on the music maker, and the role of algorithms in supporting network music, sonification, music interface design, music in computer games, and spatialisation. The final section opens out to culture at large, and considers algorithmic music in terms of its audience reception, sociology, education, politics and the potential for mass consumption. Perhaps just as importantly, these sections are interleaved with reflective pieces from leading practitioners in the field, allowing us to to grasp the pragmatics of making music with algorithms. Combined, these diverse standpoints provide an absorbing, authoritative survey of research and practice from across the algorithmic music field.

Twenty-four ethnomusicologists from eleven countries (Australia` Austria, Canada, China, Finland, Malaysia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States), balanced in age and gender, have contributed to our Handbook. The chapters, all newly written for this volume, theorize applied ethnomusicology, offer histories, and detail practical examples, with the goal of stimulating further development in the field. Some authors present contrasting case studies that encompass two or more mutually distant places. Some discuss circumstances within their own geopolitical (state) unit, while others base their arguments on their research in faraway countries. Themes and locations of their research projects in applied ethnomusicology encompass literally all world continents. The variety of views, approaches, and methodologies contributes to the strength of the volume. Most of the chapters consider marginalized peoples and communities, their low status being based on ethnicity, economy, or caste affiliation. The addressed themes encompass a considerable range, from indigenous peoples and immigrants to conflict, education, archives, health, and the music industry, as well as advocacy, decolonization, activism, peace and conflict studies, ecology, sustainability, public folklore, and participatory action research. This volume can be understood as an applied ethnomusicology project: as a medium of getting to know the thoughts and experiences of global ethnomusicologists, of enriching general knowledge and understanding about ethnomusicologies and applied ethnomusicologies in various parts of the world, and of inspiring readers as well as other ethnomusicologists, all in a shared attempt to put the accumulated knowledge, understanding, and skills into good use for the betterment of our world.

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online. For more information, please read the site FAQs.

This volume of the handbook addresses music education practice and technology in 37 chapters written by fifty three leading experts from across the world. The volume is divided into three sections and closes with an epilogue. Part 1, “Music Assessment in the United States,” presents a review of legislation and case law, national assessment trends, and state-level assessment programs in eight states. Part 2, “Assessment of Student Music Learning,” covers the practice of assessment in early childhood, special needs, primary, and secondary music classrooms and ensembles. Part 3, “Assessment and Music Technology,” covers policy and practice for technologically assisted music assessment, and details technical issues related to computerized assessment of music performance. The epilogue brings the handbook to a close with a review of the state of the art of music assessment, and introduces the International Principles of Assessment in Music Education.

The Oxford Handbook of Children's Musical Cultures is a compendium of perspectives on children and their musical engagements as singers, dancers, players, and avid listeners. Over the course of 35 chapters, contributors from around the world provide an interdisciplinary enquiry into the musical lives of children in a variety of cultures, and their role as both preservers and innovators of music. Drawing on a wide array of fields from ethnomusicology and folklore to education and developmental psychology, the chapters presented in this handbook provide windows into the musical enculturation, education, and training of children, and the ways in which they learn, express, invent, and preserve music. Offering an understanding of the nature, structures, and styles of music preferred and used by children from toddlerhood through childhood and into adolescence, The Oxford Handbook of Children's Musical Cultures is an important step forward in the study of children and music.

This text explores varied perspectives on teaching, learning, and performing choral music. Authors are academic scholars and researchers as well as active choral conductors. Topics include music programming and the selection of repertoire; the exploration of singer and conductor identity; choral traditions in North America, Western Europe, South America, and Africa; and the challenges conductors meet as they work with varied populations of singers. Chapters consider children’s choirs, world music choirs, adult community choirs, gospel choirs, jazz choirs, professional choruses, collegiate glee clubs, and choirs that meet the needs of marginalized singers. Those who contributed chapters discuss a variety of theoretical frameworks including critical pedagogy, constructivism, singer and conductor agency and identity, and the influences of popular media on the choral art. The text is not a “how to” book. While it may be appropriate in various academic courses, the intention is not to explain how to conduct or to organize a choral program. While there is specific information about vocal development and vocal health, it is not a text on voice science. Instead, the editors and contributing authors intend that the collection serve as a resource to inform, provoke, and evoke discourse and dialogue concerning the complexity of pedagogy in the domain of the choral art.

The Oxford Handbook of Community Music captures the vibrant, dynamic, and diverse approaches that characterize community music across the world. The chapters give a comprehensive review of achievements in the field to date, providing a ‘go-to’ volume that both deepens our understanding of what community music does and what it might become. The Handbook also looks to the future and charts new areas that are likely to define the field in the coming decades, such as social justice, political activism, peacemaking, health and well-being, and online engagement with music in community contexts, to mention a few. It features established and emerging practices of scholars and practitioners whose work crosses boundaries between theoretical development, practical engagement, and music-making. The volume features a diversity of topics and approaches, structured in five parts: Contexts; Transformations; Politics; Intersections; and Education. The wealth of insights and thought-provoking pieces will serve as a sounding board for the field now and well into the twenty-first century.

The Oxford Handbook of Computer Music offers a cross-section of field-defining topics and debates in computer music. It situates computer music in the broad context of its creation and performance across the range of issues—from music cognition to pedagogy to sociocultural topics—that shape discourse in the field. Fifty years after musical tones were produced on a computer for the first time, developments in laptop computing have brought computer music within reach of all listeners and composers. Production and distribution of computer music have grown tremendously as a result. An international array of music creators and academics discuss computer music's history, present, and future with a wide perspective, including composition, improvisation, interactive performance, spatialization, sound synthesis, sonification, and modeling. Throughout, they merge practice with theory to offer an insight into computer music's possibilities and enduring appeal.

Now in its sixth decade, country music studies is a thriving field of inquiry involving scholars working in the fields of American history, folklore, sociology, anthropology, musicology, ethnomusicology, cultural studies, and geography, among many others. Covering issues of historiography and practice as well as the ways in which the genre interacts with media and social concerns such as class, gender, and sexuality, The Oxford Handbook of Country Music interrogates prevailing narratives, explores significant lacunae in the current literature, and provides guidance for future research. More than simply treating issues that have emerged within this subfield, The Oxford Handbook of Country Music works to connect to broader discourses within the various fields that inform country music studies in an effort to strengthen the area’s interdisciplinarity. Drawing on the expertise of leading and emerging scholars, this Handbook presents an introduction into the historiographical narratives and methodological issues that have emerged in country music studies’ first half-century.

Music Theory operates with a host of technical terms for concepts that appear straightforward but that conceal layers of complexity. This collection uncovers some of the richness and intricacy of these terms. Using a range of methods, from philosophical and historical contextualizations to cognitive and systematic approaches, and across a range of repertories, these essays aim to convey a fuller understanding of the terms music theorists employ every day in teaching and research. In so doing, the collection provides a panoramic view of the contemporary music-theoretical landscape, offering new perspectives on established concepts, seeking to expanding their purview to new repertories, and adding new concepts to the theorist’s toolkit. Taken as a whole, the concepts collected in this volume spotlight some of the guiding questions of music theory as it is currently practiced in the English-speaking world; they seek to broaden its foundational conversations to underline the ways in which music theory itself is evolving.