The book is a collection of the author’s papers from 1970 to 2010, bringing together a body of research currently scattered across a range of journals, or simply no longer available. It includes her first study of Beethoven’s original fingerings, her beginning work with children’s invented notations, close observations and analysis of children in the Laboratory for Making Things, studies of musically gifted children, and the emergent musical development of students in elementary-secondary school and university undergraduate and graduate studies. The observations and research lead to the develo ... More

The book is a collection of the author’s papers from 1970 to 2010, bringing together a body of research currently scattered across a range of journals, or simply no longer available. It includes her first study of Beethoven’s original fingerings, her beginning work with children’s invented notations, close observations and analysis of children in the Laboratory for Making Things, studies of musically gifted children, and the emergent musical development of students in elementary-secondary school and university undergraduate and graduate studies. The observations and research lead to the development of an interactive computer music environment based on and contributing to her pragmatic theory of musical development as a generative process of learning. Unlike other collections, the book is clearly interdisciplinary and strongly practical. It brings together and integrates music theory, research in music perception and music education, performance, cognitive development, artificial intelligence, and procedural composition. Her multi-faceted approach to music theory and music pedagogy is guided throughout by commitment to an understanding and respect for an individual’s natural, creative musical intelligence. This natural competence becomes the formative ground on which to help people of all ages build an ever growing engagement and fascination with the myriad, evolving organic structures of the world’s music.