Music 356 / CS 470
| Winter 2024
Music and AI
—A Critical-Making Course—
Stanford University
Ge Wang
and
Andrew Zhu
Aday (TA)
syllabus |
code |
GLOG |
gallery
class: TTh 10:30am-12:20pm
location:
CCRMA classroom (the Knoll)
prerequisites:1-2+ year of programming;
no prior AI (or music) experience needed;
completion of Music 256a/CS 476a or
Music 220b is recommended but not
necessary;
(the most important prerequsite: willingness to show up with some heart
and compassion)
supplemental text:
Artful Design: Technology in Search of the Sublime
(ISBN: 978-1503600522)
enrollment:
This is an introductory course on music and AI. No prior experience with
AI needed. Instructor consent is needed to enroll. If interested,
please email the instructor (ge/at/ccrma.stanford.edu) as early as
possible (starting week of enrollment in November 2023).
Please briefly note 1) why you are interested in taking this course,
2) something you are curious about—and something you are genuinely
worried about, when it comes to AI and music, and 3) which course
designation you'd like to enroll in (Music356 or CS470). If
accepted, you will receive a permission number to enroll in the
course.
course summary:
How do we make music with artificial intelligence? What does it mean to do
so (and is it even a good idea)? How might we artfully design tools and
systems that balance machine automation and human interaction? More
broadly, how do we want to live with our technologies? Are there—and ought
there be—limits to using AI for art? (And what is Art, anyway?) In this
"critical making" course, students will learn practical tools and
techniques for AI-mediated music creation, engineer software systems
incorporating AI, HCI and Music, and critically reflect on the aesthetic
and ethical dimensions of technology.
Coursework will span the practical ("how?"), the philosophical ("why?"),
and the social ("for whom?"). Students will use these techniques and
lenses to think as broadly as possible about the implications of AI in our
world, and to design interactive AI tools that keep human judgment in the
loop. Through these exercises, we will explore AI might augment, not
replace, human creativity.
teaching philosophy
We, the instructors, firmly believe that anyone can learn anything to
which they put their earnest effort and thought. In this course, we also
believe the answers to questions are secondary and sometimes even
irrelevant. What truly matters here are the thoughtfulness of the
questions we frame and the effort we put into the craft of designing
things. Above all, our aim is for each student to acquire for themselves
both “things to create with” and “things to think with” as tools that will
stay and grow with them for years to come.
GDoc/Glossary Log (GLOG)
assignments:
- programming etude #1:
"Poets of
Sound and Time"
due date: 2024.1.17, Wednesday, 11:59:59pm (extended 48 hours)
in-class reading: 2024.1.23 Tuesday |
in-class feedback
- programming project #2:
"Featured
Artist"
milestone: 2024.1.31, Monday, 11:59:59pm | in-class
feedback
final deliverables: 2024.2.5, Monday, 11:59:59pm (extended 48
hours)
in-class presentations: 2024.2.8, Thursday | in-class
feedback
- programming etude #3:
"Wekinate
Your World"
checkpoint: 2024.2.21, Wednesday, 11:59:59pm | in-class
feedback
final deliverables: 2024.2.26, Monday, 11:59:59pm
in-class presentation: 2024.2.27 Tuesday |
in-class feedback
- final project:
"Escape from
the Turing Trap"
milestone: 2024.3.11 Monday, 11:59:59pm | in-class feedback
final deliverables: 2024.3.21, Thursday, noon
final presentation: 2024.3.21, Thursday, 3:30pm |
in-class feedback
CCRMA |
Music Department
|
Stanford University
|