Computer Scientists with Serious Music Avocations Share Their Thinking

This article presents the cognitive capacities and tendencies in the lives of computer scientists who play classical music as a serious avocation. Using qualitative research and thematic analysis methods, narratives of seven participants are constructed through open-ended interviews, from which the essence of their thinking skills is extracted in the form of four primary themes: being in the zone, assuming an engineering/scientific mindset, aesthetic thinking and joyous thinking. With such a rich thinking toolkit, this study motivates educators to support individuals with interdisciplinary interests and calls for such individuals not to leave behind their musical passions despite pragmatic career considerations.