=== === ============= ==== === === == == == == == ==== == == = == ==== === == == == == == == == = == == == == == == == == == ==== M U S I C T H E O R Y O N L I N E A Publication of the Society for Music Theory Copyright (c) 1997 Society for Music Theory +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Volume 3, Number 5 September, 1997 ISSN: 1067-3040 | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ General Editor Lee Rothfarb Co-Editors Dave Headlam Justin London Catherine Nolan Reviews Editor Brian Alegant Manager Robert Judd Consulting Editors Bo Alphonce Thomas Mathiesen Jonathan Bernard Benito Rivera John Clough John Rothgeb Nicholas Cook Arvid Vollsnes Allen Forte Robert Wason Marianne Kielian-Gilbert Gary Wittlich Stephen Hinton MTO Correspondents Per F. Broman, Sweden Nicolas Meeus, Belgium, France Peter Castine, Germany Ken-ichi Sakakibara, Japan Wai-ling Cheong, Hong Kong Roberto Saltini, Brazil Geoffrey Chew, England Michiel Schuijer, Holland Gerold W. Gruber, Austria Uwe Seifert, Germany Henry Klumpenhouwer, Canada Arvid Vollsnes, Norway Marco Renoldi, Italy Editorial Assistants Martin Steffen Cindy Nicholson Nicholas Blanchard Jon Koriagin Music Example Designer William Loewe Midi Consultant David Patrick Watts HTML and Java Consultant Bruce Petherick All queries to: mto-editor@smt.ucsb.edu or to mto-manager@smt.ucsb.edu +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 1. Feature Articles AUTHOR: McNamee, Ann, K. TITLE: Publishing and Pedagogy Using Multimedia on the World-Wide Web KEYWORDS: multimedia publishing, web publishing, web audio, Bacewicz, women composers Ann K. McNamee Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA 19081 amcname1@swarthmore.edu Internet URL: http://mcnamee.graham.com ABSTRACT: The Internet offers the promise that music theorists and their students will be able to integrate and synchronize high quality audio and images with their text analyses. One of the challenges is to make on-line multimedia publishing as easy for the author as print publishing is today. I offer my multimedia article on Bacewicz's Second Piano Sonata and the work of some Swarthmore undergraduate students, who used a template of mine to produce their own projects, as possible models for future multimedia music theory publishing on the Web. Refer to the following Internet URL: http://mcnamee.graham.com 0. Introduction 1. First Goal: Enhancing Music Theory Publishing 2. Second Goal: Designing a Template for Other Authors 3. The Template: Overall Two-Frame Design 4. Scanning Musical Scores 5. Links to Musical Examples 6. Copyright Issues 7. Footnotes and Bibliography 8. Cosmetics -- Varying Typefaces, Photos, etc. 9. The Quick Time Movies 10. Conclusion ==================== 0. Introduction [0.1] I have two goals for my research with regard to multimedia publishing on the Internet: 1) to explore ways to enhance music theory publishing by including sound and graphics; and 2) to encourage greater use of the Internet for music by creating a template which students and colleagues can use to author their own work. [0.2] The Internet offers the promise that music theorists and their students will be able to integrate and synchronize high quality audio and images with their text analyses. One of the challenges is to make on-line multimedia publishing as easy for the author as print publishing is today. While all of the basic technologies necessary for on-line multimedia publishing exist today, the technology still places a greater burden on the author than does print publishing. (This article is a significant revision of a paper presented at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria for a symposium entitled "New Media: Technology and Internet for Creative Applications," held January 4-7, 1997.) 1. First Goal: Enhancing Music Theory Publishing [1.1] My first goal, an enhanced form of music theory publishing, combines high-quality sound synchronized with musical examples. In order to follow the discussion below, you should link to my analysis of Grazyna Bacewicz's *Piano Sonata No. 2* at the following URL: http://mcnamee.graham.com [1.2] The format of this site requires a large computer monitor. Choose one of the versions of the analysis. If you cannot see two frames, one which is a photo of a piano on the left-hand side and one with instructions on the right, then proceed to the section below which begins, "Second Goal: ..." The format of that site (http://ash.swarthmore.edu/womuse) works well even with a smaller monitor. [1.3] My analysis was written in 1993, mostly in text format, for *Music Theory Online* (http://128.111.94.30:80/mto/issues/mto.93.0.4). In 1996, I reworked the analysis into several different multimedia formats for the World-Wide Web (http://mcnamee.graham.com). In terms of technology, the target platform for my work is a Macintosh, a PC, or a Unix workstation equipped with a Netscape or Microsoft browser. At a minimum, the browser should be a version current enough to display two frames and to support the Quick Time plug-in. Other formats on my site add the Shockwave plug-in and Java applets. [1.4] My design for multimedia is to have scrollable text down the left-hand side of the screen with the musical examples appearing over to the right-hand side. In order to save download time, I recommend that you scroll down the center scroll bar until you reach "Example 1." Click on "Example 1" in order to see the score and to hear the audio. (The pianist in this performance is Charles Abramovic.) [1.5] The technical reason for this two-frame design is that audio files are too large to be embedded along with text in only one frame. The scholarly benefit of this design is that while the reader is waiting for the music to download, he or she can still read the text. The center scroll bar remains active during the transfer of the music file. [1.6] If you are using the Quick Time version and scroll down to "Example 2a," you will notice that the score will "flip pages" automatically, synchronized with the audio. You are hearing near CD-quality sound. It is 16-bit sound, 11 kHz, but mono not stereo. (If you are using either of the streaming audio formats, the Shockwave or the Java version, you must flip the pages manually. There should be no pause in the audio when you click to turn the page of the score.) [1.7] Three more examples on this site directly address the issue of multimedia for music theory publishing. The first one addresses sketch material. Go to "Example 3," scroll a bit further so that the sketch material is visible in the left frame, then click on "Example 3." My design offers the opportunity to study sketch material on the left-hand side, compare it to the published score on the right, and, most importantly, to listen to the passage under study. [1.8] The second example addresses the topic of MIDI sound. In this article, I discuss a Polish folk mode, the Podhalean mode. To me, it made sense for the reader to be able to hear this Podhalean mode, so I made a recording of it on a MIDI keyboard. Scroll down in the article until you get to the button for "The Podhalean Mode." Listen carefully to the audio for that link. MIDI quality is fine for listening to a scale such as this (and certainly fine for rudimentary piano playing), but MIDI is unfortunately not suitable as a format for musical performance. [1.9] The last example I want to show in this article is something that is impossible in print publishing. Link to the very last button, "Analysis of the Development." You need not wait for the entire Quick Time movie to download; even if you stop downloading after 20% you should still be able to see my point, explained below. [1.10] In this example you hear the Development of the Piano Sonata. The score will be on the bottom half of the screen, synchronized with the audio. In addition, my analysis is on the top half. This example has what I affectionately call the "bouncing yellow bar" which highlights where you are in the analytical graph as the music is played. This design relates the sound *both* to the analysis and to the score. [1.11] In all of the examples above I hoped to show how high-quality audio, when synchronized with musical examples, can enhance music theory publishing in more than one way. 2. Second Goal: Designing a Template for Other Authors [2.1] My second goal is to create templates for colleagues and students in order to lower the barriers for authors who might use multimedia on the Web for music theory publishing. I used a template and about four hours of individual instruction to help five undergraduate, non-music majors design their own Web sites in the fall of 1996. The students were in no way technologically more advanced than the typical Swarthmore College undergraduates, and in some cases had only elementary computer skills. Four hours per student is not an insignificant commitment of time, but I estimated that I spent over 700 hours developing my first Web site from scratch, so four hours per student seemed to prove the usefulness of the template! [2.2] The students' work can be found at the following URL: http://ash.swarthmore.edu/womuse. I particularly recommend the first three sites. The first is a project by Julie Hovis on Francesca Caccini. The second is by Rebecca Johnson, whose project is on the music of her great aunt, Rebecca Clarke, and the third project, by Emily Mott, includes a Bantu midwives' song/dance. [2.3] Note that the two-frame design is still present. For those who are familiar with HTML tagging, you are of course welcome to download and use all of my tagging in this site. (The only proprietary code is that for the Java applet. Contact John or Matt Graham at http://www.graham.com for questions about the Java code.) [2.4] My students never learned any HTML tagging, nor did they need the Java applet. My template was designed using the Macintosh version of Claris Home Page. This inexpensive software is a drag-and-drop Web editor which relieves most headaches associated with HTML. A copy of the software was put on a Swarthmore College server so that the students could work on their projects at any time from their dorm rooms or wherever. The Quick Time movies were created using Macromedia Director and SoundEdit. Scores and photographs were scanned using Adobe Photoshop. 3. The Template: Overall Two-Frame Design [3.1] The way I handled the design with my students was to give them a twenty-minute demonstration, then to hand them a floppy disk with the template on it. By reading the above article, and by seeing and listening to some of the musical examples, you will have more than completed the demonstration portion. I would be happy to mail any interested SMT member a Macintosh floppy disk with my Claris Home Page template on it. All you need to do is to drag your text and images to the appropriate spots and erase my text. [3.2] For those who are comfortable with HTML, you can set up the two-frame design with the following HTML tags: [3.3] If you prefer the format which allows for smaller monitors, you should change the "475" above to "340" (which allows for a standardized reduction of Quick Time movies). Some might feel compelled to add to the HTML tagging above. Here is some slightly expanded HTML tagging, which works for smaller monitors: <BODY> <P></P> </BODY> 4. Scanning Musical Scores [4.1] I use Adobe Photoshop for scanning, but any similar application will do. Save your images as either GIFs or JPEGs in order to add images to the left-hand side of the article. The images of the musical examples needed for Quick Time movies on the right-hand side should be saved as GIFs. The version of Director that I use (4.0) allows only images saved as GIFs to be imported. (I have been told that the more recent version of Director allows for smaller sized formats like JPEG images.) 5. Links to Musical Examples [5.1] Because audio files and Quick Time movies are so large, one should link to the large files only when necessary. This is the philosophy behind the two-frame design. Claris Home Page allows you to set up these links easily. [5.2] Those who are comfortable with HTML tagging can easily set up links to musical examples. In the two-frame design above, I call the left-hand frame "text" and its HTML tagging "article.html". Within "article.html" one can link to a musical example (which will appear in the right-hand frame, called "score," with its own HTML tagging). The tagging for "article.html" is as follows: Example 1 [5.3] The HTML tagging for "example1.html" (which includes a Quick Time movie called "newer1.mov") in the right-hand frame is as follows: example1 [5.4] For smaller monitors, the tagging for "example1.html" (which includes a Quick Time movie called "caccini.mov") is as follows: score

6. Copyright Issues [6.1] The very thing that makes Web publishing compelling--the ability to incorporate audio and animation--raises significant copyright issues. For the piano performance of the Bacewicz piece, I hired Charles Abramovic to perform the piece, then came to an agreement with him on a mutually acceptable fee in order that I owned the right to put his performance on the Internet. [6.2] In order to scan the sketch material, I received permission from the University of Warsaw. In order to scan the score, I received permission from Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (PWM). Although this score is reprinted in James Briscoe's wonderful Historical Anthology of Music by Women--requiring written permission from Indiana University Press--the copyright rests with PWM. [6.3] I commissioned an artist, Kathe Grinstead, to take the photograph of the piano. We agreed on a fee which would allow me to publish her photograph on my site. The students followed similar procedures for their work. They used photos and performances of their own making in most cases, and received permission to use the scores. In the case of Rebecca Clarke's manuscripts, the copyright rest with the student's father, keeping those issues all in the family. [6.4] Information about copyright issues can be found at many sites. For my needs, I found the following two sites and their many links to other sites to be the most useful: CETUS (Consortium for Educational Technology in University Systems) An excellent resource for "Fair Use of Copyrighted Works" at: http://www.cetus.org/fairindex.html and EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation)'s "Multimedia Law Handbook: A Practical Guide for Developers and Publishers" at: http://www.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/multimedia-handbook In particular, the discussion in EFF's handbook about popular myths might be especially relevant to us. Myth #2 reads as follows: I don't need a license because I'm using only a small amount of the copyrighted work. It is true that de minimis copying (copying a small amount) is not copyright infringement. Unfortunately, it is rarely possible to tell where de minimis copying ends and copyright infringement begins. There are no "bright line" rules. [6.5] Copying a small amount of a copyrighted work is infringement if the copied section is a qualitatively substantial portion of the work. In one case, a magazine article that used 300 words from a 200,000-word autobiography written by President Gerald Ford was found to infringe the copyright on the autobiography. Even though the copied material was only a small part of the autobiography, the copied portions were among the most powerful passages in the work. Copying any part of a copyrighted work is risky. If what you copy is truly a tiny and nonmemorable part of the work, you may get away with it (the work's owner may not be able to tell that your work incorporates an excerpt from the owner's work). However, you run the risk of having to defend your use in expensive litigation. If you are copying, it is better to get a permission or a license (unless fair use applies). You cannot escape liability for infringement by showing how much of the protected work you did not take. 7. Footnotes and Bibliography [7.1] Footnotes and bibliography are added as end material to the text in the left-hand frame. The students designed some interesting cross-referencing footnotes and bibliographic references which are made possible because of the linking features. One can easily skip to and from footnotes, bibliography, and main text without going outside the same left-hand frame document. [7.2] Those who are comfortable with HTML tagging can set up the footnote links exactly the way you link anything within the same document. For footnote "1" in the body of the text: (1) For the footnote itself, with a link back to the body of the text: 1. Rosen, Judith, Grazyna Bacewicz: Her Life and Works, Polish Music History Series, vol. 2 (Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 1984), 15.

8. Cosmetics -- Varying Typefaces, Photos, etc. [8.1] Claris Home Page has a user interface which looks like most word processing applications, making it extremely easy to add bold, italics, different sized type, etc. Photos are scanned the same way musical scores are scanned. If you save a photo as a GIF, that GIF icon can be dragged and dropped into Home Page and appear exactly where you want it. You can then easily center or move the photo. All the HTML tagging is added automatically. Other nice design features, such as borders and tables, are done equally easily with Home Page. Separate explanatory windows appear for tables, for example. [8.2] However, do not assume that you can set the exact look of the typeface itself. Users can control the typeface in their WWW browsers. There are other ways that Web publishing does not yet match all the features of print publishing. One forfeits many of the same things that one forfeits with e-mail--in the case of my essay, dots over "Z's," the carets over scale-degree numbers, superscripts for footnotes, and so forth. 9. The Quick Time Movies [9.1] This is where the crunch comes, both in the learning curve and in expensive software. Several software packages are available for creating Quick Time movies; I can only speak about using Macromedia Director and SoundEdit. If you already have access to a copy of Director, I would be happy to mail you my template for the Quick Time movie on a Macintosh floppy disk. If you look at my skeletal movie you will see how to substitute your own audio and pages of score. [9.2] The design for a synchronized musical example works as "a movie within a movie." I first saw this design when Sasha Magee (sashax@igc.org of Infrared Communications, http://www.eline.com/Infrared/Shocked/index.html) used it as part of my paper/demonstration at the joint meetings of SMT/AMS/CBMR in New York City ("Networking: Initiatives in Music Scholarship on the Internet," November 3, 1995). I then redesigned his format for use on the Web with the help of a tutor, Glynda V. Cotton. [9.3] First, one needs the audio. Part of Director 4.0 is SoundEdit, which I use to format the audio. In the case of the Bacewicz piano sonata, I started with a 54 MB AIFF sound file (which is too large even for me!). The original recording was made with stereo sound, at 16 bits and 44 kHz. For my ears, the compromise of keeping 16 bits but reducing to mono and 11 kHz translates best for listening through a computer while reducing the size of the file. After changing the audio format in SoundEdit, one can then save the audio file as a Quick Time movie. Import this audio Quick Time movie as one member of a larger Director movie. [9.4] Second, one needs to import the pages of musical score. As mentioned above, scanned images of the score can be imported into a Director movie as GIFs. Just as the Quick Time audio "movie" is one member within a larger Director movie, each page of the score is its own member as well. [9.5] Third, one synchronizes the audio with the pages of score. Director uses a one-second counter. Time by one-second intervals when you need to "flip the page." The animation you create will synchronize the score with the audio. Save the larger Director movie as a Quick Time movie. In the example above the Quick Time movie was saved as "example1.mov". [9.6] Last, one links the Quick Time movie with the text. If you are using Home Page, you simply import the Quick Time movie into the right-hand frame. If you are comfortable with HTML tagging, use the tagging in the section above entitled "Links to Musical Examples." 10. Conclusion [10.1] My enthusiasm for Web publishing is inspired by the hope that we can add the "music" to music theory publishing. My belief is that when the barriers to adding audio to our work are low enough, we will enter a new era in our field. When high-quality audio is synchronized with musical examples, I believe that music theory publishing can be enhanced in many ways. I also have another hope. This platform can bring high-quality recordings of new music (in the case of my interests, little-heard music by women composers) to a wider audience. I look forward to any questions or feedback (or contributions to the site!) you may have. ========================================== AUTHOR: Headlam, Dave TITLE: Multimedia for Music Study on the Web: Director from Macromedia KEYWORDS: multimedia, Director, Web Dave Headlam Eastman School of Music 26 Gibbs Street Rochester, New York 14604 dhlm@theory.esm.rochester.edu ABSTRACT: The advent of powerful, widely accessible, and financially viable personal computers with network connections on the World Wide Web has lead to exciting possibilities for creating musically meaningful presentations for teaching, performing, and researching music and disseminating them easily to colleagues, classes, or even to a potentially vast mass audience. These presentations can combine sound, images, animation, and interaction for stimulating and interesting results. The downsides of learning different programming languages, understanding Web page design and networking, dealing with multiple platforms (principally MacIntosh and Windows), and the problems of generating sound on different computers have a solution in the multimedia authoring program Director and its Web counterpart Shockwave, from Macromedia. This paper outlines the format of Director in its Web version with an emphasis on its potential for sound, and includes some demonstration files, and closes with some considerations of technique and content in web authoring for educational purposes. Accompanying Files: Example 1: netplugins.gif Example 2: plugins.gif Example 3: genpref.gif Example 4: typeshock.gif Example 5: inmemory.gif Example 6: cache.gif 1. Introduction 2. Educational and Research Writings on Music Using Computers 3. Files on the Web: Quality, Quantity, and Convenience 4. Sound on the Computer from the Web 5. Web Authoring: Browsers and HTML 6. Shockwave plug-in 7. Director 8. Music Analysis on the Web with Minimal Scripting: An Example 9. Scripting 10. Teaching Music Theory: A Scripted Example 11. Streaming Audio 12. More on Shockwave: Web Programming 13. Conclusion ------------------ 1. Introduction [1.1] With the advent of powerful, widely accessible, and financially viable personal computers with network connections on the World Wide Web, musicians of widely varying interests are presented with an intriguing prospect: the possibility of creating musically meaningful presentations for teaching, performing, and researching music and disseminating them easily to colleagues, classes, or even to a potentially vast mass audience. These presentations can combine sound, images, animation, and interaction for stimulating and interesting results. The frustrating downside to this picture is, of course, the necessity of learning different programming languages, understanding Web page design and networking, dealing with multiple platforms (principally MacIntosh and Windows), and, worst of all, solving the problems of generating sound on different computers. [1.2] Fortunately, a solution to these obstacles exists in the multimedia authoring program Director and its Web counterpart Shockwave, from Macromedia. This program, currently at version 6.0, is available in an educational form for around $300 and is well worth the time and effort to learn. In this paper, I will outline the format of Director in its Web version with an emphasis on its potential for sound, and include some demonstration files. I have used Director only on the Macintosh, and this article is written from that perspective, but the program exists in almost the same form in Windows versions, with differences noted clearly in the documentation. The Web compiler, Shockwave, allows authors to compile Director files for use on the Web, and a Shockwave plug-in for Web browsers allows users to access the Director program in a suitable format.(1) I have used Shockwave only with the browser Netscape Navigator, but other browsers also support Shockwave. ======================================================= 1. The author is here defined as the creator of the program or file which is then utilized by the user. The author puts the file on a server computer, and the user accesses the file on a client computer which is connected to the server in some way, most likely via the internet. Computer programs such as word processors, webbrowsers, and operating systems are often designed with smaller programs in self-contained modules which can be added on easily. For instance, the MacIntosh operating system has system extensions and control panels, Director has Xtras, and Netscape has plug-ins, called helpers in the Preferences menu. These modules, put in an appointed folder, can be called upon when necessary to run certain parts of the program or to recognize and run related types of programs. Procedures made available by Xtras are called X-commands (Xcmd), and other names beginning with X. Netscape's plug-ins allow it to recognize file types, called Mime (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) types, that are sent over the internet. Director's web plug-in for Netscape is called Shockwave. Web browsers are programs designed to recognize and display different types of files, particularly Mime (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) types, which are sent over the internet. Netscape Navigator is a well-known browser, that can display text, images, and animations written in different codes, such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Browsers can be extended by plug-ins when new codes are introduced. ======================================================= 2. Educational and Research Writings on Music Using Computers [2.1] The computer digital revolution is often compared to the development of the printing press in the 1500s. The printing press allowed for wide dissemination of reading material as well as musical scores. While books were illustrated, combining the visual with the printed word, for musicians books and scores separated the visual from the aural. An educational industry has grown up around attempts to recombine these two aspects, usually with value placed on the ability to conjure sound from image using internal musical production and by developing musical memory. The computer, however, allows authors to combine sound, text, and images, thus creating a true musical book. [2.2] Those who believe in the split between the visual and aural might be skeptical of the computer's sound production capabilities, regarding them as a crutch similar to using a piano for sight-singing or part-writing. Those who regard it as a benefit when the visual and aural are joined in a musical environment will find truly new uses for computers in musical production, education, and research. The trick, I believe, is to use the computer in ways that it is uniquely suited for, and not to translate books or musical scores into computer programs with the same goals and perceived limitations. Several interesting uses of computers, in Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) and with Hypercard Stacks have and are emerging, as well as some innovative Web page designs, and it is my hope that musicians will be stimulated by this discussion of Director to keep developing new tools and paradigms in this area.(2) ======================================================= 2. Computer-aided Instruction (CAI) programs have developed along with personal computers. Some existing programs are MacGamut, Practica Musica. Hypercard is a MacIntosh program using a stack of cards as the metaphor. The best known examples of its use are found in studies of works such as Stravinksy's Rite of Spring and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, as well as the more recent Ragtime, put out by the Voyager Company. For recent examples of teaching uses, see the article by Elizabeth West Marvin and Alexander R. Brinkman in this issue of MTO. See also the Voyager web site and accompanying software, CDLink, which allows for Hypercard Stacks online. For some Web pages designed for interactive activities and teaching, see the following "http://sparky.parmly.luc.edu/sharc" for Greg Sandell's timbre research, as well as "http://locutus.esm.rochester.edu/~cscotto/jrt121/" by my colleague, Ciro Scotto, as well as my own "http://locutus.esm.rochester.edu/~dhlm/acoustic.html." ======================================================= 3. Files on the Web: Quality, Quantity, and Convenience [3.1] The first consideration for Web authoring is the tradeoff between the quality of the images or sound viewed and the quantity and size of files required. These are in direct proportion: the larger the file, the greater the amount of information, and the better the resulting quality. However, on the Web, quantity is also inversely proportional to download time and ease of use. Thus, the larger the file, the longer is the time it takes for the client computer to receive the information from the server, and the more taxing the requirements of the downloaded file on the client computer in terms of memory and processing time. [3.2] At least five solutions have arisen in response to this situation: 1) use of small files with often ingenious solutions to the limitations and/or acceptance of a lower quality; 2) development of compression programs that allow files to be sent in a smaller, compressed form from the server and then be expanded on the client computer; 3) breaking down of files into smaller components that are downloaded on demand; 4) linking to external media such as images, sound, and video (instead of copying them into a program so they are internal or inline), which are downloaded separately and on demand; and 5) streaming of files that only need to be partially downloaded before functioning, particularly with sound and video files, which tend to be large.