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27 Easy Songs On A Recorder (Video & Sheet Music)Are you a new recorder player looking for some easy songs to get you started?
Do you want a good list of simple recorder songs for your young students?
When you start introducing or playing the recorder, it’s often the first experience with playing an instrument that requires breath control and multiple fingering techniques.
As with learning anything new, it helps to learn from easy tasks at first.
I’ve seen this work well with both my elementary music students and the college ones I teach.
If you do too much, too fast, they quickly get overwhelmed.
This is why I condensed this list of 27 easy songs on a recorder.
Easy songs on a recorder are separated by the number of notes they use. They have easy rhythms and start with notes in stepwise motion. Here are some my favorite beginner recorder tunes:
Hot Cross Buns
Go To Sleep
Au Clair De La Lune
Merrily We Roll Along
Rain Rain Go Away
Closet Key
Baby Shark
Let’s Go Sports Team, Let’s Go!
Look ahead for more details on why I picked each of these.
Also, click the links of the songs for a dedicated post on how to teach the song and notes specifically.
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What To Look For In An Easy Song On Recorder
This section talks about what an easy song needs to have in it in order to be considered “easy.”
Each of these elements are good to have, but they aren’t all needed in order for the song to be simple.
But the more elements there are, the better (at least as far as a lower difficulty goes).
Number Of Different Pitches
The hardest part for most people when playing recorder is getting the fingerings down.
In fact, I do an exercise with my students to prove how important fingering is.
I’ll have a student blow a long stream of air while I do the notes on their recorder with the fingers.
I’ll play something way more difficult than they may ever get to and point out how if only they knew the fingerings, they could play anything.
Most kids really like this and get motivated.
But if there are a ton of different notes, people get overwhelmed.
An easy song needs to have fewer notes.
3 note songs are the best, but 4 and 5 are OK too as long as the notes move step-wise and there isn’t a lot of jumping around.
The first 3 notes which are generally considered the easiest are B-A-G.
High D-high C-A are also pretty easy.
A-G-E are easy as well.
Speaking of songs with tough notes, check out our guide for how to play My Heart Will Go On on recorder (with video!).
Length Of Song
The length of the song also has a direct impact on how long it takes to learn the song.
Often, longer songs have multiple sections and a lot of different material.
This makes it harder for the learner to keep track of all they need to.
It also increases the chances of the student giving up when they make too many mistakes.
Shorter = easier.
Repetitiveness
Along the same lines, if the song re-uses a lot of the same ideas, it’ll be easier to learn than if it’s new material throughout.
Look at Hot Cross Buns (the classic beginner song).
The song is only 4 measures long, and 3 of them are exactly the same.
Look for songs with repetitive material, and they’ll fall into place faster.
Familiar Vs. Unfamiliar
Obviously, if you know the song, you’ll pick it up much easier.
I don’t just mean if you’ve played it before.
Even if you’ve heard it, this makes a big difference.
For example:
The song Baby Shark isn’t too hard, but the notes involved are a little tricky.
Still, many students will find it easier to learn this song at first than Au Clair De La Lune because they’ve heard Baby Shark soooo many times.
Rhythms and Meter Used
With notes as tricky as they are, recorder learners don’t need to be distracted by complicated rhythms.
Every song on the list uses only basic rhythms most of the students will have heard by second grade.
Avoid dotted rhythms and triple meter for “easier” songs.
Here’s a quick list of easy to achieve rhythms:
Quarter note
Quarter rest
Eighth notes
Half notes
Half rest
Whole notes
Dotted half notes
Sixteenth notes
Range
Recorders are known for being picky in the range they play, especially with budget recorders.
Take a look at the best soprano recorder brands.
At their high notes (namely D and above), they won’t squeak, but the sound does tend towards the shrill end.
On the lower notes (past low E), the plastic recorders especially are harder to make sound correctly.
These notes squeak easier and always sound a little weak.
An easy recorder song wouldn’t go beyond this range for very long.
This isn’t to say songs outside this range can’t be easy, but they require a skill-set beyond what beginner recorder players usually have to offer.
All songs are based on the soprano recorder, but they’ll work well on any type of recorder (click the link to learn more about the types in our guide).
Other Great Recorder Resources
These are some of my favorite recorder song resources.
If you want to expand past the 27 songs in the next section, check out some of these books.
These are affordable and great to pull from. You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel.
