Music Education with Digital Technology Part Three

“Composing with graphical technologies: Representations, manipulations and affordances” by Kevin Jennings (2007), discusses the advantages and disadvantages of composing with computer programs. Some of these advantages have already been highlighted in discussing the views of Finney (2007) and Quinn (2007). Jennings also stresses the importance of active music making, “Beginning composers need to plunge into composing in order to learn how to compose. They need to try to do what they do not know how to do in order to gain the experience that will help them learn how to do it” (p. 76). In short, composing should be experiential. Jennings also highlights another paradigm of composing stating, “The ability to play an instrument, for example, can be a double-edged sword. While it enables students to realize their musical ideas, it often constrains these ideas to those that they can physically play, so that music arises from ‘the automisation of our fingers’ (quoted in Smith Brindle, 1986, p. 6) rather than from considered compositional thought” (p. 76). It is difficult to make a distinction from the body and mind as they are interrelated and interdependent. How can one tell the difference between the actions of the body and the intentions of the mind? What is truly insightful from Jennings is his analysis of how some computer compositions programs work and how they manipulate the actions of the user (composer). Program interfaces are not neutral as one might assume, “they subliminally direct the actions of users, in both musical and non-musical ways” (p. 78). Jennings uses the example of writing music on paper to contrast the differences with computers, “the only action that can be carried out on an object is to erase it and replace it with another” (p. 78). Composition programs use symbols to represent musical outcomes, the user can easily cut and paste audio events and replicate them if so desired. The example of the program Hyperscore is used to explain how it uses what is essentially a simple painting program and converts these symbols into music. The composer selects different colors and brushstrokes along a timeline to create a musical idea. The composer can create many small musical ideas and link them together to fashion a larger piece of music. Hyperscore works much like an alternative music score; it uses symbols and a timeline. Notably, a lack of a symbol indicates that a rest takes place, unlike writing music with paper where the composer must insert a symbol to indicate a rest.
Computer composition programs have a tendency to make assumptions and guide the user to make certain decisions. There are a limited number of options that a composer can choose when working with one of these programs, and the production of sound is guaranteed. Like a piano, a computer can offer immediate feedback; by depressing a key a sound is generated. The computer then not only serves as a score editor, but as an instrument as well. The composer is only limited by the computer’s capabilities. If a program only has a dozen sounds, then the timbral qualities of pieces composed with that program will sound quite similar. This is a problem with presets on soft synthesizers (computer based synthesizers) because attaining an original sound is not possible. With a live instrument, the player influences the subtleties of sound emitted by their instrument. Truly original sounds on computers are achieved by those who manipulate them which requires a degree of technical knowledge as opposed to musical knowledge.
Just as Jennings (2007) sees the ability of knowing how to play an instrument as a constraint on one’s compositional potential, I see computer composition programs having the same flaw. Programs like Hyperscore have excellent applications to the classroom and should be integrated into teaching composition, especially for new composers, but music educators need to be mindful that there are several routes to crafting a new piece of music. As composers become more adept at using programs with simple interfaces, they can use more sophisticated programs that give the user more flexibility and choice. Now that Garageband is a standard program on all apple computers, a new demographic of people are invited to music and compose in a context based on fun and exploration. Even video game manufacturers are recognizing the potential of music composition in software and have released simple musicing interfaces such as Nintendo’s Wii Music.