(3) Director's Web design incorporates all of these solutions but allows for less reliance on the first solution than has been the case on the Web. ======================================================= 3. In the past on the Internet, a sound or other file had to download completely and then begin playing, which can take a lengthy period of time. Streaming files are created with enough control information put at the beginning of the file so that the file can be processed and begin playing or presenting almost immediately. The remainder of the file continues to download into a buffer simultaneously. The problem is that download times are unpredictable on the Web and may change even during one file's download. Thus, a sound may begin playing, then stop, while enough information flows into the buffer to continue the play. Director's streaming audio allows authors to set the initial time before the playing begins (default 5 seconds), which allows some leeway, but there is no fail-safe solution. ======================================================= 4. Sound on the Computer from the Web [4.1] As those with experience creating or receiving sound on personal computers from the Web can attest, it is often an apparently chancy and unpredictable procedure. Why is this the case? Transmitting images and texts on Web pages works almost 100% of the time, but sound requires a few conditions be set. Director's Shockwave plug-in handles the sound playback requirements for the most part, but it is useful to know a bit about sound files on the Web to use sound efficiently. [4.2] Sound files have several forms. First, as relatively large files, they contain numbers that are representations of actual sound signals, carrying information about amplitude and time dimensions created from an Analog to Digital converter.(4) Sound files are in two sections, a header containing information relating to the control and format of the data, and the data itself. The header features control settings such as whether the sound is mono or stereo, what the maximum amplitude is, what the sample rate is, what the bit rate is, etc.. The remainder of the file, the raw sound data, is interpreted according to the settings in the header. To hear the sound, the numbers must be fed into a Digital-to-Analog converter to convert numbers to electrical signals that can be processed into sound, similarly to a home stereo setup with a CD player. This setup is included in most computers sold within the last few years, which all have CD-ROMS, but the client computer and its browser must also have some sort of program or plug-in to interpret the sound file properly and link up with the computer's sound hardware. Using Netscape, useful plug-ins related to sound are Quicktime from Apple (Example 1), and LiveAudio; these programs can handle the usual .AIF (MacIntosh) and .WAV (Window) sound file formats, as well as others. Director has its own sound format, .SWA, which is incorporated into its Shockwave plug-in. ======================================================= 4. Soundwaves can be described digitally in a Cartesian graph type format, with x-values as time, measured in small chunks called samples. Samples of sounds are taken in fractions of seconds, usually in 1/22050 or 1/44100's of a second, or 44,100 samples = 44,100 times a second. The sample rate is twice the highest frequency possible in the sound represented, thus 44,100 samples per second allows for a frequency of 22050 Hz, or cycles per second, above most people's range of hearing; 22050 samples per second allows for 11025 Hz frequencies, within the range of hearing, but is acceptable as a compromise (the piano spans 27.4- 4186 Hz). Computers store information in binary numbers, with each bit set to either 0 or 1, and in bytes of 8-bits each to store numbers or words, etc: 8-bits = 1 byte, 16 bit = 2 bytes. A kilobit (Kb) = 1000 bits, a Kilobyte (KB) = 1000 bytes, a Megabyte (MB) = 1,000,000 bytes. In the Cartesian graph representation of a soundfile, y-values are the amplitude levels, measured in divisions relating to the bits; present in the sound representation, usually 8 bits (=256 levels) or 16 bits (=16536 levels). The sound wave is much more faithfully reproduced by the many more levels in 16 bits, but for size reasons 8-bit sound has been used on the Web. The size of sound files (uncompressed) depends on the bits and samples: 8 bits = 1 byte, so that 8 bit, 22050 sample sound takes about 22 KB per second; CD quality stereo 16 bit, 44,100 sample sound takes 2 * 2 * 44,100 = about 166.4 KB per second. An Analog-to-Digital converter converts a sound signal (trumpet note, traffic noise) from its electrical representation into a series of numbers representing the time and amplitude values of the signal. A Digital-to-Analog converter reverses the process, creating sound from a series of binary numbers. ======================================================= [4.3] When discussing digital sound quality, reference is made to bits, bytes, and samples: the more bits, bytes, and samples in the representation, the better the sound quality and the larger the file. The standard Web sound quality, 8-bit and 22050 (or less) sample rate, is intolerable for musicians, but it is used because a mono sound file of 8-bit, 22050 samples (uncompressed) takes about 22 Kilobytes (KB) per second or 1.3 Megabytes (MB) per minute, while a CD-quality stereo 16-bit, 44100 sample file takes 166.4 KB per second or about 10 MB per minute in size. A mono 16/44100 file, perfectly acceptable, is 88.2 KB/s or about 5 MB/m, but a good compromise file size is mono 16/22050, which requires 44 KB/s or 2.5 MB/m. Even though sound files are compressed, with ratios of 3:1 or 4:1 common, they are still relatively large. With download times of, on average: 1 KB/second for a 14.4 Kilobit (Kb) modem, 3 KB/second for 28.8 Kb modem, 5 KB/second for a 64 Kbs connection, and about 30 KB/second for higher speed connections, such as the T1 connection often found in universities, sizes of sound files are a constant consideration. [4.4] To get sound files to a more manageable size, several compression procedures are used, which cut down on the amount of numbers used to represent the signal. Audio compression is a complex topic beyond the bounds of this article, but Director and Sound Edit 16 have a particularly good compression feature in Shockwave Audio (discussed below), which allows for an acceptable quality of 16 bit/22050 sample, and provides for at least a 6:1 compression ratio (compressed file is 1/6 the size of the original). [4.5] Other common types of sound files are Midi (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files, that contain no information about the actual sound and so are quite compact, and files like Mod files that contain mostly Midi-type information but also a few sound samples.(5) Midi files have the advantage of being small, as they contain only information about frequency, duration, attack, articulation, etc. The disadvantage is that the resulting sound is entirely the result of the client computer system, which can be good or bad, depending on the prescence of synthesized sound sources. One useful development is the inclusion of a software synthesizer in Apple's Quicktime 2.5, so that Midi files can play directly through the MacIntosh's Sound Manager.(6) Director can use the same Midi tools as Apple's Hypercard, as part of its overall compatibility with Hypercard Xcommands. Mod files and others with a few sounds and lots of control instructions have been staples of computer games for years; they allow the author to control the resulting sound and have small file sizes. There is no record of Director uses of Mod files, at least that I have found, but they might be useful when specific sounds are desired for extensive sounds. ======================================================= 5. Midi file information can be found at "http://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.html", but there are thousands of sites with MIDI files and info. Mod file information can be found at: "http://members.aol.com/Edgeman101/musica.html" 6. Information and downloads related to Quicktime 2.5 can be found at: "http://quicktime.apple.com." ======================================================= 5. Web authoring: Browsers and HTML [5.1] Web Browsers all read HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), a language consisting of a simple set of controls over data. Rather than include graphics and sound files within one file, HTML files include only instructions and text; other elements are called when needed from their resting places in the same folder as the HTML file. With this architecture, HTML files can be quite small and thus transfer quickly over the internet. [5.2] HTML is basically a labeling language, but has associated scripting and programming languages like CGI, Perl, Java, and JavaScript. These allow for more complex interactions between the browser and the file, and for more interesting Web pages than the standard static page available with simple HTML commands. Currently Java applets, small programs that are compiled and run on the client computer, and Director Shockwave movies are the most common applications used for creating Web pages that combine sound, image, animation, and text. When, as is the case with Director movies, files sent over the Internet have more complex control sections, and use different proprietary command structures, the browser may need plug-ins to run or display them. Director's plug-in is called Shockwave; by using Shockwave from within Director, self-contained file is created which consists of controls and resources (such as images, movies, etc.) that are either placed within the file or are outside and are called when required (like HTML). The Director movie is called from within an HTML file using an EMBED command (described below). Linked sounds (.SWA files) and images (.GIF files) do not require a separate HTML file, but currently linked video must be called from within a separate HTML file. [5.3] Readers running Netscape should look at their plug-ins. Go to the Finder and look inside the Netscape folder for the plug-ins folder and look inside at the plug-in programs available (Examples 1,2). You will probably see Quicktime and LiveAudio--other plug-ins may be downloaded from various places on the Web. In the next section of this paper, you will put the Shockwave plug-in this folder. Back to Netscape. In Netscape, open up Options; then General Preferences, and then helpers (Example 3). A list of helper applications that call plug-in programs appears; it will probably also include Quicktime and LiveAudio. Click on one plug-in line and then edit to see the details (Example 4): the code names for the application and the file extensions or suffixes, such as .mid for Midi files and .dcr, .dir, .dxr for Director. These extensions are very important, as they tell the browser what type of file needs to be interpreted. 6. Shockwave plug-in [6.1] Director's plug-in is called Shockwave, and it is used to interpret the control codes of Shockwave files, which are identified with .dcr suffixes. Before continuing with this article, the reader should get a shockwave plug-in and install it. Go to this URL address: "http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download" and download the plug-in, following instructions. Another address, "http://www.macromedia.com/support/shockwave," has answers to questions. The plug-in and supporting files come in a compressed form and require Stuff-it Expander to expand. If you have this program, it will expand the file automatically (or you may have to double-click on the downloaded file). An installer program will appear; quit the browser and double-click on it to install the Shockwave plug-ins. Start up Netscape, and set the .dcr type in Options: General Preferences: Helpers: New (Example 4). If you don't have Stuff-it Expander, there is a Catch-22 because Stuff-it Expander itself is often presented for download in a compressed state. Here are two addresses to help getting Stuff-it Expander: "http://www.aladdinsys.com/consumer/expander2.html," and "http://www.aladdinsys.com/support/faqs/mexp2.html". [6.2] You will need to restart Netscape, but first increase the amount of memory (Example 5) that Netscape allots, since the program will now have to open up Director movies as well. Set the memory to at least 15000 KB (15 MB). Restart Netscape. Go to the Options folder and increase the cache size to at least 10 MB (Example 6). Finally, if you haven't already, extend the window to the right so that it is as wide as your screen. The accompanying movies to the rest of this article will appear in a new upper window which you can move around to be able to see the corresponding text while you look at the movie or image. 7. Director [7.1] Director, as the name implies, uses the metaphor of a movie for file creation.(7) A director movie that is itself an introduction to Director is provided here. Go through the movie and refer to it for the following. Each element in the movie, an image, text, sound, or video, is called a cast member; when it sits in reserve in a cast library; and a sprite; when it is actually onstage;--the screen space allotted for the movie--and part of the action. The sprite corresponding to a cast member is independent and can be altered in many aspects (size, color, etc.), without affecting the original cast member, which acts as a template. Up to 32,000 cast members can be ready for use in a movie (using linked libraries), with up to 120 sprites possible on the stage at one time. Successive events--combinations of sprites--happen in frames; placed within a score; which controls the action. Each element, the frame, the score, the sprites, and cast members, can all have scripts or sets of commands associated with them, activated automatically within the movie or by the user. Pre-set scripts called behaviors; are included, but these can be altered and new scripts written. The user interacts by clicking on sprites, which can be buttons or hot; spots; as with Web pages, it is possible to indicate to the user where to click by changing the cursor to a hand; at those places. ======================================================= 7. Although useful by itself, Director may also be ordered in a Studio, bundled with a sound editing program, SoundEdit 16, an image editor, xRes 3, and a 3D tool, Extreme 3D 2, for a complete multimedia package. ======================================================= [7.2] Director's design gives the author a choice of two levels for creating presentations: 1) using prepared scripts called behaviors; and 2) writing new scripts. Script is a general term denoting a programming language that is created to use common language references, such asset the text of castmember 'x' to 'I love ice cream,' rather than the more complex allotment of variables, types, and memory locations found in C or C++ or other similar programs. While easier to use than programming languages, scripting retains certain features, such as "if then . . "; and "while" loop constructions, and the ancestor - parent - child metaphor of object-oriented programs. Director's programming language is called Lingo. The standardized behavior scripts allow for application of scripts and interaction without independent programming, but those interested in programming can add their own scripts to govern the actions of sprites, etc. in the course of the movie. Since the behavior scripts have only appeared in the latest version of Director, 6.0, anyone who has used Director has already learned scripting, which was required of the author in earlier versions. [7.3] Movies with behavior scripts only are generally created manually, using the changing relationships of sprites in the flow of frames implied in the movie metaphor. Cast members--images, text, etc.--are either imported or created within Director, using its Paint and Field tools, and put in a list of cast members, then dragged and arranged on a stage as sprites. Successive movie frames; are similarly arranged, with a few behavior scripts to create animations. The introductory movie shown above has few scripts, consisting mostly of 1) "wait" type commands, which stops the movie by causing it to replay the same frame until the user clicks; and 2) "go to" type commands that send the movie to a different frame when the user clicks. Another movie with minimal scripting is one I created for a multi-media class at Eastman, with general information on computers and multi-media. The only scripts are "go to" types and "wait until user does something" types. [7.4] When the movie is run, the frames run sequentially at speeds of 1 to 30 frames per second, allowing for animation or sequences of events similar to a movie reel. In frame-by-frame animation, the frame succession is clear when the tempo, or frame rate, of the movie is slowed. Frames can be looped to wait for user-activated buttons or hot; spots: these interactive elements allow the user to jump around between frames and control the pace or order of the movie, depending on its design. A simple interactive movie allows users to alternate between images. Simple movies with animation are small, easy to create and compile, and can be found in many places on the Web. 8. Music Analysis on the Web with minimal Scripting: An Example [8.1] As a simple example of music analysis using a Director movie with minimal scripting, I offer a study of Los muertos illvan alas de musgo, a madrigal by George Crumb. The Director movie of this analysis was created with 1) a Finale file of the score, which was imported into Director as the notes only, and the staves only, the two are combined in the movie, but having them as separate cast members allows for manipulations (such as coloring) on the notes alone; 2) colored cast members taken from the notes cast member; 3) a separate analytical stave; and 4) a sound file of the song, in this case a performance conducted by the author. [8.2] The tricky part was to get the scrolling of the score to coincide with the music: the corresponding cast members of the score and notes were lined up and placed in successive frames on the stage to line up approximately with the flow of the music. As the score scrolls by, colored cast members are placed on the score, then moved up to the analytical layer to show the analysis develop in real time. The advantage is that the harmonies (pitch-class sets) are coordinated with colors, and that the student can listen to the score and start, stop, and pause the music and score for study.(8) The scripts are minimal for this movie, which is based on the frame-by-frame succession that is the essence of Director movies, and consist only of restart and pause controls, which are toggled when the user clicks on the stage, and the stop/restart button on the stage. ======================================================= 8. In the original CD-ROM version of this movie, the sound is a quicktime movie, and can be accessed at any point, as well as stopped, started, and paused. Director's streaming audio unfortunately only allows for the latter. ======================================================= 9. Scripting [9.1] Scripted movies have the advantage that a small number of elements may be manipulated in different ways by controls in the script, so that the size of the file is smaller than if the elements were copies and manipulated manually. Director's language, Lingo, is somewhat similar to Hypercard's Hyperscript and has features found in many scripting languages. Every element of a movie has a controlling script which may be defined using program handlers that begin with the word on: from the movie itself (on startMovie), to frames (on enterFrame, on exitFrame), to cast members, sprites, and interactive buttons and hot spots (on mouseUp, on mouseDown). In addition to the program handlers provided within Director, users may write their own handlers, which are similar to functions in programs like C and Pascal, and either perform a task or take a value, change it, and return a value. Variables may used locally, or defined as global and used in different handlers. [9.2] The script of Lingo can be divided into at least nine categories: 1) decision scripts: mathematical symbols, numbers, operators such as = or <> (not equals); "if - then -- else if - then -- else" loops; "repeat while" or "repeat with" loops; 2) function scripts: handlers which perform a task, or take a value, perform an operation, and return a value; 3) classification scripts: define local variables, global variables, lists, put and set commands which assign values; 4) control and program handler scripts: scripts that run the program and connect with the computer, such as abort, exit, start, alert, mouseDown, KeyDown, button scripts, menus, sorts; 5) location scripts: setting the location of sprites; on the stage: top, bottom, right, left, location of mouse when clicking on stage; 6) attributes scripts: setting other attributes of elements than location: color, blend, height, number, name, type; 7) text-related scripts: identifying characters, words, lines, whether text field is editable by user, length; 8) connection scripts: connecting to other programs, files, desk accessories, resedit manipulations, Xlibraries, File Input/Output (I/O), etc.; 9) creation scripts: object-oriented programming elements: ancestors, parents, children; 10) Web and network-related scripts: controlling Web and networking features. 10. Teaching Music Theory with Director: A Scripted Example [10.1] A typical freshman homework assignment using a scripted Director movie is given, with the first eight bars of Schubert's Moment Musicale op. 94/6 as the passage. The movie involves 1) the use of a notation program such as Finale to notate the musical passage, a reduction of the passage as the answer (if desired), and a blank stave of the same size as the reduction for the students to enter their answers to a counterpoint-type question; 2) a Roman Numeral, Arabic number, and note head repository for analysis; 3) color flags and text field to label non-chord tones; and 4) a sound file of the passage, the movie includes a sound file of the outer voices for the answer. For the first question, the passage appears on the stage, and the student can first listen to the passage, then arrange Roman Numerals and Arabic numbers in the proper place, and then move color flags over non-chord tones and label them. For the second question, on a blank stave, the student can arrange notes and numbers to show underlying counterpoint and/or a reduction of the harmonies. When done, if desired, the student can check the answer. To hand the assignment in, the student makes snapshots of the screen (command-shift-3 with any Macintosh after Operating System 7.01) showing the answer to question 1 then question 2; the snapshot saves a picture of the screen as a PICT file to the desktop. The student then labels the two pictures with his/her name, and puts them in a homework folder. [10.2] A non-working version of the movie showing the separate elements is included. To create the movie, the main cast members, the score and staves, are exported from Finale as PICT files (an image format that Director supports). First, import the files into Director as cast members, and size the stage at 432 X 455 pixels (for a 17 inch monitor, 464 X 310 for 15 inch). For Question 1, put the notation cast member on the stage. To create the Roman numeral, Arabic number, and note repository, use fields and type in the numerals and numbers, but use texts for the quarter note heads and sharp, natural, and flat signs (using a font like Petrucci). Fields are more flexible, but require that the user has the same fonts as the author--so they should be set up so that the font doesn't really matter; texts are treated like bitmap images so the user won't need the Petrucci or other notational font. To complete the cast, using the Paint tool, make a small colored circle to use for non-chord tones. Arrange the Roman Numerals and Figures and symbols on the stage. For each sprite, check the moveable box so that the user can move the symbol. Create a field for the student to add the names of non-chord tones, and fields explaining what the student is to do. Finally, add navigational buttons, to move to different frames. When allowing for interaction, use "go to the frame" in the frame script, as this allows the movie to keep running and accepting mouse clicks etc. (the use of "pause" stops the movie). For Question 2 and the answer, follow a similar procedure. [10.3] A working version of the movie showing its scripts is also included--the main movie script is given in the top right hand field, changing scripts according to what sprite is clicked are given in the lower right field. These fields may be moved by dragging with the mouse. [10.4] When scripting a movie, it is easiest to place all handlers in "Movie" scripts, under a general global line, so that the global variables are available to all handlers, with calls to the handlers in the scripts of the various corresponding sprites, frames, etc. This avoids the common problem of undefined global variables--a situation which causes errors not always clearly articulated by Director's automatic de-bugging features. The Movie script; sets up several groups of variables, beginning with IH, IIH, etc., which are variables set to the initial locations of many sprites (necessary for the script when they move and recreate themselves as the user performs the analysis). The next variables (scroll down in the upper right hand box to see these) are for two lists, then for counters also used in the move/recreate scripts. Global variables for the sound follow. The "on startMovie" handler sets up the initial values for locations and counter global variables. It also initially sets all sprites visible, as some are made invisible in the course of the movie, but toward the end another handler called "nonvissprites1" makes the sprites corresponding to question 2 invisible, since the user will presumably start with question 1. (If the user goes to question 2 first, a script along the way will make the relevant sprites visible.) It also erases all cast members past a certain number: this is the number of functioning cast members, until users start to perform the analyses, then more cast members are created. Every time the movie is restarted, the excess cast members are deleted. [10.5] The essential script for all the moving sprites (the roman numerals, etc.) is "dupandmove," placed within the movie script. Move one of the Roman Numerals to show this script, then look in the lower right field. The "if .. then" script is a test: if the sprite has been moved from its original location, then it will not duplicate itself; this is so that users can adjust the Roman Numerals, etc. they have already placed in the score. If the sprite has not been moved, then the handler "dupandmove" is invoked. This script, shown in the upper right hand field, duplicates the cast member corresponding to the sprite, assigning the duplicate all the attributes of the original (all the "set the" lines in the script) so that there is an apparently endless supply of numerals and figures. In fact, the duplicate replaces a dummy sprite that is sitting unnoticed on the stage, starting with sprite 120 and moving backwards by the incremented value of a counter variable x. There is a total of 120-(the number of functioning cast members) of these dummy sprites, allowing for around 60 copies of the Roman Numerals, etc. The script places the duplicate at the same place as the original, while the original is free to move away. [10.6] The trick in the script is to duplicate the cast member (the Roman numeral, etc.) only the first time the sprite is clicked--after it is moved, the user should be able to move it again without creating another duplicate. As noted above, this is the purpose of the location test beginning the script in each of these moving sprites, as seen in the lower field on the stage. If the sprite is at the original location, it will create a duplicate; if it has been moved once, it will not. [10.7] The handler "dupandmove" also includes "puppetSprite" commands. To alter the condition of a sprite from the script, it is necessary to use a "puppetSprite spriteNumber, TRUE or FALSE" command. All elements, sounds, transitions, palettes, etc. may be changed with Lingo, with the corresponding 'puppet command ("puppetSound," etc.). When changing any sprite attributes, it is also necessary to end the handler with "upDateStage" or to use "go to the frame" in the frame script to register the change--this movie uses the latter. [10.8] A problem with the "puppet" commands within Director lead to the "visible" sprite handlers, "vissprites" and "nonvissprites." To see these handlers, click on one of the navigation buttons: "question 2" or "Answer." A channel or sprite that is puppeted will persist on the stage even when it is not in the score; thus, it needs to be made invisible when not required. The "vissprites" and "nonvissprites" handlers set the sprites corresponding to question 1 visible or invisible, while the "vissprites1" and "nonvissprites1" handlers set the visibility of sprites corresponding to question 2. Two lists are created to catalogue the sprites from these two questions: Q1List and Q2List. At the end of the "dupandmove" handler, the duplicated sprite number is put into the corresponding list, and the numbers in the list are used in the "visible" handlers. These handlers also include the sprite numbers corresponding to the original movable sprites (the Roman numerals, etc.), which also must be made visible or invisible, since they are also puppeted. 11. Streaming Audio [11.1] Director movies may also include sound files.(9) With Director on the Web as Shockwave, having relatively large sound files embedded in the program causes slow download problems. One solution is to use Macromedia's streaming audio format, which comes with an efficient compression of at least 6:1. Using this compression, sound files embedded in the movie are smaller, and can be used normally. When files are still quite large, it is also possible to link to external sound files and play them during the movie. This is the technique in the assignment analysis movie: the sound is played with the "Listen" button, which activates a specially prepared compressed sound file, "schubert.swa," that sits outside the movie and is called when needed. The handler is set in the movie script, and the sound is called by the button script, with the handler "playswa." With this streaming audio, a buffer is created and the downloading sound file is played when the buffer is full, generally about 5 seconds. As the file continues to download, it simultaneously plays. ======================================================= 9. In non-web uses, sounds can also be placed in the two sound channels; when the movie plays the frame with the sound file in it, it will play the sound file. To coordinate sound with animation, it is easier to import the sound as a quicktime movie; quicktime movies can be controlled virtually frame by frame, and so a quicktime movie sound can also be started and stopped and accessed at any point easily to coordinate with animation. Unfortunately, this is not yet possible with linked quicktime sounds or Director's streaming audio. ======================================================= [11.2] Returning to the homework assignment, to complete the steps for creating the movie, prepare a sound file of the passage, using a program like Sound-Edit 16 (also made by Macromedia), to create a mono file, 16-bit and 22050 samples. Use the SWA Compression Xtra in Soundedit and the SWA Settings Xtra for Director to compress the sound. The sound is given a corresponding dummy cast member, called "SWAHolder," and the name of the sound file is assigned in the "on startMovie" handler. The sound handlers then take this sound file and play it, with a few configuration features. The sound can be heard any number of times by pressing the corresponding button. A second sound in this example is a reduction to the two outer voices. Both of these sounds were created first as Midi files, then altered to .AIF format sound files using Quicktime's MoviePlayer, then Sound Edit 16 to change the sounds into compressed .SWA files. 