50 Greatest Classics for Recorder
First 50 Songs You Should Play On Recorder
Easy Pop Melodies For Recorder
Note: These are affiliate links which means we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
If you want to hear these in video form, check out my review of them in this video.
27 Easy Songs On Recorder
This section covers my favorite 27 easy songs on the soprano recorder.
This is largely a personal list, but it’s built on over a decade of teaching and playing the recorder.
Note: For more details on how to teach the songs, click the link to the dedicated page. This article reviews what makes these songs easy.
I’ll give a score out of 10 with 1 being the very easiest for each of these songs to help you decide which ones you want to teach.
Hot Cross Buns – 1/10
It doesn’t get much easier than this.
Hot Cross Buns is almost exclusively the first song taught on recorder (and many many other instruments).
It only uses three pitches: B-A-G.
The rhythms are simple quarter notes, half notes, and eighth notes.
The melody is the same for 3 out of the 4 measures and moves in a descending motion.
All pitch moves are step-wise which is the easier movement, especially with these three notes.
This song’s almost a rite of passage for recorder playing. And as much as parents and adults claim to “hate” it even when they were kids, I’ve never seen students who don’t want to play it over and over again.
Go To Sleep – 1/10
Go To Sleep is the anti-Hot Cross Buns in my opinion.
This ideal song uses 3 notes: G-A-B.
If you compare this song to Hot Cross Buns, you’ll notice it’s almost exactly the same, except inverted.
It’s great practice for ascending motion and 3 out of the 4 measures are the same again.
Even better, the rhythm only uses quarter notes and half notes.
This song makes a good partner song with Hot Cross Buns.
Further Reading: Partner songs for music class
Play them at the same time, and it sounds good!
It’s never too early to get students into playing harmony on the recorder.
Au Clair De La Lune – 2/10
This is another staple in the recorder world.
The whole melody repeats itself twice, so once you learn one half, you’ve got the other down!
It only uses 3 notes again: G-A-B.
The rhythms are very simple using only quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes.
The song is beautiful and catchy once mastered.
Au Clair gets one more difficulty point because it introduces the idea of skipping notes.
While the first two were all step-wise, this one features a jump from G → B.
This is fine and not hard to do, although some may struggle with it at first.
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Merrily We Roll Along 2.5/10
Merrily We Roll Along (and it’s related song Mary Had A Little Lamb) is often the last B-A-G song students learn.
It’s a 3 note song with the option of adding high D later on.
The melody is all stepwise with some extra moving up and down which often tricks students up at first.
The rhythms are also simple: quarter notes, eighth notes, and half notes.
The trick with this song comes in its length and form.
Merrily is double as long as most other songs at this level and doesn’t reuse a ton of melodic material.
Almost everybody has heard this song which offsets the difficulty somewhat.
Rain Rain Go Away 3/10
Rain Rain Go Away is a 3 note song using different notes.
Depending on the sequence of your preference, you may play it as A-G-E or high D-C-A.
Either one results in a similar difficulty.
The fingering for the lower A-G-E is easier though harder to make speak at first.
D-C-A is higher and easier to sound good, but the fingers are a little trickier.
Either way, this song gets its higher score from jumping around the notes. The rhythm is easy though with quarter notes and eighth notes.
Most people are quite familiar with this one, though, which helps.
Closet Key – 2/10
Closet Key is a song similar in function to Au Clair.It uses 3 notes, B-A-G, and quarter notes and eighth notes for rhythms.
The melody is repetitive and simple to learn.
Actually, I believe many students find this easier even than Merrily or Au Clair.
But since most students don’t know this (unless they’ve had me for a teacher in which case I’ve taught them in another grade), they sometimes take longer to learn it.
Baby Shark – 3/10
Yep. Baby Shark’s on the list.
Go hate on it all you want, but this song is perfect for isolating either the C → B switch or the new note F# depending on the key.
Rhythms are simple: quarter notes, eighth notes, and half notes.
The notes used are either G-A-B-C or D-E-F#-G.
This is the trickiest part and why it gets a 3/10.
However, EVERYBODY has heard this song for better or for worse, so all you need to do is learn the fingerings, not how the song is supposed to go.
Let’s Go Sports Team, Let’s Go! – 2.5/10
Is this one a true song? Probably not; it’s more of a cheer.
