Skip to Content

Music, Science, and Society

Music, Science, and Society

The Music, Science, and Society initiative researches and develops intersections between music, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). We explore how creative engagement and artistic inquiry can play a role in STEM/STEAM ranging from generating interest in STEM fields or issues to translating complex scientific concepts through musical engagement. The Music, Science, and Society initiative is primarily interested in how the combination of music and science can have a positive impact on communities and society.

Current Initiatives

AR/VR/XR & Music Education

We are currently critically examining and exploring possibilities of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and extended reality (XR) for music engagement, learning, and teaching.

Learn more about our AR/VR/XR and music education initiatives.

Sound and Music Innovation Lab: Sound and Music Technologies Group

The Sound and Music Technologies R&D group is a component of our Sound and Music Innovation Lab (SMIL). This interdisciplinary group researches and develops instruments, interfaces, and technologies to support and advance musical engagement and learning. The Sound and Music Technologies group focuses on human-centered design solutions that contribute to sustainability and improve people’s lives.

Find out more about our Sound and Music Innovation Lab (SMIL)

Musical Coding, Programming, and Computational Thinking

CITME members and music education students involved in related projects work on coding, programming, and computational thinking in relation to music. Projects range from developing interactive music engagement with SCRATCH to programming musical environments with MAX. We seek to diversify the ways that coding and programming are addressed in school and community settings as well as to demonstrate the potential and possibilities of musical engagement and inquiry as a context for learning coding and programming.

Find out more about our Musical Coding, Programming, and Computational Thinking initiatives

STEAM and Music Learning and Teaching

We are curating and developing resources for people interested in the ways music learning and teaching intersect with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Past Initiatives

Music and Media Arts MakerSpaces / Music and Media Arts Inquiry and Engagement Hubs

CITME is currently researching and developing a music and media arts makerspace on campus to connect digital culture; arts, media, and engineering; and music education students. The first phase of the project focuses on developing a culture among students and faculty to collaborate on music and media arts makerspace projects. During phase 2 we will test several projects in the context of local schools and community venues. This grant project has three primary foci: 1) blurring boundaries between and developing and supporting a culture of collaboration around music, media arts, and STEAM communities 2) demonstrating the potential and possibilities of collaboration between people with interest and expertise in music, media arts, and education 3) better understanding how to support processes of STEAM engagement and learning for future scaling across K-12 and community contexts. This project is generously funded by a Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts Research Council Seed Grant.

Find out more about our Maker Culture initiatives

Music, Science, and Society News

ASU Music Ed Alumn Awarded STEAM grant!

Congratulations to ASU Music Education Alumn, Abbie Van Klompenberg (MM ’11) on being awarded the “Growing in SC: The Future of STEAM is Here” Grant from South Carolina’s Coalition for Mathematics & Science/STEM Centers SC. The Future of STEAM is Here grant provides $2,500 worth of classroom materials and $1,500 in professional development. Abbie’s fourth […]

Posted in music science and society | Leave a comment

CITME Supports the We Are All Musical project at Spark! Mesa’s Festival of Creativity

CITME recently played a role in supporting the We Are All Musical project at Spark! Mesa’s Festival of Creativity. We Are All Musical, a project curated by Evan Tobias, aimed to provide Spark! festival attendees with numerous opportunities to realize their musical potential.  We Are All Musical included the following opportunities: Drum Village – People engaged […]

Posted in leisure lifelong engagement and wellness, music science and society | Leave a comment

Tutorials for Developing Music Performing and Creating Systems with Lemur

Sander DeVries, a masters student in music education at Arizona State, engaged in a project where he learned how to use the iPad app Lemur to design music performing and creating systems by programming graphical user interfaces. Sander developed related projects involving creating and performing music in Garageband with Lemur that he pilot tested with […]

Posted in music science and society, Sound and Music Innovation Lab | Leave a comment

Tutorials and Personal Reflections on Learning Max Music Programming Software

Robert Freeman, a masters degree student in music education at Arizona State, engaged in a project where he learned how to use the application Max and developed a related series of tutorials on using Max. Max is an innovative programming language that has many potential uses for the music educator. These tutorials provide an introduction […]

Posted in music science and society | Leave a comment

View All Music, Science, and Society News