12. More on Shockwave: Web Programming. [12.1] Shockwave, both a process and plug-in for putting Director movies on the Web, was introduced in October 1995, and is available for Windows or Macintosh computers, and for Web browsers Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Since Shockwave introduces a new MIME type, .DCR, the server must be configured, and the client browser must be configured with the plug-in and helper type (as discussed above).(10) To create Shockwave movies, Director uses Xtras contained in folders called "media," which contain Xtras related to streaming audio, and net support, which contain Xtras related to Shockwave movies on the Web. Director 5.0 had an Xtra called "Afterburner" to create shocked movies, but Director 6 has a built-in "Create Shockwave Movies" choice in the file menu, which creates a file ending with .DCR. Shocked movies are placed within HTML documents. The basic EMBED tag is: . ======================================================= 10. On servers, a file called "mime.type" (UNIX) contains many file types; add the line: application/x-director dcr, dir, dxr. ======================================================= [12.2] The first rule of Web programming with Shockwave is to start with the smallest movie possible: if the movie is large, divide it into smaller movies that call one another, or begin with an introductory movie that consists of only an image which displays while other movies load (using the "GoToNetMovie" script). The second rule is be clear on pathnames and file names. Director's lingo, the pathName, is disabled in Shockwave, and the movie and supporting files all need to be in the same folder or directory and properly labelled. Files names have different restrictions on different platforms: UNIX servers are case-sensitive; Windows machines may have trouble with names longer than eight characters with a three character extension or names with spaces. These two and MacIntosh may have trouble with special characters in file names. [12.3] As with sound, color and graphics are complex topics unto themselves when it comes to size, quality, and compression. The safest route is to use the System Color Palettes and the smallest bit size for images that provides a clear image: the difference between 8 bit and 16 bit color is noticeable, but the former is acceptable. Use text fields if possible, with standard fonts: the client computer must have the same fonts to get the same text shape and size.(11) Director automatically substitutes between standard MacIntosh and Windows fonts. Text created in the text cast members is bitmapped and takes more space, but the client does not need the same fonts, and so the effect can be assured. ======================================================= 11. The standard system fonts: Arial, Courier New, Symbol, Times New Roman, and Wingdings on Windows and Chicago, Courier, Geneva, Helvetica, Monaco, New York, Palatino, Symbol, and Times on the Macintosh. If you choose a standard Macintosh system font, Director automatically substitutes a standard Windows system font when someone runs the movie on a Windows computer--and vice versa. ======================================================= [12.4] When putting Director movies into shocked form on the Web, important considerations are: 1) data transmission rates; 2) New Lingo commands; 3) Director features disabled; and 4) miscellaneous issues that affect playing Director movies in a browser. Data transmission on the Web is, from a hardware point of view, standardized, with user modem speeds of 14.4 kilobits (Kb) per second (= 1.8 KB/s), 28.8 Kb/s (3.6 KB/s), 33.6 Kb/s (4.2 KB/s), and 56 Kb/s (7 KB/s). Higher speeds come from ISDN lines, ranging from 64 Kb/s (8 KB/s) to 1.5 Megabits (Mb)/s (184 KB/s), and T1 lines at 1.544 Mb/s (193 KB/s), Ethernet at 10 Mb/s (1.25 MegaBytes (MB)/s), and T3 lines at 44.736 Mb/s (5.592 MB/s). Over the internet, however, these theoretical speeds are affected by the data transmission capacity of server computers and by how busy the server and the lines between server and client are at that moment--a very unpredictable value. A given speed estimate for general use is about 1 KB/s. By taking the size of the movie and supporting files, approximate download times can be calculated. The most important advances for data transmission are streaming versions of data: Shocked movies and audio are both streaming, but streaming video is not incorporated into Director, although Quicktime movies, which are linked to from within shocked movies, are now streaming. [12.5] Other concerns to users of Director are the features not available in Shockwave form, and the new Lingo scripts required by Net form. Features not available are mostly those related to operating systems: custom menus, printing, saving, restarting, resources, file I/O etc., but also include movies within windows. The Web-related Lingo commands are in three categories: those that start a process, those that monitor it, and those that send or receive a result once the process is done. This three-step set-up accommodates the essentially asynchronous Internet, where the time to send and receive data is unpredictable. Finally, a concern at all times on computers is the amount of free memory: Shocked movies on top of Web Browsers take up enormous resources, and the use of multimedia files can easily (on the MacIntosh at least) cause system crashes. While new versions of operating systems and internet protocols help this situation, it is always a concern when sending large and complex files over the Web. 13. Conclusion [13.1] As I noted at the outset, the availability of powerful computers linked on the Web offers many possibilities, but also pitfalls. The most basic opposition here is technique versus content. It is easy (remarkably easy!) to become absorbed in the how rather than the why and what when working with computers. This situation is the result of many factors. First, although the Web is meant to be platform independent, in reality, each of the major systems, from Apple, Microsoft and the IBM clones, Sun, and SGI, has its own characteristic ways of interacting with the Web. Thus, authors must learn different programming languages and codes. Currently, for instance, Microsoft has its own brand of HTML, different for its browser, called Internet Explorer, than that used on the browser, Netscape Navigator, so that some web pages or features cannot be read by both programs. Although Director is useful since its Shockwave movies are playable on MacIntosh or Windows machines, in the latter case, users must have sound cards properly installed and overcome some difficulties in the plug-and-play; features to hear musical files. As well, servers are often Unix based machines. In my own efforts, I discovered that, while upper case or lower case letters in file names and links are equivalent on the MacIntosh, on the UNIX server a reference to a file with a different configuration of lower or upper case letters failed to find the file, and I had to redo some links and code. [13.2] Second, since in the marketing of computer programs, prices must go down with successive generations of more powerful systems, companies dole out versions of software yearly that users are required to purchase to keep up. Although Director is useful, for instance, the initial cost is high (around $800) until the educational versions come out, usually a year or two later. The educational version of Director 5, for around $75, was available only a few months before Director 6.0 came out. After the initial outlay, while upgrades are not too expensive, the price dissuades many authors. In my case, I learned the Shockwave version of Director 5.0 by cobbling together elements from books and the Web; in Director 6.0, these elements have been integrated into the program--but with some elements now changed from the Afterburner; generation. Such changes make working in multi-media exasperating. [13.3] Third, to create worthwhile educational content for the Web, instructors have to re-imagine their course material, or invent new courses, appropriate for the new medium. Putting class notes and schedules in electronic form is convenient, but hardly represents a new use for computers. What is the criteria for useful Web texts? At Eastman, only a relatively small proportion of students have web access, so it is difficult to do tests with large groups. I have just begun to use web pages in my own teaching, but in the process of thinking about using the web and computers, a few important questions have come to mind and, I believe, need to be considered by all web authors for educational materials: 1) Do the materials use the capabilities of the computer to combine sound and image? Image and text alone work quite well in a book, and sound alone is easily available on CD systems. Combining images and text, with instant access to both, is a strength of the computer, and should be the goal of instructional materials. 2) Are the learning materials goal-directed? I'm not a big fan of pages full of multiple menu possibilities on successive pages or teaching materials organized like a game. Part of teaching is instructing students in a systematic and goal-oriented way, as their lack of experience with the material is the reason they're in the class to begin with: it is not appropriate to assume that they will make the best decisions in the order of material. Web materials should be efficiently and clearly presented, with the next step indicated. 3) Do the assignments or tasks on the Web allow students to learn at their own pace? This question requires a well-thought out interface, with lots of looping connectors so that students can go back over material and review/rediscover ideas and concepts as needed. This potential is also one of the great strengths of the computer. 4) Does the program or file point beyond itself, causing the student to make larger connections? Self-contained drill type programs might be of some use in a directed environment, but the ideal materials should both present the immediate topic and point (with links) to topics of larger implication. [13.4] To the problems of multi-media authoring noted above--learning programming languages, Web pages, problems with multiple platforms and generating sound--Director offers an all-in-one solution, and is worth consideration by all those interested. Although it has a few quirks, Director is relatively easy to learn and get fast results with scripts.(12) As for the often frustrating and time-consuming process of developing content for the Web, Director can help with the technique, but the content--from imagination and an understanding of the medium--is the result of hard work and time spent in the environment. As operating systems and programs become ever more closely tied to the Web, with teaching and learning in the education business inevitably following, all of us will need to use computers in the most efficient and effective ways possible. ======================================================= 12. Director has a few quirks that should be noted. First, the first frame of a movie often doesn't work properly when sounds or scripts are present, and it is best to begin in frame 2, leaving frame 1 either empty, or with the same stage as frame 2 without the sounds, scripts, or markers, so that the movie begins and passes through at least one unscripted frame before the action begins. Second, the last frame of a movie needs to be considered carefully, otherwise the movie will just end; often, the ;last; frame loops, waiting for a user click. Third, repeat loops and pauses shut out the user (and, in Web pages, the browser as well) and should be used carefully; options should be given to stop any lengthy activity. Fourth, when using text, use ;field; cast members for general text but use a standard font, since client computers will only show fonts that they have mounted; for specific fonts or text arrangements, use ;text; cast members, which are read as bitmaps. Fifth, when done making a movie, it is often convenient to get rid of unused Cast members by opening the Find command, which has a setting ;not used in movie.; The list of members includes movie and frame scripts however, which must be kept. It is thus best to name these scripts to avoid a tedious search to be sure which cast members may be deleted. There are also a few general quirks of computer programs to remember. For instance, when using linked media, make the link to a copy of the image or sound, etc., because any changes made within, in this case, Director, will change the source media. For the best source on Director, go to "http://www.macromedia.com/", for music-related shockwave sites go to "http://www.teleport.com/~arcana/shockwave"; a few helpful books are: Gary Rosenzweig, *The Comprehensive Guide to Lingo* (Ventana, 1996), and Cathy Clarke, Lee Swearingen, and David K. Anderson, *Shocking the Web* (Berkeley, CA: Macromedia Press, 1997). ======================================================= AUTHOR: Alexander Brinkman Elizabeth W. Marvin TITLE: Using the Tools to Teach the Tools: Teaching Multimedia Programming in Music Curricula KEYWORDS: Multimedia, HyperCard, CAI, Cognition, Pedagogy Alexander R. Brinkman Elizabeth W. Marvin Eastman School of Music Eastman School of Music 26 Gibbs Street 26 Gibbs Street Rochester, NY 14604 Rochester, NY 14604 aleck@theory.esm.rochester.edu betsy@theory.esm.rochester.edu [Editorial note: Professor Brinkman chairs the SMT Networking Operations Committee; Professor Marvin is on the SMT Executive Board and Professional Development Committee] ABSTRACT: The Eastman School of Music is engaged in a school-wide initiative to broaden the scope of traditional music education, and to build new audiences for art music in future generations. As part of this endeavor, students in a new technology course are learning to experience and teach music in a new way through the power of multimedia computing. Students learn to create interactive multimedia applications on Macintosh computers that combine color graphics, scanned images, video, sound files, MIDI synthesizer, music notation, and tracks from commercial compact discs into a teaching environment for their own students. This essay describes the syllabus, teaching methods, and materials used in the course, and demonstrates sample student projects. A Note About the Figures ========================== HyperCard was not designed for presentation on the Web, although facilities for doing this easily are promised in the next major release. While there are programs that convert HyperCard stacks for web use, many of the stacks shown here utilize commercial or custom-made CDs and external commands for the Macintosh, making them impractical for web presentation without a great deal of rewriting. We have compromised by showing individual cards as GIF images and portions of programs as QuickTime movies. This does not allow user interaction, but does demonstrate the programs. The GIF images were created from screen shots made via a keyboard shortcut on the Macintosh. These were then cropped and converted with GIFConverter 2.3.7. QuickTime movies were made using CameraMan 3.0 (Motion Works), which records movies directly from the computer screen. CameraMan does not record the cursor on PowerMacs, so wherever possible, we modified buttons and fields so that they would be highlighted when the user clicks on them with the mouse. Many of our stacks use a large-screen format which does not fit well into web browsers. Movies of these were reduced to half size resulting in some loss of definition, especially in text. Where higher definition was necessary, we recorded partial windows, so the whole card does not show. We used SoundEdit 16, version 2 to reduce all sound tracks to 22.05 kHz, 8 bit, mono to keep size to a minimum. Figures are shown in separate windows, which should be closed after viewing each figure. We have provided a button, implemented in JavaScript, at the bottom of each figure for this purpose, or you may use the normal close box or pull-down menu, depending on which browser you are using. In the text only version, figures that are text based are shown in full below the paragraph in which they occur. When GIF images or QuickTime movies are involved, we give the name of the file (in case the reader is able to download and view them) and, where necessary, a short description of the picture or movie. A prose description of multimedia is a poor substitute for the real thing; PLEASE read this article online with a full graphic browser if at all possible. ========================== 1. Introduction 2. Using the Tools to Teach the Tools 3. Software Review--an Online Journal 4. Getting Started 5. Teaching HyperTalk Programming 6. Using External Commands 7. Implementing Music-Cognition Experiments 8. Student Projects 9. Future Directions 1. INTRODUCTION [1.1] In 1994 the authors were asked to design a new course in Multimedia Programming to be offered by the Theory Department at the Eastman School of Music. The course was to have two primary objectives--to acquaint students with techniques for using multimedia computing in instructional settings, and to develop techniques to be used in music-cognitive research. The course, entitled "Computing for Pedagogical and Cognitive Research Applications" was offered for the first time in the spring of 1995, and is now offered each spring semester. We chose HyperCard as a programming environment because the course was initially offered with minimal financial and technical support. Although Macromedia Director was already becoming popular, it was expensive and academic discounts were not available at the time. At about $85 per copy, HyperCard could be put on each of the four computers we had available for the course, and students could purchase it for use at home, thus extending our minimal resources. [1.2] The course, which is required for our MA Theory Pedagogy degree and recommended for the Pedagogy and Cognition track in our Ph.D. program, is available as an elective in other tracks in our Ph.D. program. It can fulfill one theory requirement for graduate students in other degree programs and can be taken for credit by upper-level undergraduate students with permission of the instructors. [1.3] This course complements several other courses offered at Eastman that involve computers. The Theory Department also offers Brinkman's two-semester programming course (Computer Applications in Music), and independent study courses for students who want to do more in-depth work. Dave Headlam's courses in acoustics, research methods, and web page design all have an important computer component. The Composition Department offers several courses in computer music synthesis, including an undergraduate introduction, and a two-semester sequence for graduate students. The Music Education Department offers their students training in use of synthesizers and MIDI, and Jazz and Contemporary Media offers courses in film scoring, recording techniques, and studio production techniques. As part of the Eastman Initiatives program, many courses will be expanded to include a technology component. For example, in the Theory Department we are moving toward putting many course materials on the web, and we are planning a technology component in our undergraduate core curriculum that will include the mandatory use of music notation software, MIDI, CD-ROM browsing, and web usage. [1.4] When we began the course, we did not have access to a well- equipped computer lab. Sibley Music Library provided a room for teaching, and we were able to borrow an overhead projector with a display device. The school provided the teaching station, a Power Macintosh 6100 with MIDI keyboard and interface, three computers for student use, and a limited budget for purchasing software. We were fortunate that Sibley Library already had a good selection of CD-ROM media applications, and was extremely helpful in purchasing additional applications for their collection that would also serve as good teaching examples. The library also made available space for the student computers in their listening room for viewing applications and preparing homework assignments. [1.5] During the one-semester course, students review commercial software packages (both CD-ROMs and CAI packages for ear training and theory instruction), design and run a music-cognitive experiment that is completely implemented in HyperCard, and create an individual final project in HyperCard. Final projects vary from music theory tutorials, to ear training drill-and- practice, to repertoire-based CD "companions." Students are also required to complete smaller assignments to acquire HyperCard authoring and scripting skills. The syllabus for the course for the Spring 1997 semester is shown in Figure 1. ========================== FIGURE 1. Course Syllabus TH 423 COMPUTING FOR PEDAGOGICAL AND COGNITIVE RESEARCH APPLICATIONS SPRING, 1997 COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course develops HyperCard programming and multimedia skills for application in music theory pedagogy and in music-cognitive research. We will present HyperCard authoring tools and HyperTalk scripting, and will introduce external commands and commercial extensions for integration of MIDI sound, sound files from commercial CDs, music notation, and scanned images. Students will develop criteria for evaluating existing CAI and apply these to selected programs, and will learn pedagogical principles behind effective stack design. In addition, the course provides an introduction to music-cognitive research, including basic concepts in experimental design and data analysis. Students will critique published experiments, design and carry out a group experiment implemented in HyperCard, and summarize the experiment's context and design in writing. Final individual projects will combine the skills developed throughout the semester by means of a HyperCard stack for computer-assisted instruction. GENERAL SYLLABUS: Weeks 1-3: HyperCard and HyperTalk Basics Weeks 4-6: Importing Sound and Visuals; Introduction to Cognitive Research Week 7: Stack Design Principles for CAI; Advanced Audio Toolkit [Semester Break] Weeks 8-9: Experimental Design; More on Scripting with HyperTalk Weeks 10-12: Detailed Design Principles for CAI; Experimental Trials [Jury Week] Weeks 13-14: Evaluate Experimental Data; Finish Final Projects REQUIRED TEXTS: George Beekman, *HyperCard 2.3 in a Hurry* (Wadsworth, 1995). Danny Goodman, *The Complete HyperCard 2.2 Handbook*, 4th Ed. (Random House, 1993). RECOMMENDED TEXTS: David Butler, *The Musician's Guide to Perception and Cognition* (Schirmer Books, 1992). INSTRUCTORS: Aleck Brinkman, Annex M802; 274-1553 (342-3922); email: aleck@theory.esm.rochester.edu Betsy Marvin, Annex 410; 274-1551 (328-2464); email: betsy@theory.esm.rochester.edu "Office Hours" in the lab after class and by appointment (feel free to call us at home to schedule) COURSE REQUIREMENTS: DAILY ASSIGNMENTS Students are expected to prepare for each class, either by reading assignments and/or designing and implementing stacks. Each assignment builds on the previous one, so it is essential that students not fall behind. ON-LINE JOURNAL - Students will be expected to examine and evaluate three existing software packages and to keep a journal, using an on-line HyperCard template. Despite the informal name "Journal," we expect polished writing and academic integrity, i.e., do not "cut and paste" from software or documentation unless you quote the material and give proper citations. Students will prepare a one-page summary of one assigned program to share with the rest of the class (make 20 copies). CLASS PROJECT - Students will engage in music-cognitive research by means of a jointly designed experiment implemented using HyperCard and external commands. Although the project will be developed as a group, students will turn in individual papers in APA style that report on the experiment's context and method. INDIVIDUAL PROJECT - The final project for the course will be a HyperCard stack demonstrating mastery of techniques developed over the course of the semester. Topics will vary according to the interests of the individual. TIMETABLE: March 7 -- Journals due (before Spring Break) March 10-14 -- Work on final project design ideas (Spring Break) March 24 -- Final Project Title Page due (must include menu showing overall design of project) April 21-25 -- Individual appointments for project progress check (Jury Week) April 28 -- Psych papers due (Introduction and Method for Experiment) May 14-16 -- Presentation time TBA during exam period EVALUATION/GRADING: Daily Assignments 25% On-line journal 20% Psych paper (Intro/Methods) 15% Individual project stack 40% [End of FIGURE 1] ========================== [1.6] We have used several different texts in teaching the course in addition to the manuals that come with HyperCard. We have found Beekman, *HyperCard 2.3 in a Hurry* to be a terrific way to get students started in multimedia quickly. The first year we had students buy Desberg, *HyperInterActive CAI*, which comes with a large set of example stacks. Although Desberg's treatment of educational philosophy and design were very helpful, the stacks contain many errors and we often ended up using them as counter- examples of good design. After the first year we put a copy of this text on reserve in the library but did not have the students purchase it. Danny Goodman's *The Complete HyperCard 2.2 Handbook* is the primary scripting source. His practice of asking the reader to test commands interactively in HyperCard's "message box" is an excellent pedagogical methodology, and his approach to presenting HyperCard and HyperTalk is accessible and thorough. Finally, *HyperTalk 2.2, The Book*, by Winkler, et. al. contains a wealth of excellent examples illustrating HyperTalk programming techniques, and was invaluable as a reference for the instructors. Students' references for the cognition portion of the course include David Butler, *The Musician's Guide to Perception and Cognition*, Ray and Ravizza, *Methods Toward a Science of Behavior and Experience*, and Cozby, *Methods in Behavioral Research*. ========================= References are listed at the end of the essay. ========================= [1.7] HyperCard was the first generally available tool for developing multimedia applications. Its design metaphor is a stack of cards, each of which may contain text fields, buttons, pull-down menus, graphics, and so on. Buttons, fields, portions of text, and even cards can be programmed so that clicking on them with the computer's mouse causes some action to occur-- moving to a new card, playing music, viewing a movie, viewing hidden text, etc. Stack design often provides for nonlinear access--that is, the cards do not have to be accessed in a specific order. For example, clicking on an item in a Table of Contents card can take the user directly to the specified section of the stack; clicking on highlighted words ("hot text") might take the reader to a glossary with a definition of that text or to another section of the stack that explains a related concept. A diagram might be covered with invisible buttons, programmed so that clicking on a specific location will transport the user to another card with related information, graphics, or sound. Often, at least within sections, linear navigation is also possible by clicking on buttons--typically right or left arrows--to move to the next or previous card in the sequence. Thus both linear and nonlinear learning styles can be accommodated within the same stack. The integration of graphic representations, explanatory text, sound files of musical excerpts or spoken narrative, and movies allow the learner to explore a topic through many learning modalities. [1.8] HyperCard has five user levels: Browsing, Typing, Painting, Authoring, and Scripting. In the Browsing level, the user can explore (or navigate) through stacks but cannot make any changes in them. The Typing level allows the user to enter and edit text in fields. The next level allows users to use Paint tools to change the appearance of cards and backgrounds. The Authoring level allows users to add new cards, add buttons and fields and change their appearance, link buttons to other cards, add transition effects, etc.--all through the use of menus and mouse clicks. In this level, HyperCard automates the creation of HyperTalk "handlers" that cause appropriate actions. The Scripting level allows the user to program HyperCard in its native programming language, HyperTalk. 