We are excited to announce a call for papers for a special issue of The Journal of Music, Technology & Education (http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=152/), with a deadline of 28 February 2014, for likely publication in July/August 2014. The issue will be guest edited by Professor Andrew R. Brown (Griffith University, Australia), and will address epistemological themes and pedagogical practices related to the use of live coding in formal and informal music education settings.
Live coding involves programming a computer as an explicit onstage performance. In such circumstance, the computer system is the musical instrument, and the practice is often improvisational. Live coding techniques can also be used as a musical prototyping (composition and production) tool with immediate feedback. Live coding can be solo or collaborative and can involve networked performances with other live coders, instrumentalists or vocalists.
Live coding music involves the notation of sonic and musical processes in code. These can describe sound synthesis, rhythmic and harmonic organization, themes and gestures, and control of musical form and structure. Live coding also extends out beyond pure music and sound to the general digital arts, including audiovisual systems, robotics and more.
While live coding can be a virtuosic practice, it is increasingly being used in educational and community arts contexts. In these settings, its focus on immediacy, generative creativity, computational and design thinking, and collaboration are being exploited to engage people with music in a non-traditional way. The inherently digital nature of live coding practices presents opportunities for networked collaborations and online leaning.
This special edition of JMTE will showcase research in live coding activities in educational and community arts settings, to inspire music educators about the possibilities of live coding, to interrogate the epistemological and pedagogical opportunities and challenges.
Topic suggestions include, but are not limited to:
- Live coding ensembles
- Bridging art-science boundaries through live coding
- Exploring music concepts as algorithmic processes
- The blending of composition and performance in live coding practices
- Combining instrument design and use
- Coding as music notational literacy
- Informal learning with live coding
- Integrating live coding practices into formal music educational structures
- Online learning with live coding
Contributors should follow all JMTE author guidelines
(URL http://tinyurl.com/jmte-info) paying particular attention to the word count of between 5,000 and 8,000 words for an article. In addition, please read carefully the information concerning the submission of images.
Submissions should be received by 28 February 2014. All submissions and queries should be addressed to andrew.r.brown@griffith.edu.au
