Music Blocks: Computation in and through music

E143 | Thu 13 Jul 3 p.m.–4 p.m.

Presented by

  • Devin Ulibarri

    Devin Ulibarri
    https://musicblocks.net/

    Devin Ulibarri is a versatile musician with a diverse portfolio. He has compositions published in Conceptions Southwest magazine, a range of teaching experience—from preschool to college-level—and has performed with artists such as Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma. From 2016-18, Devin served as faculty for the Preparatory and Continuing Education schools at New England Conservatory and is co-creator of Music Blocks, a visual programming language for exploring music’s fundamental concepts. Music Blocks is currently being considered for Japan’s national coding curriculum in 2020. Music Blocks development for 2020 is being done in partnership with Gakken, a major Japanese publishing company with funding from Japan’s Ministry of Economics Trade and Industry. Currently, Devin runs an out-of-school time (OST) program called MAP Family Learning Center (MAPFLC), where students explore music, art, and programming (hence "MAP"). Led by professional teaching artists, MAPFLC serves both as a place for learning these three subjects in an integrated way, as well as a laboratory for new curriculum ideas, such as our Music+Code curriculum, to be tested and refined in an supportive, structured environment.

  • Walter Bender

    Walter Bender
    https://github.com/sugarlabs/musicblocks/blob/master/README.md

    Walter Bender is co-founder and Chief Scientist at Sorcero, a knowledge-management and learning solutions company in the life-science space. Bender is also co-founder of Sugar Labs, which develops and maintains educational software used by millions children in more than forty countries. Sugar Labs is a member project of the non-profit foundation Software Freedom Conservancy. In 2006, Bender co-founded the One Laptop per Child, a non-profit association with Nicholas Negroponte and Seymour Papert. Bender was executive director of the MIT Media Lab from 2000-2006. Bender and Devin Ullibari are the primary authors of Music Blocks, a Visual Programming Language and collection of manipulative tools for exploring musical and mathematical concepts in an integrative and fun way.

Abstract

Learn programming in a fun way with Music Blocks! This workshop will get you started with the basics of Music Blocks visual programming, as well as introduce you to some inspirational projects that combine computation and music in a beautiful, authentic way. For the best experience, please bring your laptops! “All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians.” — Monk “Music is a hidden arithmetic exercise of the soul, which does not know that it is counting.” — Leibniz Music Blocks is a Visual Programming Language and collection of manipulative tools for exploring musical and mathematical concepts in an integrative and fun way.