But the cheer is great for learning a simple jump from C → A.
Overall, the song only uses 3 notes: C-A-G.
This new note makes it a little tougher, but most people recognize this cheer from any sporting event.
Hint: This is a great way to build school community and maybe get some buy-in from thosetoo-cool-for-school boys.
Rhythms are easy: quarter notes, eighth notes, quarter rests.
Students even get to clap which really excites them when we learn this song.
Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty – 4/10
This song isn’t well-known outside of adults who love the show the Big Bang Theory, but it’s still a real song!
As a lullaby, this song is easier than others because it’s slower and very repetitive.
Row, Row, Row, Your Boat – 6/10
While not strictly an easy recorder song, a lot of kids and adults already know how this song is supposed to go.
As such, learning it feels easier than many other songs they don’t know that is actually easier.
Plus! It features a great place to start throwing in some rounds or canon.
Now, we’ve got more harmony.
Frere Jacques – 3/10
Frere Jacques or Are You Sleeping? is a great and fairly easy tune for people to play on the recorder.
It’s much easier than Row, Row, Row Your Boat while still being a tune to help with canon or rounds on the recorder.
Ode To Joy – 5/10
This is another one that’s not “easy,” though it’ll pop up within the first year or two of recorder learning.
It’s the highest level of Recorder Karate belt songs (click more to read about it in our article).
It’s a beautiful tune from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and a great launching point to talk about his life.
Check out our whole breakdown on how to play Ode To Joy on the recorder.
Old MacDonald – 4/10
In today’s era of kids, they don’t know many of the classic kids’ songs we grew up with.
But Old MacDonald is one that’s stuck around.
Kids often know and love this one, so it’s a great one to teach on the recorder.
For notes, it only uses B-A-G-lowE-LowD.
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring – 3/10
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring is a good song for practicing the sol-mi-la-sol pattern in singing and on the recorder.
On the recorder, this translates to either practicing the playing skills of:
G-E-A-G-E
C-A-D-C-A (high ones)
Either is easy and often early in a recorder method book or curriculum.
Starlight, Starbright – 3/10
This nursery rhyme is very similar to It’s Raining.
They use the same notes and cover the same concepts.
At the end of the song, though, you could add in the tonic for an added difficulty in practicing a lower note.
Bingo Was His Name-O – 4/10
Old MacDonald and this song, Bingo was His Name-O, use much of the same notes and ideas.
What I love about this song is how it needs to use added rests as you go on.
You’d be amazed at how it increases student concentration when they play with these little plastic flutes.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – 5/10
Of course, everyone knows this song, but it’s surprisingly challenging in the notes it uses.
Though the melody is mostly step-wise, making it a little easier, it still uses the first six notes on a major scale.
This challenge is offset by how well it’s known to people, so they can easily audiate (or inner hear) the song.
When The Saints Go Marching In – 5/10
Not every person knows this American song, but it’s a classic for a reason.
It’s catchy and lends itself to your ear.
You’d be surprised how quickly adults and kids pick it up, even if they’ve never heard it before.
Cielito Lindo – 8/10
This isn’t a song that really belongs on a list of easy recorder songs at all, but it’s a great one for added diversity and accessing the backgrounds of your students.
Cielito Lindo is the perfect song for students who are just about ready to push themselves to include upper octaves notes through the use of the half-hole technique.
Morning Mood – 4/10
If you need a way to practice C pentatonic (CDEGA), then Morning Mood is perfect.
While the notes aren’t hard, they’re great for jumping up and down and skipping.
Plus, then you can connect to learning about Edvard Grieg and a real piece of music.
Pop Goes The Weasel – 4/10
While this familiar tune is fast, it doesn’t feature many hard notes at all!
I used to have a harder time teaching this song as it’s one many students have stopped learning at home over the years.
But since it was featured in Five Nights At Freddy’s 2, many of them are more aware of it.
London Bridge Is Falling Down – 3/10
Any time you’ve taught a song in a younger grade that fits on the recorder, bring it back to learn on the recorder.
It’ll make learning the song that much easier!
London Bridge Is Falling Down is one I always bring back as a way to get that dirty F note down.
In fact, many of my fourth graders will ask me if we can play the game after we learn the simple song!
Here I Come (Lemonade) – 1/10
Here I Come (Lemonade) is a simple tune using only sol-mi (or at most sol-mi-la).