2. USING THE TOOLS TO TEACH THE TOOLS [2.1] While planning the course, we decided to use multimedia techniques in our teaching wherever possible, and devised a pedagogical method we call "Using the Tools to Teach the Tools." This had several advantages in a course such as this: 1) it provided immediate examples of the utility of the methods we were teaching; 2) it facilitated the instructors' rapid development of skills with the programming techniques they would be teaching; 3) the programs developed would serve as study examples later in the course when they were learning to program in HyperTalk. [2.2] The first of our "teaching tools" was a HyperCard stack we called a "bullet template." It was motivated by the authors' aversion to lectures in which the presenters put up transparencies covered with paper so the audience can see only the point currently being discussed. Instead, our stack uses bullet paragraphs with "fields" for adding text. The presenter alternately shows or hides the text by clicking on the bullet, and can move drag bullets to different positions for page formatting. Menu items are provided for hiding or showing all of the text on a card and for aligning the text. A button on the bottom of the page unlocks and locks the text fields so that they can be modified. Scripted buttons can be added to the card for going to other cards or other HyperCard applications, or scripts can be added to the fields, so that clicking on the text causes some action to be taken. Figure 2 is an example of a class presentation on HyperCard's internal sounds. We have used this device for preparing many class lectures, and in a larger format, with color added, to do presentations at conferences. Figure 3 is a portion of the stack we used for our presentation at the 1996 SMT Conference. Many buttons in this stack are linked to other stacks, so the whole presentation can be made from one program. (Here, the QuickTime movie is reduced to half size to fit in web browsers.) Our lecture notes are provided in this format for our students on each of the lab computers, and more advanced students can study the programming used to implement the stack as well. Other examples of our pedagogical tools--an online journal and computer-implemented music cognition experiments--are discussed below. ========================== FIGURE 2. Bullet Lecture: Internal Sounds Demo [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv02.mov] ========================== FIGURE 3. Portion of Stack from SMT Presentation (half size) [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv03.mov] ========================== 3. SOFTWARE REVIEW--AN ONLINE JOURNAL [3.1] A review of commercial instructional products serves two pedagogical purposes. First, it familiarizes students with the applications that are available, which will serve them well in future teaching positions. Second, students are encouraged to make notes on features they like, don't like, or could be improved upon. This suggests techniques they might implement in their own final projects. [3.2] In keeping with "teaching tools" philosophy, we designed an Online Journal for the students' use. The first time we taught the course we developed criteria for software evaluation in class discussion after reading Desberg's chapters on software design and evaluation. The outline designed by the class is shown in Figure 4. Using this as a starting point, Brinkman wrote a HyperCard Stack for use in the review process. The journal template consists of a blank title card, one card for a review, and a help card. New review cards are added by the student as needed. Each review card has fields for the title, reviewer, date, and author, and radio buttons for indicating the software type (Tutorial, Drill and Practice, Game, or Simulation). In addition, students click on buttons to specify an overall rating of the program (1 to 5 in increments of .5). Buttons are provided for accessing text fields for describing Publication Information, System Requirements, Overview, Visual Style, Navigation, Instructions, General Discussion, Content, and Other). Clicking on each button causes a pop-up field to cover the card, with the button name as a title bar. Scrolling fields are used so that as much information as needed can be entered. The student can see an outline of what should be included in the field by shift-clicking on the title bar. A pull-down menu allows the user to print a single entry or the whole journal, or to save entries as a text file that can be imported into other word processing programs. Students are encouraged to do a thorough and thoughtful review of each of their chosen software packages--not simply to report what is there but to evaluate the content and its utility for various audiences, the implementation, and user interface. Students can have the journal stack open at the same time as the applications they are reviewing, so they can flip back and forth. An example of this stack, by Tom Toner (a D.M.A. percussion student), is shown in Figure 5. The first year, we had students review five products, but subsequent years we cut back to three to allow additional time for development of their final projects. Each student is also required to do a one-page summary of one or two programs to share with the class. ========================== FIGURE 4. Evaluation of Software (Class Outline) TH 423 - EVALUATING COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE Ideas for on-line journal stack ITEM OVERVIEW: - Name of program - Author - Publisher - Hardware requirements - Support phone number - Publication Date - Audience - Objectives - Published Reviews - Overall rating USER INTERFACE: - Visual Style, such as: - fonts (readily available, legible) - integrated modalities (sound, graphics, speech, etc.) - consistent interface from card to card (intuitive) - layout (clutter-factor, icons instead of words, etc.) - attractiveness - consistent placement of navigation buttons, etc. - Navigation - Clear indication of where you are and where can go - Consistency of buttons and fields (location, style) - Standard buttons (home, help, next, previous, etc.) - Path through material (linear vs. nonlinear) - Instructions - User friendly? - Can you get to it from any card - Mode (menu, pop up) - Clarity - Concision - Optional? - Sample run - Mode of user input (typing, midi keyboard, check box, can user take notes on-line? undo?) GENERAL DISCUSSION--Content Depends upon Type: 1) Tutorial (content oriented) Consider the following: - Content & Sequence (useful information?) - Are good examples given? - Is there some student involvement? - Does it test mastery? Immediate or delayed feedback? - Does it allow different pacing? 2) Drill and Practice Consider the following: - Content & Sequence - Pedagogical Appropriateness (does it develop the skills it is supposed to?) - Appropriateness of medium - Is the activity fun, engaging? - Is speed a factor? - Feedback - immediate or delayed? - branching for remediation and advancement? - automated record keeping? - use of humor, sound, graphics? - mastery levels to be attained before advancing? - adequate randomization of drill items - can student specify subcategories? (e.g., 3rds and 6ths only) 3) Games Consider the following: - Content & Sequence - Speed a factor? (Beat the clock, etc.) - Number of players (networking) - Motivation issues (fantasy elements? something to add fun) - Branching: does it get harder as you go? - Pedagogical appropriateness: does it exercise useful skills? - Feedback: use of humor, sound, graphics? 4) Simulations Consider the following: - What is simulated and how? - Why use a simulation, is it appropriate? - Content & Sequence - Are good examples given? - Is there some student involvement? - Does it test mastery? Immediate or delayed feedback? CONTENT: - more detail OTHER: - anything else? ========================== FIGURE 5. Online Journal [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv05.mov] ========================== 4. GETTING STARTED [4.1] Each year, we begin the class by showing some of the best final projects from previous classes. Figure 6 shows the opening sequence from one such project by Jon Hynes, a D.M.A. piano student. (Others are shown in section 8 of this essay.) This demonstration gives the students a good idea of where the course is headed and helps to set high expectations for their own final projects. Although we have had some excellent projects from each class, this practice (along with our increasing experience in teaching the material) has helped to raise the overall quality of final projects each year we have taught the course. Next we introduce students to *HyperCard in a Hurry* (Beekman), which is designed as seven "sessions" that progress logically through HyperCard's user levels, from Browsing through simple Scripting. The last unit introduces color tools (which were not available in early versions of HyperCard) and discusses various "external commands" for controlling external devices, synthesizing speech, and controlling QuickTime movies. Recently we have introduced color tools much earlier in the course rather than waiting or Beekman's final session. ========================== FIGURE 6. A Student Project (Opening Sequence, half size) [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv06.mov] The opening sequence of a project by Jon Hynes features an artistically distorted image of a piano keyboard, which flies across the screen the title of the program "Piano Time" is set around it. This is followed by a preview of the stack, showing the menus for each section of the stack. All is synchronized to an excerpt from Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganinni." The sequence makes excellent use of flip-card animation, color, scanned artwork, and sound. ========================== [4.2] Each of Beekman's units leads students through detailed steps to create a working HyperCard stack. This learn-by-doing pedagogy provides an effective and fast introduction. From the start, we supplement these exercises with readings in Goodman for more detailed information, and often have the students do a second version of the assignment that is much more complete and adds various "bells and whistles," or that makes the project more meaningful. For example, Session 2 "The Dynamic File Cabinet: Information Storage and Retrieval," teaches students to use an "Address Book" stack that comes with HyperCard, and then teaches the reader how to increase the user level, get into the "background" of a card, delete or copy fields and buttons, and add labels to fields. We supplement this lesson by giving detailed instructions for modifying the stack to make a custom "Discography" for cataloguing their recordings. This new version of the stack requires the students to change field names, add new fields and buttons, and write a simple button script. [4.3] Beekman's Session 3 teaches the Authoring level of HyperCard and Paint tools, through the creation of a stack that illustrates an Egyptian pyramid, with buttons that allow the user to "enter" one of the chambers and then to return to the diagram of the pyramid. We teach the students how to add "clip art" and how to add scripts to play music using HyperCard's built-in sounds. Students then create a second version of the Pyramid stack that is more ornate, illustrates each room of the pyramid, and adds traveling music while changing cards. Figure 7 shows the version created following Beekman's instructions. Figure 8 is the much more creative version done by Kristin Tait, a D.M.A. percussion student, who provided for direct navigation between the pyramid "map" and individual rooms or for a "tour" of the pyramid via clicking on an asp to move from room to room. Tait also made good use of perspective in designing the various rooms. Beekman's instructions result in nearly identical student stacks, while our modified assignments provide a vehicle for student individuality and creativity. We always have a stimulating class session showing different versions of these assignments; the presentation also provides an opportunity to critique design decisions made by the students. In general, we require students to do the basic assignment as an ungraded exercise, and then collect and grade the extended creative version. ========================== FIGURE 7. Beekman's Pyramid [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv07.mov] FIGURE 8. Student Pyramid with Sound, Clip Art, and Perspective [QuickTime Movie mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv08.mov] ========================== 5. TEACHING HYPERTALK PROGRAMMING [5.1] While users can create useful and even impressive stacks without ever doing any programming, learning the scripting language behind HyperCard empowers them to do many things that would otherwise be impossible, such as storing information about students and their progress (in CAI), controlling external devices using external commands, and creating applications that would be impossible without the finer level of control that scripting provides. Finding the correct balance is difficult, because some of the students in our multimedia class have already taken Brinkman's two-semester programming course, some are experienced programmers, and some have never used a computer for anything more demanding than word processing. We begin laying the groundwork early--during the first or second class--by teaching students how to "peek" at the scripts in buttons to see how the task is actually done, and to introduce the elemental concepts of object oriented programming. For example, after they have used the automated tools to link a button to a card, we encourage them to look at the "handler" (procedure) in the button script, something like: on mouseUp go to card id 1045 end mouseUp Even at this early stage, we explain that clicking the mouse sends a "mouseDown" message through the system; releasing the mouse sends a "mouseUp" message, which causes the on-screen button to perform the action: go to the specified card. [5.2] We introduce other messages and discuss message passing hierarchies (precedence) and more arcane topics a bit later. Generally we introduce new concepts with a "bullet lecture" and give related reading assignments in Goodman, provide a handout summarizing the techniques, and do in-class demonstrations by typing commands into the message box or writing handlers to illustrate techniques. If we have prepared a longer demonstration, the stacks are left on computers where the students can study them. We also discuss the scripts in class and give students a paper copy that they can study at home. We have designed a series of "scripting" assignments that teach the basics of programming to the novice, but encourage more advanced students to extend the exercises. As a first scripting exercise, we discuss button and field properties. Students are already familiar with some of these from setting them with menus. We provide a handout listing all of the properties of buttons and fields, explain how to set these properties in HyperTalk, do some in-class illustration and experimentation, and then give them an assignment which forces them to master the concepts. Figure 9 is a listing of the first assignment; Figure 10 shows a solution by Jocelyn Neal (a Ph.D. theory student). ========================== FIGURE 9. Scripting Assignment 1. PRELIMINARY: First, Create a new stack, get the Message box, and set the userlevel to 5. Make a card button called "SetUp", place it in the center of the card, and open its script (command-option click on the button). The object of the first task is to write a button script for this button that will make a new field, set its properties; then make a button and set its properties. Until you are comfortable with the syntax of all of the commands, the best way to do this is to test each command in the message box, and then, when it works properly, use cut and paste to copy the command into the button script. For example, for a., below, type doMenu "new field" in the message box. If the command works properly, copy the contents of the message box (select the text and then command-c), and paste it into the button script (place the cursor, and then command-v). If the command does not do what you want it to, experiment in the message box until you get it right, then paste it into the button script. Note, throughout this assignment, if you ever have trouble accessing the menus you need, reset the userlevel to 5 (especially if you started in one session, and continued in another session). Instructions how to word each of the commands needed to complete this assignment are found in the Goodman text. Use this as an opportunity to become familiar with this resource. Numbers in square brackets refer to page numbers in Goodman *The Complete HyperCard 2.2* (4th ed.). TASK 1. a. Create a field (use doMenu, and be sure to put quotes around the menu item in your command and use the exact wording from the menu). [See pp. 602-605.] b. Set the name of the field to "Title" [pp. 573-574]. Remember, you are doing this from the message box, not with the field tool, and that you can refer to the field you just created as "the last card field." (Throughout the assignment, in your scripts or message box, be sure to specify card field, or HyperCard will default to background field and tell you it can't find background field "title.") c. Set the size (rect) of the field [pp. 684-685] to about half the size of the card (hint: you can get the coordinates of the card by typing " the rect of card 1" in message, then experiment with the rect of the field to choose a size you like. d. Position the field in the middle of the card (figure this out from the rect of the card). e. Put the title "Scripting Assignment No. 1" into the first line of the card field [pp. 474-477]. f. Put your name in the 4th line of the field. g. Set the font for the field to "Times," the style to "bold" and the fontsize to 23 [see handout on field properties and the appropriate pages in Goodman]. h. Set the properties of the field so that it is opaque, and the lines don't show, and the text is locked. i. Make the font smaller for the line with your name in it, but not for the rest. j. Now use doMenu to make a new button. (Note, you can refer to this button as "last button.") Rename it by typing in message box: set the name of last cd btn to "Next" k. Set the size of the button to match the size of card (use 'the rect'). l. Hide the name of the button, and make it transparent (set the showName and the style of the button to appropriate values). [See handout on buttons and appropriate pages in Goodman.] m. Put the following into the script of the card button "Next": on mouseUp go to next card end mouseUp As usual, try it first in Message but this eventually will go within your "Set-Up" button script. See the scripts 'Ralph', etc. in our handout illustrating field properties for an example of how to do this. So your command will begin: set the script of cd btn "Next" to "on mouseUp" & return ... This will be longer than the message box is, so type carefully. Peek at the script of the card button to see if your message box command worked properly. Once it does, we'll paste this into the "Set-Up" button script. To copy this whole command (since it is too long to be seen in Message), put the cursor in Message and hit cmd-A to select all, then cmd-C to copy it. Then go back and paste it into the "Set-Up" button script. Once you do this, you will need to add soft returns (option-return). The ampersand (&) carriage return [pp. 821-823 and 830-831]. n. Make a new card (doMenu). Now go back to the first card, and using the regular button and field tools, delete all buttons and fields except the "Set Up" button. Then click on "Set Up" to make sure that everything works. You will note that the last button is still "selected." You can fix this by adding the the following command to the script for the Set Up button, after the Next button has been created: choose browse tool [See Goodman, pp. 504-506.] So the user doesn't have to see all the steps involved here, you should add a line at the beginning of your set up button script to lock the screen [pp. 553-555] before HyperCard creates the field, and unlock it at the end after all steps for making the field and button are complete. (See scripts "Ralph," etc. from the previous class.) In order to test your script, you may have to delete the field and transparent button using the field and button tools (or message box). Let's add a card script to do all the deletions for us: on closeCard if there is a cd fld "Title" then delete card fld "Title" if there is a cd fld "Next" then delete card btn "Next" end closeCard To get to the card script you have two choices: cmd-option-c (which may not work on the library machines) or go to the Objects menu, choose Card Info, and click on "Script" inside its dialog box. Let's get some practice with a stack script as well. Write a stack script that sets the userlevel to 5 on openStack. (You open the stack script with cmd-option-S.) This is necessary because the New Button and New Field commands are not available unless you are at level 5, and we want this stack to work when the user opens it without having to set the userlevel. TASK 2: This task teaches you to get the users name, store it in a global variable, and use it in various commands. You may use the appropriate menu tools as needed to do this task, and refer to Goodman on the "ask" and "answer" commands [pp. 549-553]. Make two "handlers" in the script of the second card. The first (on openCard) should use the "ask" command to get your name; and store it in a global variable called "name." Hint: the ask command puts the user's input into the local variable It [pp. 402, 466]. You'll need a command to put It into name Do not call it "global name". When you use this global variable, each handler that uses it must have the line: global name Remember to end the handler properly. The second handler (on closeCard) should use the "answer" command to say "goodbye" to you, using your name, and provide an appropriate response button (something, like "See you later" or "Bye, now"). Hints: (a) you will need to declare the same global variable as in the first script; (b) the '&&' operator concatenates (joins) two strings, like '&', but adds a space between them [pp. 821-823]. Now make a button (using the regular menu tools) to take you to the next card; choosing an appropriate icon. Write the script yourself, rather than using authoring tools. Test the button and the scripts. You might want to use the drawing tools to put something on the card, it's kind of dull with nothing there! TASK 3: Make a third card. Using the regular button tool, make a "Create Field" button that contains a script that makes a new field, names the field, sets its properties, and places several lines of text in it. [The button script will do many of the things you did in Task 1.] Again, using the regular button tools, create a "Delete Field" button that deletes the field. Add several other buttons (with the button tool) that change properties of the field or its text, and that change properties of buttons on the card. [See handout on Field Properties and the appropriate Goodman pages.] You will need to name all of your buttons in order to do the latter. Next to each button, make an "undo" button, puts things back as they were. Experiment with changing properties of a portion of your field's text, you must specify which portion to undo [pp. 469-470], e.g.: set word 2 of line 1 of card fld "text" to plain Put appropriate navigation buttons on the card for going to the previous and next card. Try to make something interesting out of this, but the primary purpose is to learn field and button properties and to practice writing scripts. TASK 4: Now let's name this handler and put it into the card script; we'll call it from the "Create Field" button. Copy card 3 (using look exactly like card 3; don't worry about that.) Open the button script in your new card 4 for the "Create Field" button, select the whole script (command-A), and copy it (command-C). Then replace the card 4's button's script with one that reads: on mouseUp setField end mouseUp Now open the card script (cmd-option-C) and paste the handler you just copied from button "Create Field" into the card script (command-v). Change "on mouseUp" to "on setField" (remember to do this for the end handler as well). Now go back and try the "Create Field" button to be sure it calls the new handler correctly. If you are feeling adventurous, you might replace other button scripts on this card with handlers (in the card script) as well. Be sure that each handler has a different name. ========================== FIGURE 10. A Student Solution to Scripting Assignment 1 [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv10.mov] This student's solution features music-related quotes from Hugo, Wagner, Stravinsky, Congreve, Heine, and Thoreau. Clicking on the author's name highlights the appropriate text, and other buttons display the sources and dates. The stack also makes good use of Art Deco borders provided as resources by HyperCard. ========================== [5.3] After teaching control structures (if .. then .. else) and various forms of loops (repeat until, repeat with, repeat while, etc.), we give another assignment in which students use simple arithmetic and control structures to move buttons from one place on the screen to another. Figure 11 shows the assignment; Figure 12 again shows Neal's solution with some creative extensions. ========================== FIGURE 11. Theory 423 Scripting Assignment #2 FUN WITH NUMBERS We are going to create a stack that uses arithmetic calculations within repeat loops to move buttons around the screen. First, we will give you background information, then we will write scripts that move buttons in one direction only (horizontally or vertically), and then combine this information to move along a straight line between any two points. READ: Goodman, Chapter 44 (Operators): carefully read pp. 809-814 (arith. operators), scan p. 817-825 for general familiarity, and read pp. 825-826 (precedence). BACKGROUND Suppose we want to calculate n equally spaced "steps" along a line from point A to point B. A (P) B ._____________________._____________________________. (I) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... n <------------------- D ------------------> <------ F -------> 1. The distance D from point A to point B is calculated by subtracting A from B. For our purposes, we will be measuring D in pixels. (Remember, the standard card width is 512 pixels and its height is 342 pixels. These are often given as x, y coordinates; the upper left-hand corner of the screen is 0,0 and the bottom right-hand corner is 512, 342.) We want to move along this line in n "steps." 2. If there are n points along this line, the fraction F of the distance D at any point i, is (i / n) * D. Thus when i is 0, F is 0/n * D ( = 0); when i = n, F is (n / n) * D (= 1 * D = D). At any arbitrary point i, the distance traversed is (i/n) * D. As a concrete example, imagine that point A is 0 and point B is 100; thus the distance (D) from A to B is 100 pixels, and that we want 10 steps (n) along this line. The step number, i, will vary from 0 to 10. At the beginning, when i = 0, the portion of the distance traversed is (0/10) * 100 (= 0); after the first step it is 1/10 * 100 (= 10 ); after the second step it is 2/10 * 100 (=20). After 10 steps whole distance has been traversed: 10/10 * 100 (= 100). 3. Since the starting point A usually isn't 0, the actual point P (where P is between A and B) is the partial distance F (which we calculated above) added to starting point A. Let's take a simple example: Point A is 10, B is 30, and the number of steps n is 10: 10 30 .__________________________________. The distance (D) from 10 to 30 equals 20. At the beginning of the line (i = 0) we are at point 10 [(0/10) * 20 + 10]. At point 1 we are at 12 [(1/10) * 20 + 10]; at point 5 (half way there) we are at point 20 [(5/10) * 20 + 10], and so on. The last point (point 10) is (10/10) * 20 + 10 = 30. Plug some numbers into these equations and satisfy yourself that this is true, even if point A is GREATER than point B, i.e., we are going in a negative direction. TASK 0--WARM-UP; TRYING IT OUT We will now write a handler to test the simple math described above. Create a new stack, and set the userlevel to 5. Place the following handler in the background script of the stack (remember that you get the background script via option-command-B): --------------------------- calc ---------------------------- -- Calc calculates n points on the straight line between -- -- points a and b. Note that round() rounds -- -- to the nearest integer (whole number value). -- -- The values are written into the message box so we can see -- -- them. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- on calc a, b, n put a into message put b - a into difference repeat with i = 1 to n put round((i / n) * difference + a) into newvalue put " " & newvalue after message end repeat end calc Now create a button called "Try Calc" and put the following into the button script: --------------- Script for button "Try Calc" ----------------- -- Asks for two points and the number of steps, then passes -- -- these values to the calc handler -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- on mouseUp ask "Point A" with "10" put it into startpoint ask "Point B" with "30" put it into endpoint ask "How many steps?" with "10" put it into steps calc startpoint, endpoint, steps end mouseUp Test the button and the calc handler by clicking on the button, entering numbers, and examining the results in the message box. Hint: The font characteristics of the message box can be set just like a field or button. If you want to see more information in the message box, enter the command "set the textsize of message to 9" in the message box. TASK 1 - MOVING SIDEWAYS Now we are going to use our new skills to create "button animation." First use the button tool to make a new button called "x". Make it fairly small and roughly square, set its style to shadow, and disable it. We are now going to write scripts to make the button move. The handler moveh will move the button horizontally (from left to right or vice versa). Recall that locations in HyperCard are given as comma separated values, e.g., '20,30', and that item 1 is the first value and item 2 is the second value. Add the following handler to the background script, replacing with the appropriate arithmetic expression to calculate the new value, based on the arithmetic we reviewed on page 1: --------------------------- moveh ----------------------------- -- This handler moves the a button or field (obj) -- -- horizontally to point "newloc", using "n" steps. The -- -- second part of "newloc", the y co-ordinate, is ignored. -- -- Note that a point is expressed as (x,y); item 1 is the x -- -- value, and item 2 is the y value. Replace -- -- with the correct arithmetic expression -- --------------------------------------------------------------- on moveh obj, newloc, n put item 1 of loc of obj into firstx put item 2 of loc of obj into yvalue put item 1 of newloc into lastx put lastx - firstx into xdifference repeat with i = 1 to n put into xvalue set the loc of obj to xvalue,yvalue end repeat end moveh Test this handler in the message box by entering lines such as moveh "cd btn x", "256,200", 10 in the message box. (For now, type just as shown above-don't put quotes around "x".) Note that the first two arguments to moveh must be in quotes. For the command shown just above, the moveh handler will use "cd btn x" as the value of obj, "256,200" as the value of newloc, and 10 as the value of n. Now, make a new button named "horizontal" and put the following handler into its button script: on mouseUp ask "New Location" with the loc of cd btn "x" put it into newloc ask "How many steps" with "10" put it into steps put "card button" && quote & "x" & quote into object moveh object, newloc, steps end mouseUp When you click on the "horizontal" button, this handler will ask you for a new location and then move card button "x" to this location. Note that the handler uses the current location of the card button as the "default" value. Now test the "Horizontal" button and the "moveh" handler to be sure that they work properly. Note: if you move the button off of the card, just click on "horizontal" again, and enter more reasonable values for the new location. TASK 2--MOVING UP AND DOWN In the background script, make a copy of the moveh handler (select the text, then command-c to copy and command-v to paste). Name the new handler "movev" (for move vertical). Remember to use change the last statement to "end movev" as well. Modify the handler to make it move the button in the vertical direction using the second (y) values and ignoring the first value (x). A | v B Test the handler in the message box. After you get it working correctly, copy the "horizontal" button, rename it "vertical" and modify the button script of the new button so that it calls "movev" instead of "moveh." TASK 3 - GOING "AROUND THE CORNER" Make another copy of the "Horizontal" button, name it "MoveX". The script of this button should call both moveh and movev to place button "x" in a new location using a "city-block" route, i.e., getting to the new location by going around the corner. Task 4 - The Direct Route Write a final version of the handler (on move ... end move) in the background script, that moves an object in a straight line to its new location. A--------| | | v B This handler will combine elements of moveh and movev, i.e., for each point i, it will calculate a new x value and a new y value, and then set the loc of the button to (xvalue,yvalue). Test the handler in the message box, then make a card button that calls this handler to move card button "x". Note that since we defined the handlers with parameter "object" instead of using card button "x", you could use it to move any button or field to a new location. Experiment with this if you have time. Since the scripts are in the background, you can call them from other cards if you need more room to experiment. EXTRA CREDIT If you have had lots of previous experience or you found the above easy, feel free to design another task of your own that uses the techniques learned in this assignment. [End of FIGURE 11] ========================== FIGURE 12. A Student Solution to Scripting Assignment 2 [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv12.mov] This student has designed icons representing a boy and girl for her moving buttons. Under script control, the boy and girl meet at a specified location, chase each other, and dance in circles to a waltz tune. ========================== [5.4] Some students, especially those with no programming background, find these assignments difficult and need some assistance to complete them, but most become fairly comfortable with writing or modifying handlers by the end of the course, and some of the more experienced students do some remarkable programming for their final projects. [5.5] A later scripting assignment deals with using the clickLine, a HyperTalk function that identifies the line number and field name of the last field the user clicks on. Once students have learned how to write handlers and use some external commands, this function can be used in many different ways, e.g., building a table of contents linked to other cards, or building a form chart that plays the appropriate passage from a CD when the user clicks on a form label. These techniques are demonstrated in Section 8 in many of the final projects. 