Complexity Explorer Santa Few Institute

Music, as language, is a trait shared by all human societies. Through the establishment of the new field of “Music Complexity” we can establish the foundations to develop a quantitative, data-centered, and complexity-based framework for understanding music as the computational, cognitive, cultural, and social agent that has shaped human societies for more than 40,000 years. In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of music from a computational reasoning perspective, and how these reflect on the complexity of musical structures.

We will cover a variety of topics on generative and algorithmic techniques in music composition, from earlier examples to current developments. The main objective is to develop an effective computational mindset for music creativity. We will learn how to design and implement compositional models using Python as our base programming language and using a variety of open-source packages. A prior knowledge of Python is not required, but may be helpful.

Marco Buongiorno Nardelli is a composer, installation artist and computational physicist who brings a platform for Art/Science integration rooted in his profound and extensive expertise in development of scientific and artistic software and his vision for sustainable community software development. He is Regents Professor at the University of North Texas, with academic appointments in both the Department of Physics and the Division of Composition Studies, a member of iARTA, the Initiative for Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts and CEMI, the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia, and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute where he directs an initiative in “Music Complexity”. As both an Artist and a Scientist, his work is intrinsically inter- and cross-disciplinary: his work in Physics and in Art is the natural extension of his practices as a creative thinker: “At the core, I am doing the same thing; the tools that I use to achieve the end-goals are different, of course, but the conceptual framework is very similar. These two things talk to each other at a very deep level.” His scientific research activities range from the design and discovery of novel materials for 21stcentury applications in renewable energy, environment, nano-electronics and devices, to the development of advanced electronic structure theories and high-throughput techniques in materials genomics and computational materials design. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the Institute of Physics. As a music theorist he is a pioneer in the application of complexity theories and big data analysis tools to the structure of music as a generalized mathematical space. As an artist, he is internationally recognized for his music and new media installations, and his artistic research is rooted in the duality "music as data, data as music", including the translation of scientific data and processes into sonic, and potentially artistic, material.

 Marco's website & UNT bio