As such, it’s perfect for playing C-A or G-E, depending on your preference.
Since I teach it in Kindergarten, this is another good slow song to bring back for the recorder, and it’s incredibly easy.
Plus, with the call and response part, you may even ask students to play one at a time to assess individual skills.
Find the sheet music here at the American Folk Song Collection.
Chicken Wing, Chicken Wing – 3/10
OK, if you’re not sick of this familiar song yet, you will be soon.
But my kids LOVE this cheesy little tune.
Surprisingly, it only uses a few notes: D-B-A-G-E.
Check out the sheet music below.
Mary Had A Little Lamb – 2.5/10
Mary Had A Little Lamb is much like Merrily We Roll Along from above, with the exception that you jump up to D on the third “little lamb.”
As such, it’s a little bit tougher, but many kids will be quick to pick up on the B to D jump if you use this song.
Brahms’ Lullaby – 6/10
This beautiful lullaby is doable on the recorder, though it requires the difficult F natural and low C.
With practice, your kids will get it, and it also offers the chance to discuss how performance can make the music better match the feeling of the song.
Never Gonna Give You Up – */10
Is this song easy for your kids?
No way!
Will it be a fun way to inspire and challenge them to learn more difficult rhythms and jump all over their recorder?
Absolutely!
Commonly Asked Questions
What’s the easiest song to play on the recorder? – This is truly a matter of opinion, but I believe Hot Cross Buns is the overall easiest.
It uses 3 notes, is very repetitive, and is well-known.
Is the recorder hard to play? – Yes and no.
Compared to most other instruments, the recorder is easy to learn.However, it takes time to master like any other instrument.
It’s also often the first instrument taught to require air control and fingerings which makes it hard for many at first.
Are wooden recorders better than plastic ones? – Mostly yes. They’re usually a bit more fragile, but the sound quality is head and shoulders above plastic ones.
We tend to use plastic in schools because they’re cheaper and can stand a beating a little better.
Conclusion
I hope you find this list of 27 easy songs on recorder useful in your classroom or to improve your recorder skills.
I love teaching recorders and your students will love these songs too.
These are extra useful when your students are struggling and you need to dig another song out to get their foundation secure.
Picking easy songs is the first place to go, but when it comes to really learning the recorder, you need a plan.
Check out my guide on how to play the recorder which also covers practice techniques, how to create good sound, and resources to check out.
Save time with these 60 FREE Music Resources to use in your room right away!
Stop searching the whole internet to find good activities. I’ll help you cut to the chase with my favorite 60 FREE resources.
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What Happens After a Band Gets Signed (Then Dropped) from TikTokThe Rare Occasions are an LA-based, New England-bred indie rock band known for their explosive garage rock anthems with catchy vocal harmonies.
In 2021 the band released their first album as a trio, Big Whoop, which received significant press and radio play. Around the same time, their 2016 track “Notion” went viral on TikTok and continues to make waves, topping Spotify’s viral chart in the US and several other countries, and later landing on Billboard’s alternative charts and top 100 singles charts in the UK, Ireland, and Canada.
The Rare Occasions released their new EP, Attaboy, on November 4th, 2022. The first single off the EP “Seasick” has already garnered the attention of radio DJs across the country including SiriusXM’s Alt Nation with the second single “Not Afraid” being an explosive follow up. After sharing Attaboy’s hard-hitting riffs, danceable grooves, and ear-catching melodies with audiences across the nation on their Fall 2022 headline tour, the band has shifted its efforts towards new music in 2023.
7 Ways to Find a ManagerThe manager is the most important person in your operation. Your manager is your teammate. Your partner. Your friend. Finding a manager is about timing, being in the right place at the right time and, really, making it seem like you don’t need a manager.
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#SoundParticles #spatialaudio #MusicMapping Tonal Harmony Pro 9 iOS Manual
What’s new in version 9 for iOS
The Analyzer Add-on
An incredible and unprecedented tool, not found in any app on the market today.
The Analyzer is able to solve a complete harmonic analysis of any chord progression written in an ordinary text editor. It finds key centers, modulations, pivot chords and of course, functional analysis and chord-scales for every chord in the song.
Open MUSIC-XML files from other apps (such as iReal Pro) and have the entire progression analyzed and ready to play.
Edit and save any progression using an ordinary text editor.