Music Education with Digital Technology Part Two

Hannah Quinn’s chapter “Perspectives from a new generation secondary school music teacher” chronicles her transition from piano player to electronic musician. Quinn recalls how her high school examinations in music required her to compose and how the result was “something vaguely classical sounding” (p. 23). From a peer Quinn discovered electronic music and became enamored with it. Quinn soon went from being a listener of the genre to a composer. She is a classically trained pianist with a degree in electro-acoustic composition. She has been educated in two very different schools of thought, but she seemed to find more enjoyment in being an electronic musician. Quinn writes:
Perhaps it was something do with the solitary hours which I had spent writing bits and pieces, the individual engaged with a computer, which allowed that deep relationship to develop. While I seem to have learned to enjoy both working alone and with others, my bedroom studio was a place of solitude, a private world where I was able to take things at my own pace, a place to both lose and find myself (p.24).
What Quinn reveals is that in composing she experienced what Csikszentmihalyi (1990) calls “flow.” Based on the experiences of Quinn and PJ mentioned in Finney (2007), it is apparent that music technology enables musicers to experience flow. Although Quinn does not state it explicitly, I believe that she is more partial to her experiences in electronic music than classical performance because there were more flow experiences. She describes the challenges and rewards of composing, the asking of questions and the resulting problem solving.
Despite Quinn’s own personal leanings, she describes her classroom setting as one that balances the teaching of different Musics. She strives to demonstrate to her students the value of all Musics and exposes them to musicing exercises in all of them. She perceives music technology as a tool to engage students, “music technology offers a way into music, specifically composition, which is potentially free from traditional constraints and makes the study of music more accessible to more students” (p. 28). Like Finney (2007) she is skeptical of the efficacy of traditional music teaching,
I am left wondering about how students without the kind of privileged background that I had can be expected to use classical traditions creatively. Many of the schemes of learning devised for the first three years of secondary school are in danger of becoming less and less artistic as we strive to pass on the beacon of traditional knowledge to a generation for whom rondo, the concerto, and phrase lengths have little relevance or meaning. Standardized curricula seeking standardized outcomes are likely to be disturbing to the creative professional musician (p. 28).
I appreciate Quinn’s frank honestly, but if all Musics are to be treated equally in a classroom environment, then music educators need to find ways to make music deemed “traditional” relevant to students. It should be acknowledged that electronic music has constraints, while it may seem to be free of form, the method in which it is constructed is inherently limiting and this issue will be discussed in the following section. Both Finney (2007) and Quinn (2007) emphasize the importance of music in action which aligns with Elliott’s view of musicing (1995). Despite their biases towards electronic compositon, they give a voice to a Music that is underrepresented in most school music programs. A Music that music educators should be utilizing in composition activities. Through composing in the style of electronica students can gain valuable musicing skills.

Music Education with Digital Technology Part One

I've been reading a book entitled Music Education with Digital Technology edited by John Finney and Pamela Burnard. I'll be posting my thoughts on a few of the chapters for the next few nights.

Finney (2007) states “where is music education? The answer is complex: all around, in and out of school” (p. 11). When Green (2001) speaks of music education, she refers to music education within schools. Finney’s view of music education is more broad as he is largely influenced by the education that takes place outside of schools. Finney disccuses the barriers imposed by school music in the UK and tells the story of a student, PJ, who could not manage with the music curriculum, but was still very musical and wanted to pursue studies in music at the high school level. PJ created music in the the rap genre and had ambitions of being a producer like his hero Dizzee Rascal. PJ had successfully crafted compositions, but he lacked other musical skills that are required by the curriculum such as theory. Finney believes that the problem is not with PJ, rather the problem is with the curriculum.

These boundaries are in some part created by what sociologists have referred to as high status knowledge. In the case of music, this is knowledge that arbitrates in matters of tastes. It defines what counts as music and what doesn’t count as music, and determines who is and who is not the musician. It continues to privilege elaborated musical structures and insists on a particular approach to the decoding of musical works. It is this that regulates formal musical learning and celebrates orthodoxy rather than heresy in artistic work (p. 18).

Obviously Finney values PJ’s ability to arrange and compose and it is refreshing to hear his alternative perspective, but it raises some controversial issues, specifically related to music technology. The reason why PJ was able to compose was in large part due to the enabling ability of the program he was using (Reason by Propellerheads). Like Apple’s Garageband, Sony’s Acid, or Ableton’s Live, these are sequencing programs that enable the user to piece together sampled sounds and sculpt them into an original piece of music. The advantage of such programs is that it encourages the user to experiment and improvise with the computer or program as the instrument. The user receives instant feedback from the program and can hear the impact of the choices they have made in composing. This allows for rapid editing and revising. The disadvantage is that the user does not need to have any knowledge of music theory (although implicitly they are applying this knowledge, thus demonstrating evidence of it). In the case of PJ, his school did not consider the computer to be an instrument, so from their point of view he was not very musical and no formal musical knowledge. I understand both perspectives and they both have some valid claims, but I think at the high school level students should be encouraged to be music makers regardless of how it occurs. The issue comes back to what Elliott (1995) refers to as the aims of music education. Ideally, if a school system could offer students musicing experiences with technology and in more formal scenarios such as traditional band class than students would receive the best of both worlds. The issue of context resurfaces because certain types of Music have closer ties with technology than others. In order for a student to use a program like Reason, they have to be willing to compose in the style of electronica.

