Menulay's
"Musicland" program has been used successfully
with children as young as three. It enables children
to compose music immediately by manipulating notes and
graphic representations of musical concepts on the computer.
A student can draw a shape on the staff on the computer
screen, and see it translated into musical notation.
The student then colors in the notes, with different
colors for different instruments, and the computer plays
back the composition in synthesized sounds.
"Band-in-a-Box"
by PG Software lets students improvise backups to familiar
jazz, pop, rock, and folk music. It also features editing
capability so that students can create their own musical
styles. Their improvisations and compositions can be
saved on a MIDI file and sent to a music printing program
such as "Nightingale" by Temporal Acuity Products
which creates musical scores for other instruments.
One
might wonder if such "artificial" music removes
the need to understand and learn harmony, notation,
scoring, and reading music. In fact, many students are
so motivated by what they create through musical technology
that they are stimulated to learn more about each of
these areas. Their success becomes a driving force for
further learning.
It
is being discovered that digital technology, which combines
digital audio with visual input, makes it possible for
many students to learn about elements of music that
are often too complicated for beginners to understand.
One example is the Voyager Company's interactive multimedia
compact disc of Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony,"
which enables the listener to understand the piece musically,
historically, culturally, and politically. Stravinsky's
"Rite of Spring" is even more extensive, progressing
from simple to complex concepts; it can be accessed
at any knowledge level. The few programs that currently
exist are just the beginning of this exciting new way
of learning about and creating music.
Warner's
"Music Exploratorium" explores various aspects
of the orchestra through Benjamin Britten's "Young
Person's Guide to the Orchestra." It presents,
in a random-access combination of video and audio, information
about the composer and conductor, the players, the instruments,
and the structure of the com- position.
The
University of Delaware Videodisc Music Series at this
writing includes ten full-color video recordings. In
each of the programs, the score scrolls across the screen
as the music is played. The programs include color-coded
musical analysis; supporting slides illustrate cultural
highlights of the composers' life and historical period.
Such
interactive videodiscs on music make it possible to
"break out" and hear individual instruments,
see the score while the music is playing, or identify
the source of a particular theme or melody. The information
on these discs is "random access," making
it possible for the learner to follow a particular line
of interest in a self-directed manner, at any ability
level
The
Association for Technology in Music Instruction (ATMI)
annually publishes a directory which lists and summarizes
all of the existing computer programs, videodiscs, films,
CDROM
discs, and music technology hardware on the market.
It is available with membership in ATMI.
Such
a technological support system for the learning of music
and music-appreciation leads not only to proficiency,
but also to in-depth understanding. The development
of musical thinking and creativity-musical intelligence
itself can thus be enriched and expanded.
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The
development of musical intelligence can be enhanced by
technology in the same way that verbal fluency is enhanced
by word-processors. Fledgling composers can hum a tune
into synthesizers such as the EPS 16 from Ensoniq or the
SZ-1 from Casio, for example, and have it sound like one
of many instruments, fully accompanied by an electronic
rhythm section. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface,
or MIDI, makes it possible to compose for and orchestrate
many different instruments through the computer. Pyware's
"Music Writer" and Activision's "Music
Studio" are examples of software programs that also
make such magic possible.