Math & Cultural

Over the past 100 years, the development of the radio, recording, the computer, the Internet, and mobile devices, have made music a ubiquitous part of our everyday experience, but have also shaped it into a commodity that is easily passively consumed. However, there are practices in participatory music-making, both in traditional ways and through new technologies, that highlight how music as a social endeavor continues to serve deeply meaningful purposes.  Madeline Huberth and Ge Wang chronicle developments in making music socially through case studies ranging from Peruvian flute players to laptop orchestra and music-making on mobile devices.

Madeline and Ge work with computer music at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). They also direct the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk). Madeline is a doctoral candidate at CCRMA; her research investigates musically-induced emotions and neural responses to musical sounds. Ge is an assistant professor at CCRMA. He is the author of the ChucK music programming language, and as co-founder of mobile music startup Smule, he designed the iPhone's Ocarina and Magic Piano.