Huffington Post

Last week on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Anna Huffington (of the Huffington Post) was a guest. She was talking about a new book, the Huffington Post guide to blogging. It was interesting to hear her perspective on the practice and Jon Stewart's reactions. She said that one should blog about a topic that they are passionate about. Blogs should be like drafts of essays, not final copies. She challenged Jon Stewart to start a blog and he responded that he already had a TV show to express his opinions! They proceeded to have a discussion about the idea of filtering thoughts while blogging. Huffington's stance was that blogging should be a fluid process, one should just write and revise later. I know for myself that I prefert to think about what I'm going to write before I actually start typing. I find the practice of blogging difficult for that reason. I have a similar apporach to writing music - I think about a piece first, then try to play what I hear in my head. My approach to blogging is that I only want to post something if it might have some use to someone else - practically or philosophically.
I have been working on my website so frequently lately that it has been consuming much of my time and my blog gets neglected. Most recently I have been learning more about photoshop and experiencing how powerful it is. There are some great resources on the web that walk you through how to use the different functions of the program. My most recent application is on my nyu homepage, I made buttons with plasticene - however the problem is that the 3D quality of the platicene does not really appear - so despite that fact that it took a day to do that, I think I'm going to scrap that idea and try something else.

Taking Tips from Popular Music

"For nearly a century, formal music education has turned its back upon the learning practices of the musicians who produce most of the music that comes out of loudspeakers. But perhaps by constructively embracing those same technological developments which many people consider to have alienated music-making, and noticing how they are used as one of the main means of self-education for popular musicians, we can find one key to the re-invigoration of music-making in general."

- Lucy Green, How Popular Musicians Learn, p. 186

In Green's How Popular Musicians Learn, she expresses her concern with the lack music-making in our current society. She argues that in previous centuries music-making was much more common, but for various reasons, comparatively far less people are music-makers at the present time. Green interviewed 14 popular musicians to learn about their learning process. One of the things she took away from these interviews was the importance of learning from recorded music. She found that most of the musicians started out by 'copying' familiar songs which exposed them to various styles. Eventually the musicians would draw on this knowledge to sculpt their own compositions or playing style. Green believes that if music education in schools involved more popular music and creative exercises such as composing and improvising, practices common in popular music, then more people would 'stick' with music after they finish school. She also believes that the skills derived from learning popular music can enhance the abilities of classical musicians.
Green's arguments are convincing, and caused me to reflect on my own musical development. Reading her book was like reading a history of how I learned to play the guitar and drumset. I think that there is a lot to be said for learning from recordings and one of the most valuable skills derived from this practice is critical listening. With recording technology being so accessible, we have the ability to record and analyze our own compositions with relative ease. I think we can use this to our advantage and improve our musicianship by incorporating recording as part of our reflective learning process.

New Browser - Google Chrome

http://www.google.com/chrome

That's the link to google's new browser, 'chrome'. I gave it a run and it works well. It seems to be much like firefox. Yet another reason not to use internet explorer! I've had a lot of problems specifically related to my class website with internet explorer. I've had to make a lot revisions to get it to look the same as it does in safari and firefox. I use firefox pretty much exclusively, the only reason why I have explorer is because it came on my pc.

I've started to think about my final project and I'm leaning towards doing a stop animation film. I was inspired by Delio's film who was in this class last semester. Just have a look at the old class's websites and you'll see his name there. I think his film is excellent and I haven't done stop animation since highschool and that was done on analog machines!

snipping on vista

Here's a picture of how to find the snipping tool on your system if you're using vista. One note, it's not available on vista basic, but chances are you have vista home or higher. In the bottom left hand corner click on the vista logo and then type in 'snip' in the search box. It will show up, and then you just click on it. It will ask you if you want to install it on your toolbar. If you selected 'yes', in the future you can access it straight from the toolbar.