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21M.383 | Spring 2023 | Undergraduate, Graduate

# Computational Music Theory and Analysis

David Lewin (1933–2003) was one of the most innovative and influential music theorists of the 20th century (New York Times obituary). He was mostly known for creating Transformational Music Theory and integrating group theory and other mathematical principles into music theory. He was first trained as a mathematician before becoming a music theorist. His book Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations (GMIT) is essential reading for anyone wishing to combine music and mathematics. I was fortunate enough to have studied with him and learned that he also had a great interest in formalizing the rules of counterpoint in a way that computers could use.

His article, “An Interesting Global Rule for Species Counterpoint,” In Theory Only 6/8 (1983), pp. 19–44, has inspired a generation of computational music theorists to try to generate or grade species counterpoint with the computer.

If you want to practice with an automated counterpoint grader (not generator), try: Artusi First Species Counterpoint. I programmed most of the rules it uses inspired by Lewin’s work.

For those who want to go further, his unpublished (but widely circulated in photocopies) book that outlines rules about other species is titled “Led Zeppelin Fake Book,” and it gives a sense of his whimsy and humor. (Try searching online for this.)

## Course Info

##### Instructor

- Prof. Michael Scott Asato Cuthbert

##### Departments

- Music and Theater Arts

##### As Taught In

Spring 2023

##### Level

Undergraduate
Graduate

##### Topics

- Fine Arts
  - Music
    - Music History
    - Music Theory
- Mathematics
  - Computation
  - Mathematical Analysis
  - Probability and Statistics

##### Learning Resource Types

notes Lecture Notes
theaters Lecture Videos
theaters Other Video
assignment Multiple Assignment Types
grading Exams
Editable Files

Browse Resources

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