6. USING EXTERNAL COMMANDS [6.1] Many extensions to HyperCard are available in the form of external commands--utility programs written in high-level programming languages such as C or C++. These commands can be called from HyperCard to control devices such as MIDI synthesizers and CD players. We incorporate several of these in our course. Voyager's CD Audio Toolkit provides tools for indexing and accessing music on compact disks. We introduce this early in the course during our unit on music cognition and perception. After reading several chapters in David Butler's *The Musician's Guide to Perception and Cognition*, the students are given an introduction to the Voyager toolkit, and use it to make buttons that play musical examples from Butler's CD. In a follow- up assignment, they import music notation for the examples, and design a stack that displays the examples with explanation, and plays the musical excerpts from the CD. This exercise provides practice in presenting material in a multimedia format, as well as in using the Voyager tools and a music notation package. A solution by Jeff Markarian, a Ph.D. theory student, is shown in Figure 13. ========================== FIGURE 13. Butler Example Assignment [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv13.mov] The student solution uses imported music notation, buttons linked to the CD to play the examples, pop-up fields with explanatory text, and footnote fields citing the source. ========================== [6.2] The Voyager toolkit is also invaluable for its many examples of scripts for doing different types of tasks with music CDs, written using their external commands. As a simple example, the command "CDPlay 00,01,15,02,22,45" plays a segment of a compact disk in the computer's CD drive. The command specifies the starting time and ending time of the segment in minutes, seconds, and frames (75 per second), measured from the beginning of the CD. Commands like this can be placed in scripts in buttons, fields, backgrounds, and cards to control the CD player. Later in the course, after students have had more HyperTalk programming experience, we study some of the more elaborate scripts, such as those that link a succession of cards to a CD passage or that highlight measures in music notation as a CD passage plays. We provide handouts with details of the Voyager external commands and functions with examples of their use; many students use these tools in their final projects. [6.3] We also introduce and demonstrate other external commands. Although time has not permitted formal assignments using these, demonstration stacks and manuals are available, and we help students to use them in their final projects if they are needed. We have used two packages for controlling MIDI--Opcode's MIDIplay, and Earlevel's HyperMidi. Midiplay is no longer actively supported, but it is available from Opcode's educational contact, and we have used it in implementing cognition experiments (see below). One of our previous students, John Clevenger (a Ph.D. theory student), is using HyperMidi with HyperCard to develop an ear-training package that is quite impressive. [6.4] We also introduce QuickTime movies through Apple's QuickTime Tools, distributed with HyperCard. These powerful tools make it easy to add movies to stacks, but are also useful for playing MIDI files and sound files. One can either display a QuickTime controller on a card or, using the Advanced Tools and some scripting, control the files from scripts without showing the controller. 7. IMPLEMENTING MUSIC-COGNITION EXPERIMENTS [7.1] Each time we have taught the course, we have included a cognition experiment as part of the course design. We introduce the cognition component early through readings in Butler and the Voyager CD Audio Toolkit assignment. Later we teach a unit on experimental design, including readings carefully chosen by Marvin to lay the groundwork for our experiment. Then, as a class project, we design, implement, and carry out an experiment. Marvin proposes the topic, which is refined and developed through class discussion, and students help to locate and prepare appropriate musical stimuli. Then, while students are working on their final projects, Brinkman works on his: implementing the experiment in HyperCard. Students in the class recruit friends and classmates to participate as subjects and help to administer the experiment by overseeing participant sessions. (With a student body of roughly 800 undergraduate and graduate students, Eastman is a wonderful place for finding participants.) Students in the course are given an introduction to APA (American Psychological Association) style and each write the first part of a paper on the experiment, describing the hypothesis and method, but omitting the section on results and analysis. The instructors do a preliminary analysis of the data using Statview; we present preliminary findings to the class late in the semester. After the term is over, we do a more leisurely and thorough analysis of the data to prepare papers for eventual conference presentation and publication, with due credit given to our students who participated in running the experiment. [7.2] There are many advantages to the computer implementation. If the program is designed well, the subjects can participate with little outside intervention, although we always have a class member or instructor available to answer questions if necessary. The computer is used for all aspects of the experiment--it gives instructions, collects data on the participants, presents practice problems, administers a pretest, presents the stimuli, and collects data on responses. Our programs randomly generate a different stimulus order for each subject, eliminating learning effects as a "confound." HyperCard can measure subjects' response times to a 60th of a second without adding any extra data- collection hardware. All data are saved to the hard disk in text files as comma-separated lists that import easily into Excel and Statview. The greatest advantage of the computer implementation is the amount of information, both about the subjects and about the stimuli, that we can embed in these files. We can massage the data in many ways, and perform statistical analysis of the interaction between many different factors, and we avoid the drudgery and chance of introducing errors associated with manual transcription of subject responses. [7.3] We have implemented three experiments to date, one having to do with differences in tonic perception by absolute-pitch (AP) and relative-pitch (RP) listeners, and two on perception of tonal closure by trained musicians. Space does not permit a detailed discussion of our hypotheses and results--these will be published elsewhere. Here, we will concentrate on the computer implementation. [7.4] In the first part of an experiment session, we collect data about the subjects, their age, sex, primary instrument, academic discipline, number of years of training, etc. Although some questions vary from experiment to experiment, the method of collecting the data is similar, using a combination of check boxes and dialog boxes. Before going on, the participant is shown a summary of the data. Clicking on any item with the mouse allows the subject to go back and change an answer. This portion of an experiment is shown in Figure 14. ========================== FIGURE 14. Cognition Experiment: Collecting Data [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv14.mov] ========================== [7.5] Each of our experiments to date has included a "pretest" to see to what degree the subject possesses "absolute pitch" (AP). In the first experiment, we used both AP and RP subjects, and needed to track response times for each stimulus. We designed an interface with note names arranged in a circle around a central "Play" button, so that each response would be equidistant from "Play." The subject clicks on "Play," listens to the stimulus, and then clicks on one of buttons to identify the pitch (or tonic, in the actual experiment). Subjects could change their answers by clicking on different buttons. When they click on central button, which has changed to "Ready," their answers are recorded. We trained subjects to use the interface through a practice round in which the user clicked on buttons that were randomly selected by the computer until they could perform the task consistently in under a second. In a second practice round, pitches were played and the subjects selected the notes they thought they heard. The actual pretest followed the same format, except that many more pitches were given (in random order). The computer recorded the actual note played, the subject's answer, time from stimulus to answer, and whether the answer was correct or incorrect, along with the subjects ID number and other pertinent information. This portion of the experiment is shown in Figure 15. ========================== FIGURE 15. Cognition Experiment: User Interface 1 [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv15.mov] ========================== [7.6] In the second part of this experiment, subjects used the same interface to identify the perceived tonic in excerpts chosen from piano and chamber music literature. (This is not shown because the interface is the same.) In this portion of the experiment, subjects who had identified themselves as having RP were given a reference tone before each excerpt was played. [7.7] Because we were not concerned about timing information in the next two experiments, we redesigned the interface for the pretest as an on-screen keyboard. The participant identified pitches by clicking on the keyboard. A button above the keyboard changed appropriately from "Play" to "Ready," and a field above gave instructions. This interface is shown in Figure 16. ========================== FIGURE 16. Cognition Experiment: User Interface 2 [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv16.mov] ========================== [7.8] Our experiments on tonal closure used recorded excerpts or short movements as stimuli. After each excerpt was played, the subject was asked to answer questions by clicking on check boxes on an answer form. In keeping with accepted methodology, the experimental questions were intermingled with other questions to conceal the hypothesis from the participants. The answer form for our latest experiment is shown in Figure 17. The participants were required to answer all questions. ========================== FIGURE 17. Cognition Experiment: User Interface 3 [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv17.gif] ========================== [7.9] We have used a variety of methods for presenting stimuli. The first two years we used a MIDI synthesizer controlled directly by MIDIplay to present the single-pitch stimuli and sequences of interference tones between trials. This was facilitated through MIDIplay's "xmit" command, which makes it possible to send MIDI control signals to the synthesizer directly. (See Figure 18 for a simple example.) In our first experiment, we made digital recordings of the musical excerpts and played them as resources in stacks. By our second experiment, we had obtained a CD recorder, so we made a custom CD with each stimulus on a separate track. Individual tracks were easy to access through a simple Voyager commands, e.g., "CDplay1 5" to play the fifth track on the CD. In our third experiment, we used a CD to present all stimuli, including the pieces, isolated tones for the AP pretest, and multiple sequences of interference tones. Those that were produced by a synthesizer were recorded digitally directly from a Kurzweil PC 88 MX synthesizer, using SoundEdit 16. Thus, we did not have to deal with the idiosyncrasies of MIDI setup, and could run several subjects at a time on different computers, each with a separate copy of the CD. ========================== FIGURE 18. A MIDIplay Script -------------------- Play Midi Note -------------------- -- These button scripts cause a random tone to be played on -- -- a MIDI synthesizer, using MIDIplay external commands. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- mouseUp handler -------------------- -- Sets timbre to piano or violin tone (50% chance of each). -- -- Generates midi note number randomly, and plays note for 1 -- -- second. Note: midi note numbers are integers, with 60 = -- -- middle C. Here we choose a random number between 1 and 35, -- -- and add 47 to it, so we get a note between 48 (C3) and 84 -- -- (C6). -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- on mouseUp if random(2) = 1 then MIDIplay "xmit","t 192 0" -- piano tone else MIDIplay "xmit","t 192 40" -- violin tone put random(37) + 47 into note -- random note bet. 48 and 84 mplay note, 60 -- play note for 1 second end mouseUp -------------------- mplay -------------------- -- Sends a note on signal, waits x ticks, and sends note off. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- on mplay note, x -- note is midi note code (C4=60) MIDIplay "xmit", "t 144" && note && "100" -- note on wait x ticks midiplay "xmit", "t 128" && note && "0" -- note off end mplay ========================== [7.10] There is a great deal of programming behind these experiments. We spend some class time discussing problems and their solutions and demonstrating programming techniques, and feedback from the class is often helpful in refining the interface and presentation. Although details of the programming are beyond students without previous programming experience, all can benefit from a general knowledge of the problems that need to be overcome, and a print-out of all of the scripts used to implement the experiment is made available for any students who wish to study them. 8. STUDENT PROJECTS [8.1] Each student is required to do a final project, which is the culmination of the semester's work, and gives the students an opportunity to tie together many facets of the course. Students submit a proposed topic and rudimentary outline by about the middle of the semester, and in the last half of the course we minimize daily assignments so they can concentrate on this major undertaking. Our general guidelines for the student projects are shown in Figure 19. We make individual appointments with the students to review their progress, to give guidance and assistance when necessary, and to help solve programming problems in projects that require a scripting. ========================== FIGURE 19. Final Project Guidelines - There will be no specified minimum number of cards (nor a maximum number). Use whatever number of cards is necessary to present your material effectively. - Your stack must demonstrate your mastery of some type of HyperCard-implemented sound, but you may chose among the types we have studied (internal Mac sound, MIDI files using MIDIplay, recorded sounds from CD using AudioShop or SoundEdit 16, or calls to CD using the Voyager CD Audio Toolkit), depending upon the nature of your project. - If a large project is envisioned (one that is beyond the scope of the course), then demonstrate your vision of the entire project by setting up the "super-structure" of the complete project on your Table of Contents card. Clicking on lines in the TOC should take the user to various portions of your project stack, some of which will be fully implemented and others of which should simply contain a statement telling the user that this portion of the stack is not yet fully implemented. This statement should also contain a short prose description of what would be there in the completed project you envision. - Above all, demonstrate your highest abilities on the portion(s) of your project that you choose to implement. Your grade will be based both on your conception and planning of the "whole," and the realization of the portions you have chosen to complete. ========================== [8.2] Projects may be literature-based or tutorial, and may be designed for different audiences. Most of our students present college-level material, but a few have designed programs for younger children. Since projects are intended for in-class use only, we allow students to use commercial recordings and to scan art work from published sources, but warn them that if they ever want to seek publication or distribute their stacks to others, they will have to obtain permission from the copyright holders. We also insist on high standards of academic integrity--when material is used that is not their own, sources must be acknowledged. [8.3] We conclude with samples of students' final projects from our course. Space, downloading time, and copyright restrictions prohibit us from showing complete projects in this medium. We hope that the excerpts shown here will be sufficient to demonstrate the kinds of things our students are doing and the quality of their work. Most students designed projects that reflect their interests and major area of study. [8.4] Many of the projects, particularly those by performance majors, are literature-based. One example is a stack by Bret Dorhout, a D.M.A. student in organ performance, which presents information about Bach's Cantata 93, "Wer nun den lieben Gott laesst Walten." Figure 20 shows his title page and table of contents, which is linked to the various sections of the stack. Each card of the stack has the CD controls shown here; clicking on the picture of Bach in the lower right-hand corner returns the user to the table of contents. This student completed two major portions of the stack. Figure 21 shows part of the Text Translation section. Clicking on a line of text highlights the line and plays the musical setting. As the music continues, the highlight follows the text, and cards flip to the next section when necessary. Listening can be nonlinear--the user can click on any line, in German or English, to hear the setting of that text, or can listen to a whole section, or even the whole cantata straight through. Dorhout also implemented a View the Score section, a small portion of which is shown in Figure 22. The reduced score was created in Finale and copied into the stack. Then a transparent button was placed over each measure and, following an example from the Voyager CD Audio Toolkit, the stack was programmed so that clicking on any measure would play it, while "button effects" would show the listener which measure was playing. Dorhout enabled and disabled the buttons in sequence (disabling causes the them to turn gray and partially mask the music). He discovered that this results in a more aesthetically pleasing animation than the more common highlighting technique, which causes a white foreground on a black background. Again, the user can listen to the music continuously or jump around at will, and cards change automatically at the appropriate time. ========================== FIGURE 20a. Dorhout Title Page [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv25a.gif] The tile page utilizes a scanned portrait of Bach, with his signature, and an attractive script font for the stack title. FIGURE 20b. Dorhout TOC [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv20b.gif] The main menu features the various sections of the project: History of BWV 93, Text Translation, View the Score, The Chorale, J.S. Bach's Life, The Performance, Review Quiz, plus Help and Quit. Clicking on each menu item takes the user to a submenu for that portion of the stack. The design is consistent, with a CD Controller in the lower left corner of each card, and a miniature portrait of Bach in the lower right. Clicking on the latter returns the user to the main menu. ========================== FIGURE 21. Dorhout's Text Translation (partial window) [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv21.mov] ========================== FIGURE 22. Dorhout's "View the Score" (partial window) [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv22.mov] ========================== [8.5] Tom Toner, a D.M.A. percussion student, did his project on John Cage's Third Construction. After an extended animated introduction (not shown due to downloading time), the table of contents appears. Toner used a Voyager technique--linking cards to the CD--to describe the percussion instruments and techniques heard as the piece plays, as shown in Figure 23. He also implemented a reference section on the percussion instruments used, with accompanying text, pictures, and sounds. Clicking on the pictures plays a recording of the instruments, which he played himself and recorded in his studio, then digitized for use in his project. The user can also hear an excerpt from Third Construction that shows the instrument in the context of the piece. (See Figure 24.) ========================== FIGURE 23. Toner's "Listening to Third Construction" [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv23.mov] ========================== FIGURE 24. Toner's "The Instruments" [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv24.mov] ========================== [8.6] Kurt Fowler, a D.M.A. student in cello performance, did a project on Bach Cello Suites. He was particularly interested in performance issues--contrasting editions and different bowing solutions. His attractive black and white stack is an excellent example of multilevel design. Since reduced-sized movies of this stack were not effective, we will show some highlights with screen shots. When the stack opens, a recording of a Bach Cello suite plays automatically as the title card appears on screen. Clicking on the title page takes the user to the main menu or table of contents. The design is consistent and very clean, with few visible buttons for navigation. The user moves to other sections or submenus by clicking on lines in the table of contents, and returns by clicking on pictures, which appear to be scanned images of wood-cut impressions. Figure 25 shows the title page and several of the submenus. Not all sections were completed during the course, but those that were are impressive and innovative. Figure 26 shows the first page of his "Bowing Solutions" section. The user can page through the movement one measure at a time or jump to any specified measure, and see scanned images of the measure from six different historical and modern editions. Clicking on the graphics brings up a full page of music from the selected edition so the measure can be seen in context. The user can compare three different performances by selecting a check box for Pablo Casals, Janos Starker, or Anner Bylsma and then clicking on Play This Measure. (Figure 26 also has QuickTime movies of the sound files for this measure.) We were able to accomplish this without swapping CDs by combining tracks from several commercial recordings on one custom-made CD, which was accessed using Voyager CD Audio Tool Kit. Fowler also implemented one movement of "View the Score" in a similar manner, with animated measure highlighting, check boxes to select the desired performance, and buttons to take the user to a scanned image of each different edition. ========================== FIGURE 25a. Fowler's Title Page [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv25a.gif] Shows the title of the project, "J.S. Bach Suite for solo cello in C major," over an attractive scanned image. A recording of the piece plays until the user clicks on the image to go to the main menu. ========================== FIGURE 25b. Fowler's Main Menu [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv25b.gif] The main menu features sections on Background, Bowing Solutions, Dance Steps, View the Score, Editions and Performers, and Quiz. ========================== FIGURE 25c. Fowler's "Background" Submenu [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv25c.gif] This menu features The History of the Cello Suites, The Early Violoncello and Bow, and Performance Practice Issues--under a scanned image of Coethen. ========================== FIGURE 25d. Fowler's "Editions and Performers" [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv25d.gif] A short description of various historical and modern editions of the Cello Suites and information about the three performers featured in the stack--Casals, Starker, and Bylsma. ========================== FIGURE 25e. Fowler's Mock Quiz [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv25d.gif] A "place holder," the quiz has a picture of Bach, and one question: Who is this man? ========================== FIGURE 26. Fowler's "Bowing Solutions" [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv26.gif; QuickTime movies: casals.mov, bylsma.mov, and starker.mov] The movies play the recordings of by three performers that the user would hear by selecting the performer with a check-box and then clicking on Play This Measure. In the stack all music excerpts are implemented by accessing a custom-made CD through Voyager external commands. ========================== [8.7] We saw the opening of Jon Hynes's project earlier in Figure 6. Hynes is a D.M.A. student in piano performance who plans to use this program in his private teaching studio after he finishes his degree. His students will be able to use the program to learn more about the piano, music history, composers, and piano literature, etc., while waiting for their lessons. Although the original program was in small-screen format and black and white, he has since redesigned it for a larger computer screen and added color, including many scanned images of instruments and composers. His main table of contents and some of the submenus are shown in Figure 27. In the sections on composers and instruments, clicking on the reduced picture next to the text takes the user to another card with a large full-color picture, so more detail can be seen. Last summer (1997), in an independent study class with Brinkman, he began work on the music reading and theory rudiments sections. He has designed an attractive on- screen keyboard, which can be modified through changing button, card, and background scripts to serve in many different capacities. In Figure 28, it is used for beginners to practice identifying notes, which appear in a field on the screen in random order. Students hear the notes when they click on the screen. They are given immediate feedback, and questions they miss are placed in a queue for later review. Students specify the clefs they want to practice, and the program records the students' names, exercises performed, and scores in external files so the teacher can track their progress. ========================== FIGURE 27a. Hynes's Main Menu [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv27a.gif] The main menu--History of the Piano, Musical Notation, Notable Compositions, Composers, Great Pianists, Games, Quizzes, and Bibliography--is set over a scanned painting of young Mozart at the keyboard. ========================== FIGURE 27b. Hynes's History Submenu [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv27b.gif] History of the Piano submenu includes the following selections: In the Beginning ..., Germany, Austria, England, United States, and Steinway & Sons. Each menu is set over a beautiful painting in full color. ========================== FIGURE 27c. Hynes's Subsection Format [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv27c.gif] ========================== FIGURE 27d. Hynes's Quiz Submenu [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv27d.gif] ========================== FIGURE 27e. Hynes's Interval Drill [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv27e.gif] Notated intervals appear in a field on the top of the card. The student identifies the interval by clicking on buttons. Only the buttons representing intervals currently being tested are enabled. The music notation for the various intervals is stored on other cards, and copied to the quiz form by using HyperCard's Paint Tools under script control. Questions are presented in random order, and the student is given feedback. ========================== FIGURE 28. Hynes's Music Reading Drill [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv28.gif] Described in text above. ========================== [8.8] Allison Weitzman, an undergraduate theory major, was taking courses in jazz theory and improvisation when she took our class, and designed a program for practicing jazz ear training. Her project, which is remarkably complete, used a custom-made CD for recorded examples and MIDIplay to control a synthesizer. Her program uses an attractive design with a scanned score on the title page. The menu is hidden, but programmed so that items appear when the mouse passes over them, and clicking on a menu item takes the user to the appropriate section. Music plays whenever the user returns to the title page (table of contents). Sections for practicing intervals, scales, modes, chords, and harmonic progression are implemented. The interface is shown in Figure 29 (we won't take time to answer the questions). Users can customize each section by checking boxes to specify exactly what they want to practice. The Harmony section is most impressive. The user clicks on a button to hear a recording of one of the jazz greats playing a piece, then listens to a harmonic reduction of the chord progression synthesized on the MIDI keyboard. The object is to enter the correct chord symbols. The user selects answers from the bottom of the page, and then enters them by clicking on fields below the score. Clicking on any measure starts playing the MIDI file at that point. After the exercise is completed, it is graded and the user is given feedback. An example of this interface is shown in Figure 30. ========================== FIGURE 29. Weitzman's Jazz Ear-Training Program [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv29.mov] The movie shows the title page/menu and each subsection with its accompanying options menu. ========================== FIGURE 30. Weitzman's Jazz