music-research@HPLPM.HPL.HP.COM (02/05/91)
Music-Research Digest Mon, 4 Feb 91 Volume 6 : Issue 10
Today's Topics:
Musicus: Computer Applications in Music Education (journal review)
WANTED: music editor for the X window system
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Date: Sun, 3 Feb 91 22:32:52 GMT
From: Stephen.Page@prg
Subject: Musicus: Computer Applications in Music Education (journal review)
To: music-research
Message-ID: <9102032232.AA00291@msc12.comlab.prg.ox.ac.uk>
This is a (belated!) review of a new journal entitled "Musicus: Computer
Applications in Music Education", published by the CTI [Computers in
Teaching Initiative] Centre for Music, ISSN 0958-0999. My review copies
were volume I/i (June 1989) and volume I/ii (December 1989).
The journal can be obtained from the CTI Centre for Music, Department of
Music, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK. Their email address is
CTImusic@uk.ac.lancaster. Subscriptions cost UKL10 for UK and Europe,
UKL15 elsewhere, for one volume (two issues).
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The academic world is always in danger of overspecialising, and the
appearance of yet another journal should be viewed with some scepticism.
However, I welcome this new arrival to a field which is not well
represented on everyone's shelves.
Musicus -- which, as the editor points out, "looks as it it might be an
acronym, but needn't be ... Boethius used the word to denote one who was
capable of the highest discrimination in the art of 'number made audible'"
-- sets out to expand the pool of knowledge necessary to bring computers
into "everyday teaching, whether through curricular innovation or by the
imaginative application of new or existing software to mainstream areas of
the subject".
This is a challenging task, because widespread use of computers in music
education is not constrained just by technical barriers: there are
problems of acceptability which will take several generations to overcome.
This journal may help, with its orientation towards the user rather than
the technician.
Although the subtitle, and the name of the publishing Institute, may lead
one to expect a journal on Computer Aided Instruction (or, to use the
currently fashionable term, Technology Based Training), the first two
issues cover a much broader scope. The editors take the view that music
educators need more than teaching software: computers can, and should,
form a part of the everyday toolkit of music researchers, composers, and
teachers.
The first issue begins, therefore, not with teaching software but with the
area which is at the top of everyone's wish-list: programs to originate
high-quality printed music by computer. Based on a conference held at the
University of Surrey in 1989, the articles cover the field as seen from
several angles: composer, publisher, user. Most of the issues presented
will be familiar to readers of this Digest, as music printing has been a
subject of much debate (and even more enquiries!).
There are the inevitable calls for standardisation, although I do not
accept the editor's view that music scanning will "bring with it a de
facto standard for the machine encoding of music" -- instead, I suspect it
will prolong the debate between those who want to represent the finished
page and those who want to separate it into constituent notational
symbols. Andrew Potter's remarks on new possibilities for music
distribution (score and parts generated at the distribution outlet from a
CD-ROM database) offer challenging opportunities for the music industry.
Forty-nine pages of the journal are devoted to "user reports" on music
printing software. User reports are to be a regular feature of the
journal, and they are very welcome. The packages covered are SCORE,
Professional Composer, and HB Engraver. I found this section useful but
depressing. When will music software developers learn the basic lessons of
user interface design, good documentation practices, thorough testing --
not to mention the full vocabulary of notation? I also wondered why no one
has explored the possibility of using expert systems to mimic the rules
used by professional engravers.
The remaining article in the first issue is by Leigh Landy, covering the
unusual and interesting course in Musicology and Computing Science at the
University of Amsterdam. A good description of the course, and the issues
faced by its planners, is presented. However, I did wonder just how they
define "musicology" in Amsterdam (not an easy issue -- I still remember
the agonies a decade ago when I had to write a paper entitled "What is
Musicology?").
The second issue of the journal is broader in scope. It begins with an
assessment of the possibilities for musical uses of interactive
multimedia, and area which is long overdue for a published update.
Teaching remains the theme for the next article, on an "Interactive
Tutoring System", an ambitious project to construct a platform on which
music teaching software can be built for schools and first-year university
students. The project is being run using conventional systems development
practices -- rare for music applications -- and this will help to ensure
that the finished product is adaptable and well documented. The article
offers a good explanation of the design methodology, and although this
seems a bit out of place it is certainly reassuring. A model of the system
is presented, and this looks very interesting, although I wondered whether
the components of the system are being built to be interchangeable and
replaceable as new technologies and algorithms appear.
A series of articles from the University of Washington, Seattle, describe
the current uses of their "LISP Kernel Musical Environment". Although LISP
is one of the least accessible languages to the novice user, the various
projects in composition which the Washington tools have supported open
exciting new possibilities.
Analysis is also tackled using Prolog, in a system for music segmentation
described by John Roeder. This is not a new application area, but the
Prolog approach is innovative. This software, like the LISP Kernel, is
freely available for others to take and extend.
This issue of the journal contains another snapshot of an academic
institution: ten years of computer-aided musicology in Nottingham. This
university has made a very significant contribution, and although in
recent years the move away from programming-based analysis towards
workstation tools may have left them behind slightly, the University is
one of the few institutions to offer an MA which combines strong
musicology skills with computer-assisted techniques. A valuable
bibliography is appended, including some little-known but useful items.
Other short articles cover programming as part of the undergraduate music
curriculum at Sheffield (I wondered why this was included, as it adds no
new information -- and in any case it would be better to spend less time
on programming and more on using tools to adapt new ideas), and a MIDI
library for the Atari ST. There are reviews of an aural training program
for the Macintosh (MacGAMUT), and two anthologies on digital audio.
Both issues of the journal conclude with a useful software directory,
based on an online database which is accessible in the UK. Subject areas
covered include notation, sound synthesis/waveform editing, sequencers,
improvisation packages, composition packages, composition languages and
environments, video soundtrack time coding, aural training, courseware,
and disc cataloguing. Although I would have preferred this to be a little
more evaluative, the list is a useful compendium. Its most valuable
feature is the cross-referencing to reviews and articles about the
software.
One suggestion: electronic mail addresses should be included for all
contributors who have access to email facilities, and if possible for the
software vendors as well.
This new journal is neatly typeset and well presented. I found the
articles stimulating and enjoyable, and the issues I reviewed contained a
good balance of new material and reports on existing institutions and
projects. I look forward to seeing future issues, and I commend the
journal to anyone interested in computer applications in music -- not just
music education.
- Dr Stephen Page
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Date: 3 Feb 91 22:38:08 GMT
From: tmb%ai-lab%snorkelwacker.mit.edu@com.apple (Thomas M. Breuel)
Subject: WANTED: music editor for the X window system
To: music-research@prg
Message-ID: <13152@life.ai.mit.edu>
I am looking for software that lets me edit musical scores, samples,
etc. under the X window system. I would appreciate if you could let me
know about any public domain or commercial software you know of.
I will summarize to the net.
Thanks, Thomas.
tmb@ai.mit.edu
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End of Music-Research Digest