By Elaine Yu

omposing and programming music are two very different disciplines. Although the two are very different, one can combine both and make something beautiful out of it. Interactive Music Programming and Creation is a MOOC (Massive Online Open Class) designed by NCNU Professor Herng-Yow Chen and his team of graduate students for teaching a classical combination of music composition and traditional programming.

This course isn’t a one-man effort. Professor Chen and his graduate student team worked intensively on the contents and videography of this course to enhance the learning experience for all users.

The goal of this course is to provide an introductory experience to music programming by teaching the fundamental elements in a non-tedious fashion.  This course also aims to teach students to use standard programs in composing such as Musescore and Sonic Pi. Classical music will be the core concept of this course, and it will help students understand the beauty of classical music. At the end of this course, the professor guarantees that students will be able to compose famous songs. One thing that makes this course unique is that the recording experience takes place both indoors and outdoors. The green mountains of NCNU will ring harmoniously with nature and also inspire others to come up with unique ideas.

This course will be conducted in English, but Mandarin subtitles are also available. After meeting the minimum requirements, students who attend this online course will receive a certificate of attendance. This online course will be held from May 25 – June 29, 2020. It will include six chapters, with each chapter being approximately one hour long and broken down to five or six sub-units. One week will be dedicated to each chapter. This online course will be posted on YouTube, but students can also register and attend the class from this website: https://www.openedu.tw/course.jsp?id=990 .