Making Their Computers Sing

Technology now makes it possible for us to write and perform music without a single piano or trombone or cello or flute or drum — and the only keyboard involved is one attached to a computer.

In the new Upper School course Engineering, Ethics, and Entertainment, our students are transferring music from the physical stage to the digital one.

Victoria Ng ’23, for example, has played the piano for years, but the course helped her to write a composition that also features guitar, trumpets, and drums.

“It was so much fun experimenting,” Victoria says. “The instruments and note progressions occasionally reflected my favorite songs. I would say that I was definitely inspired by my favorite songs, which are all by Harry Styles.”

Performing Arts Chair Edel Thomas says the 10-week elective grew out of Engineering and the Arts, a class in which students create visual art through computer programming. In collaboration with the Computer Science Department, Edel helped to realize this new course.

The class also considers ethical questions about the nature of music: What exactly establishes ownership when every composer uses the same 12 notes? What is the line between inspiration and appropriation?

Students then set to writing compositions through the JFugue programming library, based on the Java language, which makes virtual instruments sound like the real thing. In their final assignment, the class produced true music, with melody, a rhythmic groove, and various timbres.

“This course let me build off my musical knowledge,” Victoria says, “to succeed in engineering, an area I’ve long wanted to pursue.”

“Their final projects were outstanding,” says Ms. Thomas. “I’m thrilled to have this class expand their notion of what can be done musically.”

This article appeared in the winter 2022 issue of Kent Place magazine.