Analyze any song using any of the 10 different harmonic languages available: Jazz, Blues, Early Baroque, Late Classical, etc. Remember, although the rules of harmony are universal, some styles differ in the way they approach it (i.e. In Blues you can have a I7 chord)
Saving Performance Settings
Customize the play-along and hit SAVE. Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro will remember: tempo, mixer volumes & reverb, A.I. player customization, key of the song, groove style, and instrument sounds. So the next time you open that song the app will play it just the way you like it.
Shortcut Buttons
The shortcut buttons allow you to access often-used features in Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro with one click.(i.e. Hide/Show the map, all chords vs. used chords only, change staff preferences, adjust tempo, key, repeats, etc.
How To Import MusicXml Files from iReal Pro into Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro 9 (iOS)
Open the song you want to export in iReal Pro
(1) Tap on the share button to open the menu and choose Export Chord Chart
(2) Select the MusicXml option
(3) Find MTH Pro in the list of apps that can receive this type of file.
(OR) Click on More if you don’t see it listed there
Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro will launch and open the MusicXml file in the Analyzer’s Text Editor
You can edit some of the chords if you want
(4) Tap on the Analyze button
(5) Make sure to choose the correct music style from the drop down button
(Optional) If the song uses a Im7 chord in the progression you can enable the Allow im7 switch
(6) Tap on ANALYZE. Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro will find a solution for the harmonic analysis based on the style you’ve chosen.
You’ll get a report when the analysis is ready
(7) Click on OK to view the songs fully analyzed
The songs has been analyzed and saved, and you can play it with the Play button.
Note: songs that have been created with the analyzer have an (A) appended to their names
The Shortcuts Panel
In the shortcuts panel you can execute common tasks.
The macOS version vs. the iOS version
The macOS version offers a few more features (such as: the heat map, playlists, etc.) but the principles and operation of the two versions are the same. In this manual we’ll focus on the user interaction/interface elements that are different between the two versions.
To understand the concept and general operation of Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro, please refer to the macOS manual here:
Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro for macOS manual
Tips and Tricks in the iOS version
Resizing the Map/Score Panels
Looping Measures
Resizing the Map/Score Panels
Tap on the line diving the map and the score. The division line will get thicker. Then drag it up/down to resize the panels. To hide the map completely, you can drag the line all the way down.
Use this shortcut button to show/hide the map with one tap
Looping Measures
If you want to practice over specific measures follow this steps:
Tap & hold on the measure where you want the loop to start. Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro will show an alert box acknowledging your attempt to loop some measures. Click OK.
Then:
(1) Open the play-along menu(2) Select the amount of measures you want to loop(3) Enable LOOP
Saving Performance Settings
Once you’ve tweaked the tempo, A.I. player settings, volumes, style, etc. of a song, you can save those settings as a performance. So the next time you open that song it will sound exactly as you like it.
Use this button to save the current performance settings of the song.
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Machine learning and the arts: A creative continuumSketch a doodle of a drum or a saxophone to conjure a multi-instrumental composition. Look into a webcam, speak, and watch your mouth go bouncing across the screen — the input for a series of charmingly clunky chain reactions.
This is what visitors to the MIT Lewis Music Library encounter when they interact with two new digital installations, “Doodle Tunes” and “Sounds from the Mouth,” created by 2022-23 Center for Art and Technology (CAST) Visiting Artist Andreas Refsgaard in collaboration with Music Technology and Digital Media Librarian Caleb Hall. The residency was initiated by Avery Boddie, Lewis Music Library department head, who recognized Refsgaard’s flair for revealing the playfulness of emerging technologies. The intricacies of coding and machine learning can seem daunting to newcomers, but Refsgaard’s practice as a creative coder, interaction designer, and educator seeks to open the field to all. Encompassing workshops, an artist talk, class visits, and an exhibition, the residency was infused with his unique sense of humor — a combination of lively eccentricity and easygoing relatability.
Learning through laughterRefsgaard, who is based in Copenhagen, is a true maverick of machine learning. “I’m interested in the ways we can express ourselves through code,” he explains. “I like to make unconventional connections between inputs and outputs, with the computer serving as a translator — a tool might allow you to play music with your eyes, or it might generate a love poem from a photo of a burrito.” Refsgaard’s particular spin on innovation isn’t about directly solving problems or launching world-changing startups. Instead, he simply seeks to “poke at what can be done,” providing accessible open-source templates to prompt new creative ideas and applications.
