Morwaread Mary Farbood

This information is accurate as of the fellowship year indicated for each fellow.

Morwaread Mary Farbood is an associate professor in the music technology program at New York University. Drawing from methodologies in the fields of music theory, cognitive psychology, and computer science, her research focuses primarily on the computational modeling of real-time aspects of music perception. She explores how emergent phenomena such as tonality and musical tension are perceived and how knowledge of these high-level aspects of music can be incorporated into software applications for facilitating musical creativity.

At Radcliffe, Farbood is developing a graphical software application for computer-assisted composition that enables users to create music through the assistance of an intelligent musical system based on music cognition. The system employs computational models that reflect how humans perceive structural and aesthetic aspects of music. The goal is for the system to serve as a musical expert and cocreator that can assist the user at any level of the compositional process.

Farbood received an AB from Harvard College and SM and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the cofounder of the Northeast Music Cognition Group (NEMCOG), an organization that brings together music cognition researchers in the Northeast Corridor region of the United States. In addition to her research activities, she has performed professionally as a harpsichordist and is the recipient of the Pro Musicis International Award and winner of first prize in harpsichord performance at the Prague Spring International Music Competition.