Progressions Drill [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv30.mov] Described in text above. ========================== [8.9] Jeff Campbell, a jazz bass player who was recently hired on the Jazz and Contemporary Media faculty at Eastman, did another jazz project for our course. His stack is an excellent tutorial on jazz bass, which explains many of his improvisation concepts with musical examples in notation that can be heard on a CD that he recorded himself for the project. A few frames from his stack are shown in Figure 31. ========================== FIGURE 31a. Campbell's Title Page [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv31a.gif] The title, "Jazz Bass Playing: A Linear Approach" is set over stylized line drawing of a bass. Buttons on the bottom of the card take the user to Table of Contents, Organization, Harmonic Information, Connections, and Circle of 4ths. The entire stack uses color and bass imagery effectively. ========================== FIGURE 31b. Campbell's Embellishing Tones [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv31b.gif] A text field explains Campbell's concept of "approach tones"-- non-chord tones that resolve to consonant tones in 9-8, 6-5, and 4-3 linear patterns. The field is framed by a scanned picture of an ornate bass scroll, which is shown in symmetrical mirror image on either side of the field. ========================== FIGURE 31c. Campbell's Combining Lines [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv31c.gif; play Quicktime movie campbell.mov to hear recording] This frame shows how a three-voice rendition of a jazz chord progression can be implied in a single bass line. The progression is shown in open score with chord symbols. Below this is a bass line implying all three voices. The movie controller below the gif image plays a recording of Campbell performing the line on bass (from a CD he recorded to go with the stack). In the actual stack, the user would hear this by clicking on a Play button. ========================== [8.10] Several projects have used multimedia techniques to good advantage for illustrating music-theoretical concepts. Valerie Errante, a D.M.A. voice student, did her project on Schubert's Erlkoenig. In her discussion of musical structure, she modified Voyager's measure-highlighting technique by placing buttons linked to the CD over a diagram of the song (from Brinkman's class notes for sophomore theory). While listening to the song, the user can follow the tonal motion in a bass reduction as highlighted buttons show the location in the form diagram. Alternately, the user can click the mouse on any section to hear it. This is especially useful for comparing sections or for discussing Schubert's musical characterization of the four cast members (narrator, father, son, and king). In Figure 32 we contrast the three statements of the refrain, "Mein Vater, mein Vater," sung by the son. Errante also included a more detailed discussion of the formal structure--shown in Figure 33 without sound to save downloading time. ========================== FIGURE 32. Errante's Interactive Form Diagram [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv32.mov] ========================== FIGURE 33. Errante's Tonal Discussion [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv33.mov] ========================== [8.11] A project on Schubert's Nacht und Traeume by Jocelyn Neal, a Ph.D. theory student, also contains a good deal of analytic information. Figure 34 shows her animated demonstration of a common-tone modulation. In another section, she linked Carl Schachter's analytic reduction of the song to the CD. While the song plays, an arrow moves across the screen to make a direct visual connection between the recording and the graph. Another button produces more information about the graph. (See Figure 35.) ========================== FIGURE 34. Neal's Common-Tone Modulation [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv34.mov] The frame contains a definition of common-tone modulation. Two third related chords (I and bVI) are shown on the staff. When the user clicks on Demonstrate Modulation, a whole note--the common tone--moves across the screen from one chord to the other. When the user clicks on Play Modulation, the excerpt is played, while the first and then second chord are highlighted. The change takes place at the point of modulation. Clicking on Modulation in Score shows another card with the musical notation for the score, and the user can hear the modulation again in context of the song. ========================== FIGURE 35. Neal's Sketch Presentation [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv35.mov] Described in text above. ========================== [8.12] Stefanie Crumbley, a Ph.D. theory student, did a project related to her teaching in our Freshman theory course. Her work was based on drills that Neil Minturn, our Freshman theory coordinator at the time, called "Speedwork." In these exercises, students learned basic patterns in tonal music, e.g., tonic expansions through arpeggiation or use of passing chords, and were required to recognize them and apply them in practical situations quickly and fluently, i.e., to assimilate them and make them part of their musical "vocabulary." Crumbley's project showed many of these patterns in reduction with MIDI realizations, quizzed the students in their usage, and illustrated them in excerpts from Haydn symphonies. Figure 36 shows an animation used by Crumbley to demonstrate how these basic patterns can be combined into a larger context. The year after completing our course, Crumbley--who was by then teaching the third year of our undergraduate theory sequence--used HyperCard to write an excellent tutorial on atonal theory that was used in the course. ========================== FIGURE 36. Crumbley's Speedwork Animation [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv36.mov] Flip-card animation and transition effects are used to illustrate combining patterns. The musical notation for three short progressions (I-viio6-I6, I-ii7-V7-I, and ii6-V-I) are arranged diagonally on the page. In the demonstration, the segments move on the screen to join into one longer progression. ========================== [8.13] We will show one stack from the abbreviated summer course we taught last July. For the Summer Session course, we provided a set of template stacks so that students could get a quick start in the one-week intensive program. Daphne Leong, a Ph.D. student in our theory program, did a tutorial on Bartok's String Quartet No. 5. The opening sequence of her stack is shown as Figure 37. For visual unity she used a scanned image of a Kandinsky painting in the opening sequence, and then used enlarged portions of this painting as backgrounds in other sections of her project. Figure 38 shows screen shots of sections from her stack. In the form section, the items in the form chart are linked to a commercial CD so that clicking on an item plays that section of the piece. In the Listening section, she placed scanned images of the score on cards, which also contained a description of the action and a form diagram. The cards change in synchrony with the music, and the highlighted button on form chart moves to show which section is playing. ========================== FIGURE 37. Leong's Opening Sequence (half-size) [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv37.mov] The title, Bela Bartok String Quartet 5, is presented in an animation in striking color while the opening of the quartet plays, then "by Daphne Leong" appears over a Kandinsky painting. At the end of the sequence, the main table of contents appears over an enlarged segment of the painting. This menu is linked to sections on Background, Form, Listening, and Bibliography. ========================== FIGURE 38a. Leong's Form Menu mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv38a.gif This card has a form diagram showing the arch-form in the quartet and a menu linked to each of the movements. ========================== FIGURE 38b. Leong's Interactive Form Chart [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv38b.gif] A form table is linked to the CD so that clicking on a line plays the appropriate section. ========================== FIGURE 38c. Leong's Listening Menu [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv38c.gif] A menu linked to separate stacks for listening to each movement with running commentary. ========================== FIGURE 38d. Leong's Listening Section [GIF Image: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv38d.gif] The Listening section for the first movement. Described in the text above. ========================== [8.15] In Figure 39 we show an animation designed by John Clevenger for humorous feedback in a theory tutorial. In this instance, the student is spelling chords while a graphic representation is built on screen. If the student's answer is wrong, a dinosaur foot crushes the graphic, and "Godzilla" invites the student to try again. This animation was created with AddMotion. ========================== FIGURE 39. Clevenger's Feedback (half size) [QuickTime Movie: mto.97.3.5.brk-mrv39.mov] ========================== [8.16] In closing, we should state that, while these are good examples of final projects from our course, they are not atypical. We are constantly amazed by what our students accomplish in a one-semester introduction to multimedia programming, and it was difficult deciding which of some forty projects that our students have done during the last three years we should show here. Also, as we had hoped, several students have used these tools in their own teaching at Eastman and elsewhere. 9. FUTURE DIRECTIONS [9.1] The course has been extremely popular with students in the theory department and in other disciplines. Although we have an official cap of 10 students, the course has been over-enrolled each semester it has been offered. Last spring (1997) we had 18 students in the class, and turned several more away. Support for the course has also improved a great deal. In Spring of 1996, James Undercofler, the Acting Director of the Eastman School of Music, allocated funds from an unrestricted donation to Eastman to begin a Multimedia Development Center. This enabled us to purchase a much more powerful computer to use as a teaching station, and to add a color scanner, a CD recorder, and other peripherals. Part way through the spring 1997 semester, we moved the course into a new, well-equipped computer lab. The lab was equipped through a National Science Foundation grant obtained by Dave Headlam and Mark Bocko, a University of Rochester electrical engineer, for creating an interdisciplinary computer lab dedicated to computer use for course-related work. We are currently in the process of reevaluating the course content, and we will probably move from HyperCard to Macromedia Director this spring. This change, whenever we make it, will involve major reworking of teaching materials, but much of what we have learned will be applicable in different programming environments. In our course evaluations, many students have commented that the music- cognition part of the course is too much in too little time-- they would prefer to have a separate course for that area and expand the emphasis on programming (scripting) in the present course. Thus we are considering moving the music cognition component to a separate course. This would also allow us to incorporate a unit on developing multimedia for the web in the current course. [9.2] There are probably as many styles of co-teaching a course as there are co-teaching teams. We have viewed this course as an equal partnership from the start. The course utilizes the individual and collective expertise of both authors: Brinkman's long experience in computer programming with music applications, and Marvin's work in music-cognition research and statistics. We planned the course initially in many brain-storming sessions, and share teaching duties in almost every class. After each class we have a "post-mortem" session in which we critique the class-- what worked and what didn't--and make notes on things to improve the next time around. We keep our planning notes and critiques on the computer for easy reference and review the next time we teach the course. At this session we also set objectives for the next class, plan the order of presentation, divide up preparation tasks, and when necessary, review and revise plans for the next few classes. Many assignments are graded together. When this is impossible due to time constraints, we divide up the work and then meet to review our individual work and discuss grades. Teacher comments are saved to a text file on student disks for each graded assignment, which we either write together or review jointly before returning to students. [9.3] Teaching this course, even as a shared effort, has taken a tremendous commitment of time and energy. The time required for class preparation, solving technical problems, grading assignments, designing and implementing experiments, and working with students on individual projects has been far greater than that required for any other course either of has taught previously. But the experience has also been a rewarding one, both in terms of our personal an professional development. We have presented papers on the course at the annual conferences of two professional societies (including SMT Baton Rouge), and at a public forum on Technology in Music Education at the opening ceremony of for the 75 anniversary of the founding of the Eastman school. We have presented papers on our work in music-cognition at four national and international cognition conferences. Our review of CD-ROM software is forthcoming in *Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy*, and we are preparing articles on the cognition experiments for submission to appropriate journals. Finally, as a result of this work, the Eastman School was nominated last spring for a Smithsonian-Computer World Award for technical innovation in education, and information on our work is included in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian and is available on their web site . REFERENCES: Beekman, George. *HyperCard 2.3 in a Hurry: The Fast Track to Multimedia*. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996. Brinkman, Alexander R. and Elizabeth W. Marvin. "CD-ROMs, HyperCard, and the Theory Curriculum: A Retrospective Review." *Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy* 10 (1996), in press. Butler, David. *The Musician's Guide to Perception and Cognition*. NY: Schirmer Books, 1992. Cozby, Paul C. *Methods in Behavioral Research*, 5th ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1993. Desberg, Peter. *Hyper InterActive CAI: Using HyperCard to Develop Computer-Assisted Instruction*. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1994. Goodman, Danny. *The Complete HyperCard 2.2 Handbook*, 4th ed. New York: Random House Electronic Publishing, 1993. Ray, William J., and Richard Ravissa. *Methods toward a Science of Behavior and Experience*, 3rd ed. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1988. Schachter, Carl. "Motive and Text in Four Schubert Songs," in *Aspects of Schenkerian Theory* edited by David Beach. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1983, pp. 61-76. Winkler, Dan, Scot Kamins, and Jeanne Devoto. *HyperTalk 2.2: The Book*, 2nd ed. NY: Random House Electronic Publishing, 1994. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 2. Review AUTHOR: Richard Hermann TITLE: Review-Article. Reflexive Postmodern Anthropolgy Meets Musical "Modernism": Georgina Born's *Rationalizing Culture: IRCAM, Boulez, and the Institutionalization of the Musical Avant-Garde*. Berkeley, California: University of California Press,1995, 390 pp. KEYWORDS: analysis, anthropology, postmodern, modernism, aesthetics, experimental music, avant-garde, serialism, postserialism, cultural theory, neoclassicism Richard Hermann University of New Mexico Department of Music Albuquerque, NM 87108 harhar@unm.edu ABSTRACT: This review-article seeks to identify problems inherent in the terms "modernism," "post-modernism," "experimental music," "serialism," "postserialism," "neoclassicism,""avant-garde," and a host of other concepts as used by Born in her recent book *Rationalizing Culture: IRCAM, Boulez, and the Institutionalizatin of the Musical Avant-Garde*. These problems undermine an otherwise refreshing anthropological look at the struggles involving power and aesthetics in the premier government-supported musical organization that was Boulez's IRCAM. I. Introduction [1] In this volume, Georgina Born shows ambitious intellectual reach and breathtaking cultural scope in the analysis of a narrow topic. Her tools of analysis span many disciplines, and her list of acknowledgments to consulted scholars extends to slightly over two pages. This is a huge and somewhat sprawling book that practically necessitates reviews by a multitude of scholars; indeed, the scholarly community will need several reviews to reach an evaluation of sufficient interdisciplinary range and depth. I shall limit this review to an exposition of the book's general aims and organization, and focus specifically on issues relating to music theory and composition. Even so, the issues and the ground covered require a somewhat lengthy review. [2] The scope of the book makes it difficult to summarize its general aims. Nor does the eleven page introduction help much: in addition to listing the intended audience and the author's qualifications, it is thick with various kinds of statements of purpose. Unfortunately, it is not clear what priorities our author has for these purposes; thus, I will summarize what I take to be the most important of these goals. [3] One of the most important aims seems to be Born's ethnographic study of IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique), a computer music research center funded by the French government. IRCAM is located in Paris and was founded and initially led by the highly regarded composer/conductor Pierre Boulez. This ethnographic study is set against a discursive characterization of modernism and postmodernism in music. Born asserts that the musical avant-garde, a species of musical modernism, is in crisis: it is no longer marginal and critical of the dominant order, but still promotes a view of history in which the present state augurs yet a better musical future through technology. The avant-garde has, thus, lost its original legitimacy-and hence must in her view-search for a new raison d'etre: the means and methods needed to attract a large audience. Born sets out to examine how her claims about the musical avant-garde are manifest at IRCAM. In this examination she borrows concepts from the fields of anthropology, ethnomusicology, sociology, art history, semiotics, and psychoanalysis. Using techniques of reflexive postmodern anthropology, Born studies and critiques forms of power and forms of society and culture that have not yet been so analyzed; IRCAM and Boulez are the guinea pigs featured and at times submerged in this interdisciplinary stew. [4] This is a participant-observer study: Born took the three-month instructional program called "the stage" for visiting composers, and stayed on site for a year (p.8). She made efforts to avoid the appearance of being co-opted by the institutional elites (p.9) and spent time with each sociological subgroup (p.8). And she continued to keep in contact with a variety of people within the institution over an approximately ten year span (p.8). Born addresses the issues of scholarly objectivity as follows: "I stress above all the historicity and the socioculturally sited character of my own interpretations. But this does not amount to a surrender of any claims to approaching objectivity or imply that the status of my discourse is no different from that of the subjects whom I have studied." She further states: "If in the course of this book I make a critical analysis of IRCAM as a high-cultural institution and of its cultural forms, this is not with the intention of initiating a relativizing exercise. The existence of other cultural orders of value and complexity I take for granted, . . . . Nor should the study be read as a masked critique of all forms of subsidized culture; nor finally, does it have a hidden agenda of vindicating postmodernism or the neoliberal promotion of market forces in culture" (p.10). [5] The first two chapters provide necessary background for exposing the problems (as she perceives them) that faced IRCAM under Boulez's leadership. Chapters three and four provide background information on the creation, culture, organization, and status of IRCAM. Chapter five traces the internal politics, power relations, and conflicts that naturally arise in any institution. Chapter six covers concepts and relations between and of repertoires consisting of an IRCAM fostered and approved body of twentieth century music called the "canon" and other musics of this century. (See page 173 for a listing of the "canonic" composers.) IRCAM's canon, shaped in large part by Boulez, is read as supporting IRCAM's aesthetic position, a variant of "modernism." Chapter seven focuses on IRCAM's scientific research programs on music perception, computer music software and hardware creation, and their interactions with on-site compositional theory and practice. Chapter eight concerns the quite serious problems encountered by a prominent composer in his visit to IRCAM where he was to fulfill a commission from that institution. He was in residence and given significant access to the unique resources available only at that institution, such as technical staff, software, and hardware. The last three chapters explore what Born considers to be system-wide problems of IRCAM under Boulez's leadership, and they also provide conclusions. Chapters four through ten constitute the ethnography of IRCAM (p.11). II. The "crisis of high art music," IRCAM, and the "binary opposition" model [6] Born's argument (and perhaps justification) for IRCAM's existence is to some extent dependent upon the thesis that "high-art" music is in a state of crisis: ". . . many composers who have experienced a disenchantment with the high-modernist project and with the perceived failures of serialism." The sense of threat to the continued existence of western art music has, despite certain differences, been widespread in both Europe and the United States (p.3). Boulez's writings for IRCAM proclaim that composers and scientists would open a dialog that would "forge a kind of common language that scarcely exists at present" (p.1). The creation of IRCAM with the appointment of Boulez as the founding director can be understood as a kind of "modernist" response to this crisis. [7] This response, however, places young American computer scientists-needed for technical expertise to build and run IRCAM-and American composers born since World War II and working within IRCAM in various official and unofficial capacities-in aesthetic conflict with the French director's (Boulez's) aesthetics. [8] Another conflict also appears at IRCAM. Born cites Pierre Bourdieu's two forms of cultural power: one, economic capital, that is based upon economic forces; and the other, cultural capital, which is born of cultural and intellectual forces. The latter is the avant-garde cultural strategy. Born writes: "Bourdieu implies that the the avant-garde cultural strategy is simply a different form of economic calculation, so that long-term cultural investment may reap even greater economic reward than mundane short-term calculation. More often, Bourdieu argues that economic and cultural capital are incommensurable and antagonistic spheres, embodied, for example, in the very different lifestyles of the two frac tions of the dominant class . . . . Overall, he [Bourdieu] leaves some uncertainty as to whether cultural capital is "really" convertible into the economic . . . (p.27). [9] Certainly, other traditional kinds of conflict between social sub-groups within IRCAM occur; these give rise to the principal binary pairings of conflict that inform Born's analysis. Born uses both "hard" statistical and "soft" interview techniques in arriving at her results. Her conflict pairings can be summarized with opposing concepts that are separated by a slash: modernism/postmodernism; elitist canon/"other" excluded repertoires (popular music, folk music, etc.); cultural capital/economic capital; Americans/French; scientists/musicians; men/women; producers (scientists and composers)/reproducers (technicians, staff, and administrators); composed music/improvised music; high tech (e.g. mainframe computers)/low tech (e.g. Apple microcomputers); composers/"tutors" (technicians who make it possible for visiting composers to use the in house technology); secure in employment/insecure in employment; and well paid/poorly paid. Some of these "binaries" appear at times with a medial position between them. Born also at times combines two of these in order to produce a combinatorial design which is then used to locate the various people in bi-dimensional "pecking orders." These reveal how power and influence are distributed within IRCAM (pp.134, 136, 1 37, 280). [10] Given the complex multi-dimensional grid of conflict-types that Born exposes in IRCAM, the question arises as to how it could function at all. Indeed, at times it did not function well; the case of the visiting composer that Born documents in chapter eight is an egregious failure by many (but not all) standards of measure. In Born's analysis, the stress of these multiple areas of conflict upon workers within IRCAM is dealt with by the psychoanalytic concept of "splitting," an unconscious process considered by Melanie Klein to be one of the most primitive defenses against anxiety. Splitting involves a distortion whereby the "object" (of perception) is experienced as split into a "good" and "bad" object, which are both absolutely separate yet antagonistically bound. The good object is idealized, granted supreme and unquestionable legitimacy, and felt to be a refuge from persecution, while the bad object is denigrated as worthless, but also as a destructive and terrifying persecutor (p.37). III. Issues and flaws with the binary "engine" [11] The terms "modernism," "avant-garde" (a type of modernism), and "post-modernism" figure largely in Born's discourse. They are involved in describing the "legitimization" of IRCAM and a prime source of conflict within the institution. These terms form the crucial debate on what will be the "cultural capital" a la Bourdieu. Thus, they also feature as engines driving Born's study itself. As these terms have received multiple definitions in literature, it is helpful that Born provides us with salient features of what she believes to be the differences in music between modernism and postmodernism. They are presented as binary oppositions. Her Figure I, "The antagonistic counterpoint of musical modernism and postmodernism" (p.63) is reproduced below . Modernism/ Postmodernism/ Serialism, Postserialism Experimental Music Determinism Indeterminism, nondeterminism Rationalism Irrationalism, mysticism Scientism, universalism Sociopoliticization Cerebral, complex Physical, performative, simple Text-centered Practice-centered Linear, cumulative, teleological Cyclical, repetitive, static Within a unity of difference to popular music Nonreference, absolute difference, Reference, transformation nonacknowledgment Within a unity on technology Scientisitic, theoreticist Empiricist, artisanal High-Tech, institutional Low-tech bricolage, entrepreneurial Institutional base East Coast universitities West Coast, art colleges, art institutions Institutionally and state-backed Self-employed, performance-backed [12] The concepts embedded within this figure are worth examining in detail because so much of the book appears to rest upon them. As many of these issues continue to appear in the literature, I hope that an examination of each "opposition" will be of use and interest to the non-specialist: I ask for the indulgence of composers and those who specialize in this century. Thus, let us consider in turn some problems with each of these binaries. [13] Born, surpringly, does not clearly define determinism. However, a definition of determinism found in a dictionary of philosophy starts out like this: "Determinism: (lat. de + terminus, end) The doctrine that every fact in the universe is guided entirely by law (Runes 1960, 78)." Yet the vast majority of modernist composers never embraced "total serialism"--the closest attempt in music to determinism--and even the few who briefly did try it (such as Boulez) rejected it immediately. Babbitt, a quite important figure in total serialism, wrote pieces setting texts (for example, Philomel, with text by John Hollander) that were not deterministic; thus, the resulting work itself could also not be. Therefore, the binary opposition between modernism and postmodernism fails. [14] The next opposition, "rationalism" versus "irrationalism, mysticism" also fails in that Schoenberg, the arch-modernist, was deeply interested in religious mysticism and numerology. He was not alone among modernists in this regard: Dane Rudhyar and Alban Berg quickly come to mind here. [15] "Scientism, universalism" versus "sociopoliticization" are not true binary oppositions--nor are they necessarily "antagonistic." Neither side of this "opposition" are new to musical discourse. In the mid and late 18th-century, Jean-Philippe Rameau attempted to use acoustics and mathematical concepts to provide a scientific basis for his universal theory of harmony (Christensen 1993). He kept a steady correspondence about these matters with members of the French Royal Academy of Science (Cohen 1981). In the early 19th-century, the Belgium premier performance in 1830 of Auber's opera *La muette de Portici* inspired the revolt against Dutch rule in Belgium. Luigi Dallapiccola, a modernist and serialist for most of his career, wrote politically committed music that was hardly in support of the status quo. [16] As to the following opposition "cerebral, complex" versus "physical, performative, simple," where is the locus of cerebral or complex in this opposition? Is it in the score, in the composer's mind during the acts of composition, in the minds of the performers during the act of performing, in the minds of the listeners, or some combination of the preceding? The same questions can be asked of the word "simple." What are the criteria for judgment? Born does not present them. [17] The opposition of "text-centered" versus "practice-centered" where practice-centered means scores which do not use traditional musical notation and typically exist as written instructions to performers is based on a misunderstanding of the inherent nature and limitations of notation for any piece of music. No notational system can convey all of the information necessary for performers to realize the score successfully in sound. Only the outlines of the most important features of a piece of music can be communicated in a score; performers must rely upon a variety of concepts not directly addressed in the score in order to realize it. Thus, any opposition here does not reside in text-centeredness or practice-centeredness, but rather in the fact that different types of music have different aesthetic viewpoints