Musik für Maschinen?! – Wo sich die Wissenschaft der Medien, des Computers und der Musik treffen und wie sie zusammenarbeiten könnten

Musicology and computer science do not only come together in areas such as the use, analysis and performance of digitized data, but also meet in unexpected places such as in context of critical media studies and inquiries about the material and aesthetic conditions of digitality. Such „exploratory interactions“ with computers and their aesthetics might resonate well with musicology. This mini-contribution firstly presents a historical situation in which for a short period in the 20th century the machinic music of digitality became audible. It then formulates, just as briefly and sketchily, the socio-critical potential of music-oriented approaches, especially rhythm analysis, still to be tested, when it comes to grasp and understand digitality in as many facets as possible (socio-technological, aesthetic, historical and epistemic). Thereby, a fourth partner might be of importance: pedagogy.