Music and Digital Humanities
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
As an overview of the theories and discourses on music studies and the "Digital Humanities", the course aims at developing critical and interpretive skills concerning the relationship between history, technology, and digital cultures. Through an introductory survey and the examination of a few case studies, the class enables students to critically approach and investigate historical and present-day musical phenomena through the lens of digital theory and practice-led research.
Expected learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to apply new methodologies of inquiry into previously known histories and theories of music making, and to interpret and critique the most recent critical debates on sound and digital culture in the humanities. Students will also be able to conceive and design practical outcomes of such knowledge, especially with the aid of case studies in the realm of the digital humanities.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Music and Digital Humanities, 2024-25
The Digital Curation of Music: Collaborative Platforms, Algorithms, and AI
The "digital turn" has not been without consequences for both music scholarship and our everyday life. Hardly a day goes by without having to interact with music streaming platforms, scrutinize online archives and repositories, test our voice and microphone for VoIP communication softwares, or ask our virtual assistant to play our favorite music. In academia, the various fields associated with the Humanities (including musicology) have been quick in applying digital tools and innovative methodologies to discipline-specific research and interdisciplinary projects.
The ubiquity of the "digital" is such that governments and political institutions are willing to invest large portions of their GDP to the technological advancement of their citizens and cultures, and to the digital transfer of their "analog" knowledge. As we transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), though, the term "digital" itself becomes more and more inadequate to describe what is at stake when automation and artificial intelligence become a primary means to shape the world as we know it.
This course aims at understanding the implications of the digital turn in music and imagine our sonic future from a historical, theoretical, and empirical point of view. To make things clear: this is not a music information science course. Throughout the semester we will analyze various phenomena in online music industry, discuss and approach critically the theory and philosophy behind digital music-making, learn how to listen to post-human sonic environments, and study the history of the digital revolution in music.
Hands-on training will include the in-depth exploration of several online projects in Digital Musicology.
The course is divided into two parts.
Part A (20 hours, 3 CFU) is an introduction to the Digital Humanities and their relationship with Musicology and Sound Studies.
The following topics will be covered:
- Introduction to the Digital Humanities
- Introduction to Network Theory
- Music in Digital Cultures (histories, technologies, economies)
- Music Copyright and the Politics of Digital Intellectual Propriety
- Digital Editions of Music
- Digital Music Archives
- The Sound of the Anthropocene: Posthuman Musicking and Artificial Creativity
- Virtual Spaces of Performance
Part B (20 hours, 3 CFU) will focus more specifically on the role of music creation and collaboration in digital settings. Despite the recent hype in journalistic accounts on the presumed threat posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs such as ChatGPT), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to the realm of music-making and creativity, such areas of inquiry (and controversy) have been around for decades both in musicology and outside academia. This section of our class will provide a thorough background for understanding and analyzing phenomena that pertain to the realm of human collaboration in the context of an ever-increasing virtual approach to artistic creation.
phenomena such as collaborative digital archives and repositories, streaming services, algorithms and listening preferences, AI music and
The following topics will be covered:
- Collaborative Digital Archives and Repositories
- AI Music
- Music and Digital (De)centralization (NFTs, metaverse performances, Ubiquitous Music)
- Streaming Services and the Politics of the Music Algorythm
- The Internet of Musical Things (IoMusT)
- The Aesthetics of Music Chatbots and Computational Creativity
The Digital Curation of Music: Collaborative Platforms, Algorithms, and AI
The "digital turn" has not been without consequences for both music scholarship and our everyday life. Hardly a day goes by without having to interact with music streaming platforms, scrutinize online archives and repositories, test our voice and microphone for VoIP communication softwares, or ask our virtual assistant to play our favorite music. In academia, the various fields associated with the Humanities (including musicology) have been quick in applying digital tools and innovative methodologies to discipline-specific research and interdisciplinary projects.
The ubiquity of the "digital" is such that governments and political institutions are willing to invest large portions of their GDP to the technological advancement of their citizens and cultures, and to the digital transfer of their "analog" knowledge. As we transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), though, the term "digital" itself becomes more and more inadequate to describe what is at stake when automation and artificial intelligence become a primary means to shape the world as we know it.