and, thus, different structuring processes based on those aesthetics. These differences are reflected in the notational systems the composer selects or develops in order to communicate the most important features of the piece--according to the composer--to performers most likely to perform the piece for audiences already extant or possibly only imagined. [18] "Linear, cumulative, teleological" versus "cyclical, repetitive, static" falls to many counter-examples. Jonathan Kramer has showed the deep non-linearity of modernist composers such as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Stockhausen, and Webern (Kramer 1988). The concept here of "cumulative" is undefined by Born. While some modernist pieces can be construed as "teleological," others may better be described as "generative" (Hermann 1994, 1995). The second movement of modernist and serialist Webern's Piano Variations , Op. 27 could easily be described as "cyclical, repetitive," and "static." [19] The sole opposition contained "Within a unity of difference to popular music," "nonreference, absolute difference, nonacknowledgment" versus "reference, transformation" is also fraught with problems. Mahler's Symphonies and Debussy's piano music employed quotations and parodies of folk and popular musics; Schoenberg and his students made arrangements of works by Johann Strauss, the "Waltz-King;" with his Ebony Concerto, Stravinsky fills a commission from swing/jazz band-leader Woody Herman; Schoenberg and Stravinsky were both involved with film music (unsatisfactorily to them as it turns out); and Schoenberg had wonderful things to say about the music of George Gershwin. [20] Two oppositions are contained within Born's category of "Within a unity on technology." The first is "scientistic, theoreticist" versus "empiricist, artisanal." As science is usually described as being heavily empirical, the "opposition" seems empty. As for composers employing theory in a prescriptive manner, the great majority of works that we today consider to be the body of music theory handed down to us over many centuries were written by composers, and most of these are solidly prescriptive. Not only have modernists Babbitt, Boulez, and Schoenberg written theoretical treatises so have the postmodern or experimentalist composers (per Born's description) Reich (p.303), and Cage (p.56); although the writings of Reich and Cage are not usually described that way, the description falls within Born's range for theory. Further, just because some composers do not write down and disseminate theoretical materials does not justify a conclusion that all such non-disseminating composers are not involved with theory and are, therefore, "artisanal." The second opposition within the category "high-tech, institutional" versus "low-tech bricolage, entrepreneurial" has the problem of equivocation on the term institutional. The development of technology whether deemed "high-tech" or "low" is dependent on institutions that can amass the people, finances, and equipment needed whether the institution is deemed entrepreneurial or not. Many modernist composers in American academe run and produce pieces in computer music studios that are quite "low-tech" in comparison with those at Stanford, IRCAM, MIT, or UCSD. [21] The last of Born's categories, "institutional base," also has two oppositions within it. The first, "east coast universities" versus "west coast, art colleges, art institutions,"suffers from numerous exceptions. The University of California at Berkeley had the modernist Andrew Imbrie as its lead composition professor for many years. The University of California at Los Angeles supported Schoenberg, and Stravinsky lived in the same town. The Princeton-educated serialist John Rahn has taught for many years at the University of Washington at Seattle. On the east coast, Robert Cogan (a music theorist and post-modernist composer) received his terminal degree from Princeton and has taught at the New England Conservatory (Boston) for over twenty-five years. Thomas DeLio an experimentalist composer and music theorist specializing in both modernist and experimentalist music, teaches at the University of Maryland at College Park. The second opposition is "institutionally and state-backed" versus "self-employed, performance-backed." Again, counter examples are easy to come by. The modernists Stravinsky and Copland supported themselves while postmodernists/experimentalists Cogan and DeLio are institutionally supported. [22] Given the above, major portions of this book that build upon aesthetic concepts of modernism, avant-garde, experimentalism, and postmodernism are simply without foundation. Efforts to save these descriptions of aesthetic positions founder upon the counter-examples, the false dichotomy, and vague, undefined, or misunderstood terms, and any future appeals to "exceptions prove the rule" are incoherent as any philosopher or logician can confirm. [23] In all fairness, Born is aware that there are multiple aesthetic positions within these terms. But she misses several opportunities to bolster (or salvage) her theoretical foundation. For example, one such tactic might be to define systematically various versions of these broad aesthetic categories and tie them to specific groups of composers at specific times and locations as appropriate. In one case involving an IRCAM brand of postmodernism, Born has done just that (pp.300-04); however in Born's book, these broad aesthetic terms suffer from equivocation or lack of contrast because the various "dialects" of these aesthetic positions are either not systematically defined, referred to, or related to one another. [24] Another tactic might be to declare that these are a proposed formal or idealistic definition of these terms and that various composers inhabit a continuum of states between these two aesthetic poles. Thus some composers are perhaps more "modernist;" others are more "experimentalist;" and still others occupy a position somewhere in between. But I can think of no major composer--much less groups of composers--who completely occupies either of these polar positions of aesthetic opposition--even for a single "stylistic period" of their careers. But given the problems with the figure mentioned above, why should this particular formalist definition be accepted over others that could be constructed by exchanging one or more locations of the contents of binary oppositions from one proposed aesthetic pole to the other? Without specific reasons for why the contents of the binary oppositions should be distributed in the proposed manner, the choice of any one of the many possible permutations of the contents of these binary oppositions between the two polar aesthetic positions is simply arbitrary. IV. Problems with basic definitions and musical concepts [25] The assumption made in this book is that these terms apply to music. We see that the problems with these aesthetic terms for music are many as these terms were not generated from music criticism, but rather from other cultural domains such as architecture, art criticism and literary criticism, among others. Born's considerable difficulties in dealing with these terms is evidence that this assumption might, at best, not yet have found a coherent form or, at worst, is simply not applicable. For insight into how the term postmodernism might apply to music composition and music theory, see Cogan 1995, Cook 1995, and Kramer 1995. [26] Other significant problems surface in Born's discussions of "serialism," "neoclassicism," "mediation" as applied to computer compositional process, and also "modernism" in regard to the terms "tonal" and "modal." The term serialism is of particular importance because the main human subject of this study, Boulez, reached fame as a serial composer. But later Boulez retreated from total serialism. Thus Born classifies Boulez's current work as "postserialist"--a type of modernism she uses to describe composers who "continued in the scientistic, deterministic, rationalist, and theoreticist vein of total serialism, to which was increasingly added a prominent technological dimension. . . . It is the discourse that Boulez began to enunciate in the late '60s and that became the basis of his manifesto for IRCAM (pp.55-6)." [27] Born states that "Serialism implies the principle of the homogeneity of chromatic space, while by contrast tonality centers on the functional and symbolic hierarchy of the tonic or key note, its dominant and subdominant. In this sense, serialism negates the hierarchical ordering of pitch space in tonality (p.48)." Her footnote 17 (p.349) further adds: "According to this principle, each pitch in the series has equal importance and is dependent upon its position relative to the other eleven notes." [28] Clearly whether composer, artist, or writer, the techniques of any style or technique can be used with greater or lesser acuity. Serialism as practiced by such composers as Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Stravinsky, Dallapicolla, Babbitt, Martino, Wuorinen, and others does not always represent a "homogeneity of chromatic space" in actual composition; there are often "functional and symbolic hierarchies" between pitch-classes. Thus, each pitch-class does not have equal importance; moreover, in both theory and practice, unordered set-class relations and transformational relations between overlapping and non-overlapping subsets of pitch-classes in a series are frequently more important than the relations between adjacent pitch-classes.(1) Much misleading thought about serialism is in print and careful examination of actual scores by recognized serial composers in conjunction with accurate information and concepts would greatly clarify the situation. Certainly, serial music "negates the hierarchical ordering of pitch space in tonality" just as surely as modal music (very loosely, music before 1600) does. Both systems conceive of pitch space in their own ways; otherwise, they would not have their own musical identities and, indeed, would be tonal. *************************************************************** 1. Unquestionably, a review is not a place for exegesis on this topic. For a compact and accurate technical introduction to Schoenberg's and Webern's serial technique, see Straus (1990a) for elementary and Morris (1987) for more advanced technical information. *************************************************************** [29] Another common misconception concerns neoclassicism in twentieth-century music: frequently, serialism or expressionism has been set up as antipodal with neoclassicism. Schoenberg and his followers are the exemplars of serialism or expressionism, whereas Stravinsky (excluding his last serial style-period) and his followers are the exemplars of neoclassicism. On this topic Born says ". . . neoclassicism associated with composers such as Stravinsky and Hindemith: an attempt to reinvigorate the present by reference to the principles of musics from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and earlier (p.49)." However, Straus (1990b) makes a quite convincing case that these "neoclassic" tendencies were every bit as evident in the work of Schoenberg and his followers as in the so-called neoclassists. [30] Born points out the difficulties that composers have in learning to compose through specification of all aspects of sound with a computer "language"--a "patch language" in Born's terminology--designed specifically for the purpose. These composer generated instructions then must be automatically "translated" into an all-purpose computer language then into assembly language and finally into machine language after which the computer generates a digital stream that is recorded on tape or hard drive. This digital stream can then be converted into sound waves and heard as the music the composer originally specified. Born has this to say about the extensive "mediation" between composer specification and verification of effort through sound: "...computer patch languages were characterized by profound abstraction, complex scientistic conceptualization, and delay: in other words by extreme mediation, both temporal and conceptual. From this stems a further limitation inherent in earlier computer music. Given the exhaustive acoustic information required by patch programs and the time delays before playback of a sound, it was very difficult for the user to isolate precisely which parameters were responsible for which aspect of the resultant sound. Not only was it therefore difficult to judge which parameter to change in order to improve the sound, but the programs treated each acoustic parameter independently and did not lend themselves to exploring the interplay between them. So in addition to the programs being abstract and laborious, users found them unpredictable" (p. 182). [31] Born is correct in pointing out the occasionally quite frustrating difficulties of the compositional processes employing computers. At times a few hours or days--in most highly powerful "cutting edge" computer studios the machine must be shared among several composers--are required before composers can hear the results of their work. However, any composer who teaches a standard orchestration course at the university level can attest to the fact that computer composers are hardly alone with many of these kinds of difficulties. Students read a textbook on how to write for the individual orchestral instruments and their combinations in this course, and they frequently have to wait days if not weeks to hear the results. They also are baffled as to which "parameters" to change in order to improve the sound. Further, textbooks give only vague descriptions of the sound, and what information they do give is hopelessly inadequate. Experienced instrumentalists with analytical minds and acute hearing unsurprisingly tend to do little better than singers, pianists, or organists at the initial stages. For budding composers or orchestrators must not only know the ranges of the instruments but also the timbral, articulative, and dynamic possibilities within each subrange of each instrument. In the end, professionals even learn the rudiments of the playing techniques such as the fingering systems for each instrument. If learning all of the various individual instrumental "codes" is not enough, then the problems must be faced of how to employ all of the available instrumental combinations in all their possible subranges with all of their possible variables. Even quite experienced composers and orchestrators get surprised by the results from time to time when trying something new. Making even slight changes in the way instruments are used based on hearing an earlier version of the music requires notating the changes in a score and then copying out the parts for each instrumentalist. This process can take days of very hard, unmusical, and boring work. [32] Thus, we see that those who write for the orchestra have problems very similar to those encountered by composers working with computers. By not providing this continuing historical context, Born gives a reader not knowledgeable about music the false impression that "modernism" and technology have created an artificial, difficult, abstract compositional process heretofore unknown; one that would appear to make it nearly impossible to create "good" music. Just as composers and orchestrators learn over a sometimes quite considerable period of time how to write for the orchestra so have composers learned how to write for the computer. [33] On modernism and in regard to the terms "tonal" and "modal," Born claims that " ...the modernist aesthetic eschews tonal or modal bases; it is arhythmic or rhythmically irregular and avoids pulse and sustained pattern in favor of calculated durations and complex irregular temporalities; it avoids perceptible or simple repetition; and improvisation, if brought in, is highly constrained and determined by score-based compositional directives" (p.302). [34] While it is true that some modernist pieces satisfy some of these claims, far more counter-examples exist. For example, nearly all of Hindemith's music is in some sense tonal or modal, and it has regular pulse and employs sustained patterning. Most of Stravinsky's music does, too. In the midst of his last and serial style-period, Schoenberg wrote his Theme and Variations for Band, Op. 43a and Variations on a Recitative for Organ, Op. 40 both of which he considered to be tonal pieces. Debussy too used tonal and modal materials. Any piece from any "style-period" (e.g. Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modernist, Postmodernist, etc.) that uses what today is considered standard notation must literally have "calculated durations" because inscription of rudimentary temporal relations into a score relies upon multiple systems of proportions. [35] I propose that most of the music that we continue to listen to from the past (limited here to Western "art music") features "complex irregular temporalities." It seems to me that the primary issue is how these manifest themselves in the various styles. In the music of Boulez, the durations of local and relatively adjacent events in the score present complex durational relationships while the larger design rhythms are comparatively simple. In Mozart or Haydn, the local and relatively adjacent events in the score are rhythmically comparatively simple while the translocal pitch and design structures are rhythmically quite complex.(2) ******************************************************************* 2. See Rothstein (1981, 1989, 1990), Schachter (1976, 1980, 1987), and Yeston (1976) for information on the rhythmic complexity of 18th and 19th century European art music, and see Apel (1942) for information on rhythmic complexity in Medieval and Renaissance music of the West. ******************************************************************* [36] The statement (in paragraph [33] above) that score-based improvisation "is highly constrained and determined by score-based compositional directives" exposes Born's misunderstanding on the nature of improvisation. Even though some rock, blues, and jazz musicians do not read or make scores in traditional musical notation, my experience performing with such musicians reveals them to be highly aware of the technical structure of the music and the ways in which improvised materials relate to this structure. In essence, not only are they able to construct a mental score for each work, but they are intuitively cognizant of classes of such pieces. Besides, in the last thirty years, more and more rock, blues, and jazz musicians do read music and make scores. [37] We see that Born has difficulties not only with aesthetic concepts but also more directly with technical concepts and even relatively recent historical facts about music. These difficulties are understandable given her comparative lack of technical training or historical study of music. Born's qualifications in music consists of quite brief conservatory training and some performance experience with several kinds of popular musics (p.7). Further, she did not analyze any of the music under discussion (p .23). [38] In this light, Born's relative ignorance of aesthetic, technical, and historical concepts in music is not surprising. Perhaps Born's consultant musicologists challenged her with the easily supplied counter-examples and pointed out the flaws in her aesthetic reasoning. Perhaps her technical and historical errors in music were pointed out. Perhaps Born ignored their advice. IV. The hidden agenda? [39] The following statements by Born show another and quite different side of this book: blatant, unsubstantiated, and unmediated value judgments against modernism, at least as practiced by IRCAM. She writes ". . . the notion underlying the many instances that we saw within IRCAM of more arbitrary conceptual foraging from science (genetic biology, fractal geometry) as a basis for composition" (p.318); and "the instruments--trussed up in wires for measurement, pieced by intrusive electrodes and electronically monitored, the trumpet sacrificed to failed experiment--represent a kind of torturous binding of the musical body, an attempt to capture and so rationalize their complex organic aural workings" (p.233); and ". . . the sense of sterility attached to composition techniques such as serialism . . . " (p.198). These are only a few of several such prejudicial statements found throughout. [40] In response to these attacks on modernism, I might point out that, after Mark Evan Bonds (1991), one could accuse Mozart, Haydn, and other 18th-century composers of "arbitrary conceptual foraging" in rhetoric and Liszt, Wagner, and other 19th-century composers of the same in biology (organicism). The trumpet with various scientific measurement apparatus attached to it (found as 9. within a picture section between pp.222-23) can hardly be anthropomorphised into a natural object or being. For several hundred years, the sciences and associated technologies of metallurgy, geometry, and acoustics have been involved in its design and manufacture. The precedents for rational tuning systems--one of which the trumpet is designed to use--go back at least to Pythagoras. Some experimentalists such as Harry Partch (1974) rationally construct their own tuning systems and create instruments to play in them. I know of no musicians who advocate a rejection of trumpets in favor of a return to the ram's horn. What of people who do not believe that "composition techniques such as serialism" are not sterile? Are they wrong? If so, why are they wrong? Born does not tell us. [41] Among the somewhat more sophisticated of Born's attacks on modernism--again, in some cases at least as practiced by IRCAM--are implicit judgments of modernism as psychoanalytically sick, beset by crisis, and sexist. Taking the charge of sexism first, Born shows (pp.120, 134) that only two women reach mid-level management positions during her residency, and few women were allowed to produce pieces using IRCAM's resources. On the face of it, this is a dismal record, but there are no sets of control data. What of the many other nationally supported French musical establishments that are clustered in Paris along with IRCAM? What of other similar musical institutions or art museums in Western Europe? Anecdotally, both the Berlin and Munich Symphony orchestras were within the last ten years thrown into turmoil when women won auditions respectively for the principal clarinet and principal trombone positions. Both were not permitted to retain their positions. As of summer 1994, the Vienna Philharmonic appeared to have no women members in a concert I witnessed at the Salzburg festival. [42] Indeed, many have written of a sense of crisis in composition for this century; however, Born does not consider much less disprove the possibility that this crisis may well touch experimentalists and postmodernists too. Similar kinds of statements of despair have come from the visual arts in the 1970s and in literature in the 1980s. This problem or crisis is hardly unique to musical modernism. Part of the problem is equivocation on the term "success." For Born, it means acceptance of an aesthetic movement's creations by a mass audience or at least the technical influence of the same on mass culture and its products. She claims that avant-garde visual arts has had impact on the commercial market (p.4); however, she fails to note that modernist musical styles have influenced mass market film composers when they depict the future, technology, ambiguous situations, or horror. But why should we accept Born's definition of success and not some other? How can we compare success for Bach or Beethoven with success for today's composers, "popular" or not? Born does not engage these issues. By her measure of success, a Ford Taurus is a better automobile than a Mercedes-Benz. By this populist measure, it may be quite difficult if not impossible for any kind of "high art" whether Baroque or Postmodernist to "succeed." [43] Another part of the problem is the increasing ease of dissemination of cultural materials throughout the majority of socio-economic classes in the West. This is a by-product of technological and economical development, the ability to measure marketing success such as "name recognition" and sales of products among the population as a whole--even among various kinds of small sociological subgroups. Further, we now have had relative stagnation--and even decline in the arts--of educational breadth and rigor for the last two and a half decades in the United States. These factors have not been sufficiently accounted for in cultural analyses of "high art" music. Born does not address these larger issues. [44] In describing especially American composers operating within IRCAM, Born advances Melanie Klein's psychoanalytic concept of "splitting" to account for how these composers dealt with the various kinds of "low," "middle," and "high" musical art forms. Perhaps some composers did employ this maladaptive psychoanalytic mechanism. However, Born gave no consideration to the possibility that there could be positive conscious attitudes within composers who practiced or admired modernistic musics and other musics. The thought that various kinds of music serve different functions within a culture and that to compare directly their aesthetic and technical positions might reveal a deep incommensurability was not explored by Born. Yet this notion of differing kinds of music serving different functions within Western culture is of at least four centuries standing. Considered in a more positive way, composers participating in composing or enjoying modernist music on one hand and non-modernist, even popular musics on the other need not display a psychoanalytically primitive defense mechanism or aesthetic disarray any more so than say Beethoven when he wrote popular flute and piano arrangements of Scottish folk-songs for the commercial publishing market of his day. One may wonder if it is possible within Born's analytical model to be psychoanalytically healthy and also like, perform, or compose modernist music while also liking, performing, or composing "other" musics. [45] Foucault's work has made it abundantly clear that ideas have political consequences and raise serious ethical issues whether or not they are so acknowledged in a text. At least one anthropologist (Barrett 1984) has made the point that the field must be morally involved in the issues surrounding socio-cultural phenomena that are the subject of study: all such study is value-ladened. Thus, as readers we might well wonder what Born's values are and how she accounts for her prejudices that follow from those values.(3) Born claims not to have a hidden agenda of vindicating postmodernism (p.10). Yet there are no negative value judgements made by Born against composers and concepts she associates with experimentalist or postmodern composition, and we have seen several blatant and unsupported as well as more sophisticated attacks on modernism, her "other" with regard to postmodernism and experimentalism as shown by her figure 1 reproduced above. *************************************************************** (3) Certainly,the same questions can be directed at this reviewer. My musical backgrounds include all forms of modernist, experimentalist, and postmodern figures as Born defines. My values and prejudices are simply for the music of this century--whether considered popular or not. *************************************************************** V. Conclusion [46] In the end, at least with regard to music aesthetics, history, theory, and analysis, Born's book may well be successful in preaching to the less thoughtful or rabid members of the musical "experimentalist" and "postmodernist" choir. Simply put, this book is a polemic; it is not scholarship. Even so, Born's work does point out the pressing need to examine cultural institutions with a variety of concepts from multiple academic disciplines. This, however, should be done with prejudices and values clearly revealed, with charity in presenting positions with which the author disagrees, and with appropriate context provided. That done, substantial engagement of well presented and thought-out issues can further scholarly discourse and knowledge while taking into account the various kinds of power relations between those directly and indirectly involved. References Apel, Willi. 1942. *The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600.* Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mediaeval Academy of America. Barrett, Stanley R. 1984. *The Rebirth of Anthropological Theory.* Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Bonds, Mark Evans. 1991. *Wordless Rhetoric: Musical Form and the Metaphor of the Oration.* Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,. Boulez, Pierre. 1968. *Notes of an Apprenticeship,* trans. Herbert Weinstock. New York: Knopf. Christensen, Thomas. 1993. *Rameau and Musical Thought in the Enlightenment.* Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press. Cogan, Robert. 1995. "The Art-Science of Music after Two Millennia," in *Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies.* Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann, eds. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press. Cohen, Albert. 1981. *Music in the French Royal Academy of Sciences: A Study in the Evolution of Musical Thought.* Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Cook, Nicholas. 1995. "Music Theory and the Postmodern Muse." in *Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies*. Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann, eds. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press. Hermann, Richard. 1994. "A General Measurement for Similarity Relations.," Ph.D. diss.: University of Rochester. _______________ 1995. "Theories of Chordal Shape, Aspects of Linguistics, and their Roles in Structuring Berio's Sequenza IV for Piano," in *Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz*. Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann, ed. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press. Kramer, Jonathan D. 1995. "Beyond Unity: Toward an Understanding of Musical Postmodernism" in *Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies.* Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann, eds.Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press. _______________. 1988. *The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies.* New York: G. Schirmer. Morris, Robert D. 1987. *Composition with Pitch-Classes.* New Haven: Yale University Press. Partch, Harry. 1974. *Genesis of a Music: an Account of a Creative work, Its Roots and Its Fulfillments.* New York: Da Capo Press. Rothstein, William. 1990. "Rhythmic Displacement and Rhythmic Normalization" in *Trends in Schenkerian Research,* ed. Allen Cadwallader. New York: G. Schirmer. _______________. 1989. *Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music.* New York: G. Schirmer. _______________. 1981. "Rhythm and The Theory of Structural Levels." Ph.D. diss.: Yale University, 1981. Runes, Dagobert D., ed. 1960. *Dictionary of Philosophy*, 15th ed. New York: Philosophical Library. Schachter, Carl. 1987. "Rhythm and Linear Analysis: Aspects of Meter," *Music Forum,* vol. 6, part 1. _______________. 1980. "Rhythm and Linear Analysis: Durational Reduction." *Music Forum,* vol. 5. _______________. 