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 *** Send contributions to Music-Research@uk.ac.oxford.prg *** Send administrative requests to Music-Research-Request *** Overseas users should reverse UK addresses and give gateway if necessary *** e.g. Music-Research@prg.oxford.ac.uk *** or Music-Research%prg.oxford.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk *** Back issues, index, etc.: send "help" in a message to archive-server *** @uk.ac.oxford.prg (in the UK) or @hplpm.hpl.hp.com (elsewhere) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 Harwood Terrace Technology and Systems Integration Division Fulham Andersen Consulting London SW6 2AB 2 Arundel Street U.K. London WC2R 3LT U.K. JANET sdpage@uk.ac.oxford.prg | Work 071-438 5074 (direct) ARPA sdpage%prg.oxford.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | +44-71-438 5074 UUCP ...!ukc!ox-prg!sdpage | Home 071-371 9981 BITNET sdpage%uk.ac.oxford.prg@AC.UK | +44-71-371 9981 Fax: 071-831 1133 Telex: 8812711 Secretary: 071-438 5100 (direct line) ------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------ End of Music-Research Digest