Children's Creative Music-Making with Reflexive Interactive Technology

Victoria Rowe is a Teaching Associate at the University of Sheffield, UK.Angeliki Triantafyllaki is a Research Fellow at the Department of Music Studies, University of Athens.François Pachet is Director of SONY Computer Science Laboratory Paris, France, where he leads the music research team.

Dr Susan Young, author of Music 3 - 5 (Essential Guides for Early Years Practitioners):Not only does this excellent book offer insights into a ground-breaking European project that explored the use of music technology in education, it also sets the project in the wider picture of children’s musical imaginations, creativity and identities. David Hargreaves, Professor of Education and Froebel Research Fellow, University of Roehampton:The digital revolution has fundamentally changed the ways in which we engage with music, and the MIROR project provides some pioneering evidence that the new technology can promote creative music-making in children under the age of ten. This book is a fascinating and eye-opening account of a research project which shows how music technology can can not only facilitate children’s improvisation and composition, but also develop their deeper sense of music agency and identity.Mark d'Inverno, Pro-Warden for Research and Enterprise University at Goldsmiths, University of London:A vital part of learning is that we look at interdisciplinary approaches to understanding how technology can support learning. We need to bring computer scientists, designers, pedagogy experts, psychologists, educationalist and most importantly teachers and students together - in practical and informed ways - in order to continually consider how technology can support, challenge and provoke us to fulfil our creative potential. This book is an important milestone in this journey, bringing exactly the right mix of discipline-informed theory balanced with methdologically sound practice. It is an important book for any of us who want to think about how we use technology to help others be as creative as they possibly can be. And not just in music. Mirko Degli Esposti, Vice Rector, Full Professor in Mathematical Physics, Alma Mater, University of Bologna (Italy)This is a fantastic application in the classroom of quite sophisticated technologies, borrowing from machine-learning, statistics, and mathematics. Our education systems have to harness the power of artificial intelligence to use them in a productive, human way, and this book describes pioneering and fascinating experiments in that direction.Gena R. Greher, Professor of Music Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell The authors of this book provide solid evidence that young children’s musical creations are thoughtful and intentional. The interactive software described in this text provided opportunities supportive of improvisation and playing with sounds in a non-judgmental playful environment contributing to the musical growth of the participants.Dr. Oscar Odena, University of Glasgow, UKA timely monograph discussing a recent international research project that will enlighten anyone interested in using music technology with early and primary-aged children.

• Introduction 1. Young Children Learning through Music Technology 2. Improvising and Composing in the Early Years 3. Interacting with Style: The MIROR Software and its Pedagogical Theories 4. Creating Sounds, Creating Musical Selves: Children Playing with MIROR 5. Experimenting with Materials: Skills for Creative Thinking and Problem-Solving 6. A 'Language' for Creative Music-Making: Reasoning, Emotional and Learning Intentions Conclusion