The myth of creative inspiration looms large in Western culture, propagating the myth of the composer as musical genius. An alternative history of Western music, however, reveals procedures and processes that delineate a multitude of concrete compositional approaches. Schoenberg had his 12-tone grid, John Cage relied on chance procedures, Harry Partch created his own instruments. In this course, students will learn the history of various methods, systems and puzzles as well as different conceptual approaches — mathematical, poetic, and aleatoric — for spurring creative practice. Students participate in this historical inquiry by creating musical projects based on these various methods.