Assignments

Assignment 1: Response Paper

Write a 1–page double spaced response, for discussion in Session 2: Suppose the only piece of music you had ever heard was Ligeti's Lux Aeterna. What elements of Bartók's String Quartet (or any other music) might be surprising to you on that basis? (Use the diagrams in [Cook 2004] in your arguments about similarity, difference, and surprise.)

Assignment 2: Problem Set 1

Topics: thinking about music with an object-oriented mindset; introduction to Python

Problem Set 1 (PDF)
Supporting file for problem 4: instruments.py

Additional Python resources:

Assignment 3: Problem Set 2

Topics: developing digital notation for unusual repertories; similarity and search

Problem Set 2 (PDF)

Assignment 4: Ossia Paper

Topic: a 3–5 page research paper summarizing a current musicological database project

Paper description (PDF)

Final Paper

The following sample final papers are presented courtesy of the student authors and used with permission.

Wong, Lawson. "Feature-Based Analysis of Haydn String Quartets" (PDF)

Anonymous student. "Describing Musical Contour with Tonality, Voicing, and Dissonance Levels" (PDF)

Anonymous student. "Using Tarsos and music21 to Analyze Presidential Speech Patterns" (PDF)