There are many ways to get involved in making music, including playing an instrument, writing music, designing sound for film, producing beats, and so on. Computers have greatly expanded these possibilities. The musician’s toolbox has grown, and new skills are needed to use these tools.
In fact, writing computer programs to create music has been an important part of the music industry since the earliest days of computers over 50 years ago, and is at its most popular today. Musicians and programmers write computer code for many exciting uses: from creating new sounds or effects or musical structures, to designing entirely new ways to create and perform music.
In EarSketch, you will write code that the computer understands as a set of instructions, or an algorithm, to make music with. You don’t need to know anything about music or computing. You will learn to code in Python or JavaScript and make music in any style you choose. With Python and JavaScript, two of the most popular computer programming languages in the world, you’ll be able to create and remix music within the same kind of digital audio workstation (DAW) software used throughout the music industry.
Once you learn to write computer code, you can take those skills with you to any career you can imagine, whether in the music industry or elsewhere.
There is even a free, massive open online course (MOOC) at Coursera.org on music technology with Reaper and EarSketch you can take right away.
Happy programming & composing!