Programmed by Refsgaard and featuring a custom set of sounds created by Hall, “Doodle Tunes” and “Sounds from the Mouth” demonstrate how original compositions can be generated through a mix of spontaneous human gestures and algorithmically produced outputs. In “Doodle Tunes,” a machine learning algorithm is trained on a dataset of drawings of different instruments: a piano, drums, bass guitar, or saxophone. When the user sketches one of these images on a touchscreen, a sound is generated; the more instruments you add, the more complex the composition. “Sounds from the Mouth” works through facial tracking and self-capturing images. When the participant faces a webcam and opens their mouth, an autonomous snapshot is created which bounces off the notes of a piano. To try the projects for yourself, scroll to the end of this article.
Libraries, unlimited
Saxophone squeals and digital drum beats aren’t the only sounds issuing from the areas where the projects are installed. “My office is close by,” says Hall. “So when I suddenly hear laughter, I know exactly what’s up.” This new sonic dimension of the Lewis Music Library fits with the ethos of the environment as a whole — designed as a campus hub for audio experimentation, the library was never intended to be wholly silent. Refsgaard’s residency exemplifies a new emphasis on progressive programming spearheaded by Boddie, as the strategy of the library shifts toward a focus on digital collections and music technology.
“In addition to serving as a space for quiet study and access to physical resources, we want the library to be a place where users congregate, collaborate, and explore together,” says Boddie. “This residency was very successful in that regard. Through the workshops, we were able to connect individuals from across the MIT community and their unique disciplines. We had people from the Sloan School of Management, from the Schwarzman College of Computing, from Music and Theater Arts, all working together, getting messy, creating tools that sometimes worked … and sometimes didn’t.”
Error and serendipity
The integration of error is a key quality of Refgaard’s work. Occasional glitches are part of the artistry, and they also serve to gently undermine the hype around AI; an algorithm is only as good as its dataset, and that set is inflected by human biases and oversights. During a public artist talk, “Machine Learning and the Arts,” audience members were initiated into Refsgaard’s offbeat artistic paradigm, presented with projects such as Booksby.ai (an online bookstore for AI-produced sci-fi novels), Is it FUNKY? (an attempt to distinguish between “fun” and “boring” images), and Eye Conductor (an interface to play music via eye movements and facial gestures). Glitches in the exhibit installations were frankly admitted (it’s true that “Doodle Tunes” occasionally mistakes a drawing of a saxophone for a squirrel), and Refsgaard encouraged audience members to suggest potential improvements.
This open-minded attitude set the tone of the workshops “Art, Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence” and “Machine Learning for Interaction Designers,” intended to be suitable for newcomers as well as curious experts. Refsgaard’s visits to music technology classes explored the ways that human creativity could be amplified by machine learning, and how to navigate the sliding scale between artistic intention and unexpected outcomes. “As I see it, success is when participants engage with the material and come up with new ideas. The first step of learning is to understand what is being taught — the next is to apply that understanding in ways that the teacher couldn’t have foreseen.”
Uncertainty and opportunity
Refsgaard’s work exemplifies some of the core values and questions central to the evolution of MIT Libraries — issues of digitization, computation, and open access. By choosing to make his lighthearted demos freely accessible, he renounces ownership of his ideas; a machine learning model might serve as a learning device for a student, and it might equally be monetized by a corporation. For Refsgaard, play is a way of engaging with the ethical implications of emerging technologies, and Hall found himself grappling with these questions in the process of creating the sounds for the two installations. “If I wrote the sound samples, but someone else arranged them as a composition, then who owns the music? Or does the AI own the music? It’s an incredibly interesting time to be working in music technology; we’re entering into unknown territory.”
For Refsgaard, uncertainty is the secret sauce of his algorithmic artistry. “I like to make things where I’m surprised by the end result,” he says. “I’m seeking that sweet spot between something familiar and something unexpected.” As he explains, too much surprise simply amounts to noise, but there’s something joyful in the possibility that a machine might mistake a saxophone for a squirrel. The task of a creative coder is to continually tune the relationship between human and machine capabilities — to find and follow the music.
“Doodle Tunes” and “Sounds from the Mouth” are on display in the MIT Lewis Music Library (14E-109) until Dec. 20. Click the links to interact with the projects online.
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