This course aims at understanding the implications of the digital turn in music and imagine our sonic future from a historical, theoretical, and empirical point of view. To make things clear: this is not a music information science course. Throughout the semester we will analyze various phenomena in online music industry, discuss and approach critically the theory and philosophy behind digital music-making, learn how to listen to post-human sonic environments, and study the history of the digital revolution in music.
Hands-on training will include the in-depth exploration of several online projects in Digital Musicology.
The course is divided into two parts.
Part A (20 hours, 3 CFU) is an introduction to the Digital Humanities and their relationship with Musicology and Sound Studies.
The following topics will be covered:
- Introduction to the Digital Humanities
- Introduction to Network Theory
- Music in Digital Cultures (histories, technologies, economies)
- Music Copyright and the Politics of Digital Intellectual Propriety
- Digital Editions of Music
- Digital Music Archives
- The Sound of the Anthropocene: Posthuman Musicking and Artificial Creativity
- Virtual Spaces of Performance
Part B (20 hours, 3 CFU) will focus more specifically on the role of music creation and collaboration in digital settings. Despite the recent hype in journalistic accounts on the presumed threat posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs such as ChatGPT), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to the realm of music-making and creativity, such areas of inquiry (and controversy) have been around for decades both in musicology and outside academia. This section of our class will provide a thorough background for understanding and analyzing phenomena that pertain to the realm of human collaboration in the context of an ever-increasing virtual approach to artistic creation.
phenomena such as collaborative digital archives and repositories, streaming services, algorithms and listening preferences, AI music and
The following topics will be covered:
- Collaborative Digital Archives and Repositories
- AI Music
- Music and Digital (De)centralization (NFTs, metaverse performances, Ubiquitous Music)
- Streaming Services and the Politics of the Music Algorythm
- The Internet of Musical Things (IoMusT)
- The Aesthetics of Music Chatbots and Computational Creativity
Prerequisites for admission
Both lectures and readings will be in English, thus students are expected to be proficient in English at least at a B1 level under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), but preferably at a B2 level (3 ECTS), since the latter is a requirement for the Master's degree.
No technical knowledge in IT is required, although some basic familiarity with computers, digital devices, and internet browsing is expected.
No technical knowledge in IT is required, although some basic familiarity with computers, digital devices, and internet browsing is expected.
Teaching methods
The course is structured as a series of frontal lectures and home assignments to test and engage with the digital case studies discussed in class. This is a course which requires students to engage with challenging readings from a variety of fields (musicology, critical theory, information technology, philosophy, anthropology), thus participation in person is highly recommended, as discussions and clarifications in class will be a crucial part of the course. Students are expected to be able to discuss the content of the readings each week, as detailed in the weekly calendar which will be provided at the beginning of the semester. All the material covered during the lecture will be available on the Ariel platform at the end of each class, including the slides from the lectures.
Teaching Resources
Readings and listenings will be collected into an anthology of essays, articles, book chapters, blog posts, and digital media which will be available on the Ariel portal.
Authors will include, but will not be limited to, J. Sterne, M. Fisher, N. Cook, G. Born, J. Stanyek, C. Vernallis, L. Turchet.
Authors will include, but will not be limited to, J. Sterne, M. Fisher, N. Cook, G. Born, J. Stanyek, C. Vernallis, L. Turchet.
Assessment methods and Criteria
For attending students, a final paper of approximately 15 pages - on a topic previously arranged with the professor - is required to complete the class requirements. It will be discussed over a brief live assessment to be booked on one of the exam days after the end of classes.
The course grade breakdown is as follows: class participation (30%), oral presentation of individual projects (20%), final paper and assessment (50%).
For those who are unable to attend, there is no final paper requirement. Instead, non-attending students are required to do all the readings available on Ariel (including the slides from class and one extra volume as explained on Ariel, section "Non-Attending Students"), and be able to discuss them (in English) over a full oral exam.
The course grade breakdown is as follows: class participation (30%), oral presentation of individual projects (20%), final paper and assessment (50%).
For those who are unable to attend, there is no final paper requirement. Instead, non-attending students are required to do all the readings available on Ariel (including the slides from class and one extra volume as explained on Ariel, section "Non-Attending Students"), and be able to discuss them (in English) over a full oral exam.
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professor:
Lanfossi Carlo Giorgio
Professor(s)