Week 1 (1/13): Introduction to AI and Creativity⌗

Tuesday⌗

  • Syllabus Review
  • Topics: Overview of course themes, questions: “What does it mean to make music with AI?” and “Is this even a good idea?”
  • Key Concepts: Brainard’s creativity framework (novelty, value, agency, curiosity).
  • Discussion
    • When you hear the term ‘AI music,’ what comes to mind?
    • What are some examples of how you think AI might be used to create music?
    • What are your initial feelings or reactions to the idea of AI creating music?
  • Listen to some tracks from Suno and AIVA.
    • Take some notes on what you hear and how you feel about it. Focus on musical elements.
  • Discussion
    • What aspect of the music helped you tell that it was created by an AI system?
    • Would you listen to any of this music again? Why or why not?
    • What’s the place of music like this in society?

For next class: Read Brainard’s Introduction and Section 2.1. Download here

Thursday⌗

Week 2 (1/20): Foundations of AI in Music⌗

Tuesday⌗

  • No class - (out of town for Professional Development)

Thursday⌗

For next class read Brainard’s Section 2.2 (Novelty) and Section 2.3 (Value).

Week 3 (1/27): Hands-On with word2vec⌗

Tuesday⌗

Thursday⌗

  • Demoing Additions to Etude 1
    • Timbre Evolution
    • Musical Intervals
    • Carter demo?
  • Etude 1 Workshop
  • Etude 1 Due: 1/31.

Week 4 (2/3): Machine Learning for Music⌗

Tuesday⌗

  • A few students show their etude 1 projects
  • Topics: MIR techniques (k-NN, SVM, HMM) and applications in feature extraction and classification.

Thursday⌗

  • Finish MIR techniques discussion

Week 5 (2/10): Audio Feature Extraction⌗

Tuesday⌗

Thursday⌗

Week 6 (2/17): Creative Audio Manipulation⌗

Tuesday⌗

Thursday⌗

  • Check out the updated content search example
  • More Tone.js sequencing examples
  • implementing the audio mosaic
  • Sharing in progress work?

Week 7 (2/24): Interactive Machine Learning and HCI⌗

Tuesday⌗

  • Etude 2 presentations
  • Topics: Wekinator and humans-in-the-loop systems.
  • Key Concepts: Human agency in collaborative systems; impact of AI on musicians.

Thursday⌗

  • finish slides from Tuesday
  • More in depth with Wekinator - theory and practice

Week 8 (3/3): Designing Interactive AI Systems⌗

Tuesday⌗

Thursday⌗

Week 9 (3/10): Spring Break – No Class⌗

Week 10 (3/17)⌗

Tuesday⌗

  • Etude 3 Workshop and explanation
  • Etude 3 Due: Friday 3/28.

Thursday⌗

  • No Class: 3/20 (MoxSonic).
  • Next week we’ll work more on Etude 3 and start talking about the final project.

Week 11 (3/24)⌗

Tuesday⌗

  • Interactive Machine Learning Workshop for Etude 3 - Due on Friday
    • Show me what you’re working on and what problems your’e running in to

Thursday⌗

  • no class - travel

Week 12 (3/31)⌗

Tuesday⌗

Note: Until the end of the semester we’ll do project work on Tuesdays and reading discussions on Thursdays. Look at the schedule to see what we’ll be discussing on that day and what you’ll need to be prepared to speak about.

Thursday⌗

  • Aaron Hertzmann (2023) – What is Creativity? Can Computers Be Creative?
    • Hertzmann clearly outlines the philosophical and practical challenges of calling AI “creative.” It’s accessible and provocative, and sets the tone for critically engaging with AI-generated music as art.
  • Discussion Questions:
    • What do you define as creativity?
    • Can a machine be creative without intention or awareness?
    • How does this reading shape your view of AI-generated music?
  • slides

Week 13 (4/7)⌗

Thursday⌗

  • Selim Tan (2024) - Are We All Musicians Now? Authenticity, Musicianship, and AI Music Generator Suno
    • Selim Tan critically explores how Suno, an AI music generator, challenges traditional notions of authenticity, authorship, and musicianship by enabling users to create music through prompts, raising questions about creativity, ownership, and the evolving meaning of being a musician.
  • Discussion Questions:
    • Can users who generate music through prompts in Suno be considered musicians, and how does this challenge or expand traditional definitions of musicianship?
    • In what ways might the lack of transparency in Suno’s training data affect the perceived authenticity and ethical legitimacy of its musical outputs?
    • How does Suno’s ability to turn everyday experiences into music through text, audio, image, or video prompts reflect or reshape the concept of musical expression and personal identity?
  • slides

Week 14 (4/14)⌗

Thursday⌗

  • Gervais (2024) – The Remuneration of Music Creators for the Use of Their Works by Generative AI
    • This white paper offers a detailed legal and ethical argument for why music creators deserve compensation when their works are used to train generative AI models. Gervais proposes a new right of remuneration that focuses not on training itself, but on outputs that compete with human-made music. It links the current moment to a long history of copyright adapting to new technologies.
  • Discussion Questions:
    • Why does Gervais argue that current copyright law is not enough to protect music creators from AI systems?
    • What’s the difference between training data and generative outputs—and why does it matter legally and ethically?
    • How might a right of remuneration change the economics of AI-generated music?
    • What responsibilities should AI companies have toward the artists whose work they ingest?
    • Do you think AI-generated music should be treated the same as human-made music in terms of copyright, authorship, and royalties? Why or why not?
  • slides

Week 15 (4/21)⌗

Thursday⌗

  • Pelly (2019) – Big Mood Machine
    • Or here if that’s paywalled.
    • This article critically examines how Spotify commodifies listener mood and emotional data to fuel its advertising business, raising concerns about surveillance, manipulation, and the reshaping of music as a background marketing tool.
  • Discussion Questions:
    • How does Spotify’s use of mood playlists influence what we listen to — and why we listen?
    • What are the ethical implications of treating emotional data as a product for advertisers?
    • In what ways does this system affect artists, musical diversity, or creative autonomy?
  • slides

Week 16 (4/28)⌗

Tuesday⌗

  • Last work day

Thursday⌗

  • No class - out of town