1976. "Rhythm and Linear Analysis: A Preliminary Study." *Music Forum,* vol. 4. Straus, Joseph N. 1990a. *Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory.* Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. _______________. 1990b. *Remaking the Past: Musical Modernism and the Influence of the Tonal Tradition.* Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Yeston, Maury. 1976. *The Stratification of Musical Rhythm.* New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 3. Announcements a. International Symposium on Iannis Xenakis b. Sound System / System Sound c. Joint Meeting of Georgia Association of Music Theorists/Music Theory SouthEast International Symposium on Iannis Xenakis, Announcement We would like to communicate an announcement for an International Symposium entirely dedicated to the musical, architectural and theoretical work of the Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis, to be held in February 1988 in Paris, France. The call for papers is published under the address: http://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/~phoffman/presences/call.html A text version of the call is appended below. The organizers will be very grateful for any help in promoting this first international meeting of researchers interested in Xenakian studies by public announcement. SYMPOSIUM "PRESENCES OF IANNIS XENAKIS" Call for papers The Documentation Center for Contemporary Music (CDMC, Paris) is organizing a symposium dedicated to the musical, architectural and theoretical work of Iannis Xenakis. This symposium will take place in the beginning of February 1998 in parallel with Radio France's festival Presences, which, from January 29 to February 14, 1998, will pay tribute to Iannis Xenakis. The main themes of the symposium are: -Xenakis' sources -Xenakis' scientific and philosophical aspects -Xenakis' theories -methodological problems in the analysis of Xenakis' works -Xenakis' electroacoustic music -public reception of Xenakis' work -Xenakis' influence; Xenakis and his contemporaries -music and architecture -the latest works of Xenakis (since 1980) -questions on the musical interpretation of Xenakis' work The symposium will be under the direction of Marianne Lyon and Makis Solomos. The members of the organizing committee are: Pierre-Albert Castanet, Jean-Marc Chouvel, Peter Hoffmann, Mihu Iliescu, Sharon Kanach, Marianne Lyon, Marie-Hélène Serra, Makis Solomos. Official languages: French and English. If you are interested in presenting a paper, please send an abstract (600 words maximum) to the CDMC, by fax or letter, with the specification "Colloque Xenakis", before October 20, 1997. Please add a brief resume (CV) and a list of your publications. CDMC, Colloque Xenakis 16, Place de la Fontaine aux Lions 75019 Paris France fax: 33/(0)1 47 15 49 89 Information: -the exact dates of the symposium will be specified in September as well as all practical details -there are no registration fees Marianne Lyon, Makis Solomos From: Peter Hoffmann =============================== 'SOUND SYSTEM / SYSTEM SOUND' - call for contributions - call for participation - [27.8.-1.9.97] - luxus cont. at the Hybrid WorkSpace, documenta x, Germany - http://www.documenta.de/workspace [august/september 97] - 'contd' - electronic magazine - issue 2 *participate / reply / forward / redirect * ------------------------------------------------- Guy Deborg suggested the 'spectacle' to be a synonym for product and process of the cultural industry. Well, that should also go for 'sound', an essential carrier for pop in an otherwise visual dominated cultural production. At the outside, since 'techno' (being generally held as a synonym for music using sound generating devices) reached the cultural mainstream, John Cage's efforts to deconstruct the boundaries between music and noise suddenly and technically materialised. *Music* has been expanded and covers the complete audible spectrum and subsequently broadens traditional notions of production and definition. On top of the wave of sampled and electronically generated sounds, self-referential and *ill-coded* sounds made their way from clubs of the inner city through personal stereos into art academies as an accepted alternative to the visual and textual. At the same time sound enters the cross-fire of scientific and economic strategies: industrial norm of *noise pollution*, sound ecology, and professional sound design (also a vital part of research and design departments in the car industry). *SOUND SYSTEM / SYSTEM SOUND* is open for *any* contribution, thought and question dealing with the economy and ecology of sound. changes in the current economy of listening, principles of sound generation, and the perception of social and technological micro and macro systems are all possible angles. + "what does reference actually mean?" Use and attribution of sound are under question. "What does reference actually mean?" And what can be deduced or extracted from it? The application of samples and loops has developed to a level which allows it to be used as a category by which to describe agreements and differences in pop-culture: 'bring da noise?'. At the same time: how does sound imply possibility and coercion of social interaction? ("this stuff is everywhere!") + "around the world" Visualisation in video clips and software surfaces are trademarks of cultural notation. Measurable and negotiable perception oscillates between the concrete (Top 40) and the abstract (pattern recognition). How does noise blend into HI-FI, and: "how is sound organised?". To what extent are cultural agreements already built into gadget design? And how are machine sounds turned into hummable and danceable codes (303/404/707/808)? + "data object" Can strategies of cultural production derive from concepts of negative interaction, distortion or acoustic deception? You may now think about a musical 'data object' in terms of analogue and digital. Or: how do conventions constitute themselves in media (cd/ improvisation/ live stream...)? The air conditioning system on tape says home and refers to sound design and principles: under what conditions is sound used functionally (muzak, classic, ultrasound, infrasound)? + etc. ------------------------------------------------- Since spring 1997 luxus cont. has quarterly been editing the electronic magazine 'contd' in the world wide web. The project situates itself as a structurally open module, planned for the minimum duration of one year. In 1998 a book is planned as a re-edited compilation of the texts that have been submitted to 'contd'. Given the continuation of 'contd' the publication should be perceived as an interim balance sheet for the off-line-public. 'contd' consists of three passages: Themenpark, Panoramabus, Luxusliner *Themenpark* (theme park) hosts texts generated, developed or installed on the basis of a predetermined theme. These contributions are more 'intense' in form and size and generally more 'discursive' than texts of the following passages. More info about the structure: http://www.b.shuttle.de/art-bag/contd/cv/ the other sections *luxusliner* and *panoramabus* are thematically open. The topic of *themenpark* in issue 2 is 'SOUND SYSTEM / SYSTEM SOUND' and is closely tied to the presence of luxus cont. and guests at the Hybrid WorkSpace at documenta x. The web pages of luxus cont. at the WorkSpace are open for any contribution between info and discourse, manifesto and dismissal, text, sound and pictures. Contributions are open to the public throughout this time and editorial and circular feedback will assist to eventually close the deadline and publish the issue under: http://www.b.shuttle.de/art-bag/contd 'contd' is open to text, sound and picture material. "no system without noise" (niklas l.) ------------------------------------------------- 'contd': http://www.b.shuttle.de/art-bag/contd hws: http://www.documenta.de/workspace newsgroup : theme_follows_function http://www.icf.de/hws- bin/discuss/list?grp=workspace.theme_follows_function 27.8.-1.9 please contact the Hybrid WorkSpace at dx: fon 0561/1088890 fax 0561/1088891 before that: t:+49.30.4622831 f:+49.30.4622831 t:+44.171.6134743 f:+44.171.6134052 e-mails always: luxus@contrib.de The copyright of texts published digitally by 'contd' remains with the authors. (see also: http://www.b.shuttle.de/art-bag/contd/cv). At the moment texts in German, English, French, and Swedish language can be taken on. Important: we are currently not able to pay any fees. ................................................................ [luxus cont.] [ [ ] [luxus@contrib.de [ ] [electronic magazine : 'contd' [ ] [http://www.b.shuttle.de/art-bag/contd/ [ ] [ [ ] [gerichtstrasse 86 [ ] [d-13347 berlin [ ] [tel/fax:+49.30.4622831 [ ] + [ ] [22 walton house [ ] [old nichol street [ ] [gb-london e2 7et [ ] [tel +44.171.7296014 [ ] [fax +44.171.6134052 ................................................................ ++++++++++++++++++++++++ * martin conrads * gerichtstr.86 * 13347 berlin * ++++++++++++++++++++++++ * tel/fax +49.30.4622831* ++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://www.b.shuttle.de/art-bag/contd http://www.b.shuttle.de/art-bag/convex_tv http://www.b.shuttle.de/art-bag/CyberTattoo 22,Walton House - http://www.documenta.de/workspace Old Nichol Street - workspace@documenta.de London E2 7ET - tel: +49.561.108890 tel: +44.171.7296014 - fax: +49.561.108889 fax: +44.171.6134052 - ======================= Joint Meeting of Georgia Association of Music Theorists/Music Theory SouthEast Call for Papers Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia March 13-14, 1998 Proposals are solicited on any theory-related topic. These may include papers (approximately 30 minutes in length), panel discussions, or special interest sessions. Proposals for panel discussions should include a list of participants. Submissions must include: 1) seven copies of a proposal approximately 3-4 pages in length, with the author's name omitted; 2) an abstract of approximately 250-300 words, suitable for publication, with the author's name omitted; and 3) a cover letter giving the title of the proposal, the author's name, address (including e-mail address, if available), telephone number, and specification of technical requirements. Submissions should be sent to: Ron Squibbs, Program Chair GaMUT/Music Theory Southeast Meeting School of Music Georgia State University P.O. Box 4097 Atlanta, GA 30302-4097 e-mail: musrjs@panther.gsu.edu (Ronald J. Squibbs) DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF PROPOSALS: November 14, 1997 Program Committees: GaMUT: Ron Squibbs, chair (Georgia State University), Nick Demos (Georgia State University), Rudy Volkman (Paine College) Kristin Wendland (Morris Brown College), ex officio. Music Theory SouthEast: Severine Neff, chair (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Eddie Bass (University of North Carolina at Greensboro) Gabe Fankhauser (doctoral student, Florida State University ), Mark Parker (Bob Jones University), John C. Nelson (Georgia State University) ex officio, Renee McCachren (Catawba College), ex officio. Kristin F. Wendland, Ph.D. Music Department Morris Brown College 643 Martin Luther King Dr. Atlanta, GA 30312 Office phone: (404) 220-0045 Home phone: (404) 622-4891 Fax: (404) 220-0261 e-mail: kristin.wendland@mindspring.com +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 4. Employment The Search Committee of the Department of Musicology, Bar-Ilan University, has extended the deadline for applying to the following, tenure-track, full-time position: Area of specialization: History of Western Music, with specialization in the Classic Era Requirements and Responsibilities: 1. Ph.D. in Musicology with dissertation in the above field of specialization. 2. Research experience in the field of specialization. 3. Teaching experience at university level. 4. Knowledge of Hebrew. 5. Experience in the teaching of music theory will be considered an advantage. Responsibilities will include undergraduate and graduate teaching and active involvement in the activities of the department. Application procedure Please send C.V., list of publications, and three letters of recommendation to Dr. Edwin Seroussi, Head of the Department of Musicology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel. Additional materials may be requested at a later date. The new deadline for submitting applications is: 31 December, 1997. Suitable candidates will be invited to an interview by the search committee. Remarks: Bar-Ilan is a religious Jewish institution. Rank will be determined according to qualifications. The positions will remain open until suitable candidates are found. Submitted by Eytan Agmon agmone@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il =========================== NOTICE OF VACANCY COMPOSER/THEORIST The Department of Music at Stanford University is seeking applications for a tenure-track composer/theorist. The position rank is open from entry-level Assistant Professor to tenured Associate Professor. For a nontenured appointment, the initial term will be for four years, with the possibility of renewal for three years before the candidate is considered for tenure. The envisaged starting date for the initial term is September 1, 1998. Teaching duties will include courses in composition, analysis, and theory, on both graduate and undergraduate levels. Interest in guiding undergraduate majors' theory program highly desirable. Letters of application, together with a curriculum vitae, list of works and performances, should be sent by October 1, 1997, to: Annie Sultan, Secretary Composer Search Committee Department of Music Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-3076 Other supporting materials will be requested at a later date. Please do NOT send scores, recordings, or letters of reference at this stage of the search. Stanford University is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer, and actively seeks applications from women and minority candidates. This message was submitted to smt-list by Leigh VanHandel leigh@ccrma.Stanford.EDU ========================== POSITION: Professor or Associate Professor Ph.D. Program in Music The Graduate School and University Center The City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center, located in midtown Manhattan, is a unit of The City University of New York, the nation's largest public urban university. Some 4000 students are enrolled in 32 doctoral programs and 7 master's programs. The Ph.D. Program in Music, with approximately 150 students and prestigious standing in the discipline, seeks a scholar of distinction in any area of musical studies whose research-teaching interests include aesthetics-criticism-historiography. The tenured appointment will begin in September 1998. DUTIES: Primary duties include teaching of doctoral-level courses, research, and supervision of doctoral students. QUALIFICATIONS: Requires Ph.D., exceptional academic achievement, outstanding record of publication, and demonstrated success in teaching. Rank will depend in level of qualifications. SALARY: Professor $62,394-$74,980; Associate Professor $52,213- $62,394. Review of Applications will begin: November 15, 1997. Send letter of application, curriculum vitae, and names and addresses of three references to: Professor Allan W. Atlas Ph.D. Program in Music CUNY Graduate School and University Center 33 West 42 Street New York, NY 10036 The City University of New York is an EO/AA/ADA/IRCA Employer (Note: Please feel free to contact Allan Atlas (212-642-2301) or Joseph Straus (same number, or if you have questions about this position.) Joseph Straus Queens College and Graduate School City University of New York phone: 212-642-2301 (w) +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 5. New Dissertations AUTHOR: Longo, Lauren, M. TITLE: Pietro Gianotti's Le Guide du compositeur: A Reworking of Rameau's "L'Art de la basse fondamentale"--An Annotated Translation and Critical Edition of Part I INSTITUTION: City University of New York BEGUN: COMPLETED: July 1997 ABSTRACT: "L'Art de la basse fondamentale" (MS 2474, Institut de France) is a relatively unknown treatise by Rameau that served as the textbook draft for a six-month long composition course offered between 1737 and 1744. Pietro Gianotti later issued his own printed version of "L'Art" as Le Guide du compositeur in 1759. This dissertation provides an English translation of Part I of Gianotti's Guide and a critical edition that cites the corresponding passages of Rameau's two drafts of "L'Art" in English translation alongside Gianotti's in a three-column format. Critical assessment of the presentation of ideas from each author's point of view follows each of Gianotti's 15 chapters in editorial commentaries. Volume II of the critical edition also furnishes a full transcription of each manuscript draft of Rameau's first section of "L'Art." KEYWORDS: Rameau, Gianotti, Fundamental bass, Pedagogy, Harmony text CONTACT: 798 Franklin Lake Road Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 e-mail: longol@saturn.montclair.edu ==================================== AUTHOR: Noll, Thomas TITLE: Morphologische Grundlagen der abendlaendischen Harmonik (Morphological Foundations of Occidental Harmony) INSTITUTION: Technical University of Berlin BEGUN: October, 1992 COMPLETED: July, 1995 ABSTRACT: The dissertation has been published in German as volume 7 of the series "Musikometrika," edited by Moisei Boroda, Universitaets Verlag Brockmeyer, Bochum 1997 I. Musikalischer Teil: I.1 Tone und Intervalle I.1.1 Vorbereitung I.1.2 Der Torus der abstrakten Toene I.1.3 Basistoene und das Intervallbuendel I.1.4 Fraktale Toene I.1.5 Die Konsonanz / Dissonanz - Dichotomie fuer Intervalle I.2 Akkorde I.2.1 Chorde und Chordklassen I.2.2 Fraktale Akkorde I.2.3 Endomorphismen I.3 Funktionsharmonik: Versuch einer Rekonstruktion I.3.1 Die Funktionmorpheme I.3.2 Hauptdreiklaenge, Nebendreiklaenge und Medianten I.3.3 Die Konsonanz / Dissonanz - Dichotomie fuer fraktale Toene I.3.4 Repraesentanten der Dominante I.4 Enharmonizitaet I.4.1 Eine Autokomplementaritaetsfunktion im Eulermodul I.4.2 Die Mutation I.4.3 Enharmonizitaet als Unschaerferelation der Symmetriegruppe II. Semiotischer Teil: II.1 Syntaktik der Musik II.1.1 Das Morrissche Programm II.1.2 Syntaktik1: Formale Aspekte musikalischer Zeichen II.1.3 Syntaktik2: Relationen zwischen musikalischen Zeichen II.1.4 Syntaktik3: Komplexe musikalische Zeichen II.2 Das harmonische Vokabular II.2.1 Methodologische Ueberlegungen II.2.2 Akkorde und Zusammenklaenge der traditionellen Harmonielehre II.2.3 Zusammenklaenge bei Skrjabin II.2.4 Zusammenklaenge bei anderen Komponisten II.3 Morphologie der Funktionsharmonik II.3.1 Der metamusikalische Status der Funktionstheorie II.3.2 Das Riemannsche Programm und das Dahlhaussche Problem II.3.3 Anwendung: Funktionsharmonik und Auffuehrungssimulation II.4 Das geometrische Paradigma II.4.1 Die Yoneda-Philosophie II.4.2 Perspektiven in der Logik II.4.3 Perspektiven im Kontrapunkt II.4.4 Form und Prozessualitaet III. Mathematischer Teil: III.1 Affine Endomorphismen von Z12 III.1.1 Restklassen modulo 12 III.1.2 Die Idempotenzzerlegung III.2 Akkordklassifikation III.2.1 Konjugationsklassen musikalischer Halbgruppen III.2.2 Konjugationsklassen von Chord-Endomorphismen III.3 Bigenerische Halbgruppen III.2.1 Systematik III.2.2 Bigenerische (±)-Akkorde III.2.3 Die Klassifikation musikalischer bigenerischer (±)-Akkorde III.4 Strukturtheorie der Euleralgebra III.4.1 Affine Endomorphismen des Eulermoduls III.4.2 Euleralgebra und Exponentialfunktion III.4.3 Kommutatoren und Kommutatorklassen von SL2(Z) Anhang: Tabellen: Die Klassenliste der Hüllakkorde Literaturverzeichnis (ISBN 3-8196-0493-6) The monograph presents a semiotic theory of occidental harmony. In contrast to the accoustical, resp. psychoacoustical approaches it consideres tones, chords, intervals and interval dichotomies as morphological objects. Following Guerino Mazzolas Mathematical Theory od Music the 12-tone system is interpreted as a torus whose internal symmetries - the 144 fractal tones - make it possible to define the morphological features of chords, as well as to characterize the prototypical representatives of tonal functions intesionally, resp. to reconstruct the full variety of possible representatives extensionally. It is demonstrated that the chords preferably used in the European music for a long period are especially rich in fractal tones. Further, the Fuxian and the Riemannian dichotomies of consonance and dissonance are algebraically and geomtrically reconstructed and related one to each other. A theory of the enharmonicity is suggested, making it possible to explain the interrelations between the three-dimensional tone system of "just tuned" octaves, fifths and thirds and the 12-tone system as its commutative deep structure. Moisei Boroda KEYWORDS: Mathematical Music Theory, Musical Semiotics, Functional Harmony, Consonance/Dissonance-Dichotomy, Enharmonicity, Fractal Tones, Fractal Chords, Tone Persectives, Harmonic Topology, Chord Neighborhood TOC: Einleitung I. Musikalischer Teil: I.1 Toene und Intervalle I.1.1 Vorbereitung I.1.2 Der Torus der abstrakten Toene I.1.3 Basistoene und das Intervallbuendel I.1.4 Fraktale Toene I.1.5 Die Konsonanz / Dissonanz - Dichotomie fuer Intervalle I.2 Akkorde I.2.1 Chorde und Chordklassen I.2.2 Fraktale Akkorde I.2.3 Endomorphismen I.2.4 Fraktale Intervalle ubd Intervallakkorde I.3 Funktionsharmonik: Versuch einer Rekonstruktion I.3.1 Die Funktionmorpheme I.3.2 Hauptdreiklaenge, Nebendreiklaenge und Medianten I.3.3 Die Konsonanz / Dissonanz - Dichotomie fuer fraktale Toene I.3.4 Repraesentanten der Dominante I.4 Enharmonizitaet I.4.1 Eine Autokomplementaritaetsfunktion im Eulermodul I.4.2 Die Mutation I.4.3 Enharmonizitaet als Unschaerferelation der Symmetriegruppe II. Semiotischer Teil: II.1 Syntaktik der Musik II.1.1 Das Morrissche Programm II.1.2 Syntaktik1: Formale Aspekte musikalischer Zeichen II.1.3 Syntaktik2: Relationen zwischen musikalischen Zeichen II.1.4 Syntaktik3: Komplexe musikalische Zeichen II.2 Das harmonische Vokabular II.2.1 Methodologische Ueberlegungen II.2.2 Akkorde und Zusammenklaenge der traditionellen Harmonielehre II.2.3 Zusammenklaenge bei Skrjabin II.2.4 Zusammenklaenge bei anderen Komponisten II.3 Morphologie der Funktionsharmonik II.3.1 Der metamusikalische Status der Funktionstheorie II.3.2 Das Riemannsche Programm und das Dahlhaussche Problem II.3.3 Anwendung: Funktionsharmonik und Auffuehrungssimulation II.4 Das geometrische Paradigma II.4.1 Die Yoneda-Philosophie II.4.2 Perspektiven in der Logik II.4.3 Perspektiven im Kontrapunkt II.4.4 Form und Prozessualitaet III. Mathematischer Teil: III.1 Affine Endomorphismen von Z12 III.1.1 Restklassen modulo 12 III.1.2 Die Idempotenzzerlegung III.2 Akkordklassifikation III.2.1 Konjugationsklassen musikalischer Halbgruppen III.2.2 Konjugationsklassen von Chord-Endomorphismen III.3 Bigenerische Halbgruppen III.2.1 Systematik III.2.2 Bigenerische-Akkorde III.2.3 Die Klassifikation musikalischer bigenerischer-Akkorde III.4 Strukturtheorie der Euleralgebra III.4.1 Affine Endomorphismen des Eulermoduls III.4.2 Euleralgebra und Exponentialfunktion III.4.3 Kommutatoren und Kommutatorklassen von SL2(Z) Anhang: Tabelle 1: Die Klassenliste der Huellakkorde Tabelle 2: Die Liste der konsonanten fraktalen Intervalle Literaturverzeichnis CONTACT: Dr.phil.Thomas Noll Technische Universitaet Berlin Fax: (+4930) 314 21 116 Arbeitsstelle fuer Semiotik Telefon: (+4930) 314 25 403 Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7 Sekretariat TEL 16-1 D-10587 Berlin e-mail: noll@cs.tu-berlin.de ====================== AUTHOR: Vlagopoulos Panos Ph. TITLE: Le noble rhetorique: Mental Models in the Song Production of Guillaume de Machaut INSTITUTION: Ionion State University (prof. I. Lerch) BEGUN: September, 1995 COMPLETED: June, 1998 ABSTRACT: The introduction contains a critique of current reductionist interpretation models and argues for the use of - a variant of - radical constructivism in the attempt to gain historic-musicological knowledge. Some of the key-notions put in use are mental models, metaphors, observer and reflexivity. On this basis the goal of the research is set as: to first distinguish fourteenth-century mental models in a number of different areas, from education to literature and everyday life, then find relevant - not merely similar - models of musical thinking in the song production of Guillaume de Machaut. Machaut's opus is considered as the result of a highly ecletic, complicated, past- as well as future-orientated artistic attitude, which I try to illuminate using the notion of reflexivity and self-reflexivity: this is brought about by an analytical examination of concrete compositional techniques and an investigation of an -implicit- Machaudian theory of genres, which is shown to be a prerequisite for self-reflexivity and, at the same time, to be regulated by it. KEYWORDS: Guillaume de Machaut, Ars nova, formes fixes, radical constructivism, metaphor, mental model TOC: A. Fourteenth-Century Mental Models Introduction Sciences Aristotelian Metaphysics, Sign Theory of Occam and Oresmian Physics Time and Measurement Ars Nova Ideology Antiquus/modernus/novus Classification Models and Genres Time and Measurement B. Machaut's Musical Mind Compositional Techniques: Floskeln and Tenor Types Genre and the Fourteenth-Century Ordenance Concept Reflexivity and Self-Reflexivity As Keys to Machaut’s Concept of Composition Conclusions CONTACT: Panos Vlagopoulos Ag. Sofias street 24 17123 Nea Smyrni Athens/Greece OR Vas. Sofias & Kokkali 11521 Athens/Greece tel +301 7282772 / 9343959 fax +301 7259196 panovlag@otenet.gr +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 6. New Books Princeton University Press Princeton University Press *Haydn and His World* Edited by Elaine R. Sisman Joesph Haydn's symphonies and string quartets are staples of the concert repertory, yet many aspects of this founding genius of the Viennese Classical style are only beginning to be explored. From local Kappelmeister to international icon, Haydn achieved success by developing a musical language aimed at both the connoisseurs and amateurs of the emerging musical public. In this volume, the first collection of essays in English devoted to this composer, a group of leading musicologists examines Haydn's works in relation to the aesthetic and cultural cross-currents of his time. *Haydn and His World* opens with an examination of the contexts of the composer's late oratorios: James Webster connects the "Creation" with the sublime--the eighteenth-century term for artistic experience of overwhelming power--and Leon Botstein explores the reception of Haydn's "Seasons" in terms of the changing views of programmatic music in the nineteenth century. Essays on Haydn's instrumental music include Mary Hunter on London chamber music as models of private and public performance, fortepianist Tom Beghin on rhetorical aspects of the Piano Sonata in D Major, XVI:42, Mark Evan Bonds on the real meaning behind contemporary comparisons of symphonies to the Pindaric ode, and Elaine R. Sisman on Haydn's Shakespeare, Haydn as Shakespeare, and "originality." Finally, Rebecca Green draws on primary sources to place one of Haydn's Goldoni operas at the center of the Esterhaza operatic culture of the 1770s. The book also includes two extensive late-eighteenth-century discussions, translated into English for the first time, of music and musicians in Haydn's milieu, as well as a fascinating reconstruction of the contents of Haydn's library, which shows him fully conversant with the intellectual and artistic trends of the era. Elaine R. Sisman is Professor of Music at Columbia University. She is the author of *Haydn and the Classical Variation* and *Mozart: The "Jupiter" Symphony*. OCTOBER 325 pages 6x9 0-691-05799-0 Paper $19.95S 0-691-05798-2 Cloth $55.00S MUSIC *The Music Theory of Godfrey Winham* Leslie David Blasius This book serves as an introduction to the work of Godfrey Winham, an influential figure in American music theory circles in the 1960s. Little published in his lifetime, Winham left behind, at his premature death in 1974, a massive collection of notes: correspondence, unfinished atricles, sketches for books, etc. These notes were transcribed and deposited in the Special Collections of Firestone Library at Princeton University. They cover a fascinating range of subjects: exercises in analytical thought, thoughts on the construction of a formally consistent music theory, studies of particular pieces, and an epistemological reconception of Schenker's analysis. In *The Music Theory of Godfrey Winham*, Leslie David Blasius attempts to synthesize the various aspects of the theorist's thinking into a single, coherent, if unfinished, endeavor. Blasius concentrates in particular on Winham's attempts to define formally the basic terms of music theory, his axiomatic phenomenology of pitch and harmonic relations, his tentative steps towards an axiomatic phenomenology of rhythm, and his fresh consideration of the reciprocal relationship between theory and analysis. In so doing, Blasius gives a clear picture of the materials in the archives, particularly when they exhibit Winham's multiple attempts to come to terms with a specific problem. The volume includes a set of complete excerpts of materials cited in Blasius's text and an index for the entire collection. Leslie David Blasius is currently Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of *Schenker's Argument and the Claims of Music Theory*. A publication of the Department of Music, Princeton University. NOVEMBER 208 pages 6x9 0-691-01227-X Cloth $35.00S MUSIC ============== Schirmer Books Schirmer Books *Brahms: The Four Symphonies* Walter Frisch 1996 250 pages, cloth Rights:000 0-02-870765-6 $35.00H "This is a terrific book, one that, better than most of this type, will be of real use to amateurs and experts alike."--David Brodbeck, University of Pittsburgh "General readers will find as complete an introduction to Brahms' symphonies as they might hope for. Scholars will benefit from Frisch's synthesis of the sizable literature."--John Daverio, Boston University This newest volume in the *Monuments* series presents a thorough treatment of the genesis, structure, reception, and performance history of the four symphonies of Johannes Brahms. Frisch provides a readable, musically sensitive analytical commentary on the symphonies as well as a consideration of their context. Walter Frisch is chair of the department of music at Columbia University. He is the author of *Brahms and the Principle of Developing Variation*, a winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, and of *The Early Works of Arnold Schoenberg, 1893-1908*. *Bach: The Orgelbuchlein* Russell Stinson 1996 256 pages, cloth Rights:000 0-02-872505-0 $35.00H In lucid and engaging style, Stinson examines this masterful collection of organ chorales from a range of historical and analytical perspectives--from Bach's thinking in creating the collection and his compositional process, through the work's reception, performance, and publication history. Appendixes present a complete score of the chorale "Ich ruf zu dir" as arranged by C.P.E. Bach, heretofore available only in facsimile, and a list of published transcriptions of *Orgelbuchlein* chorales for instruments other than organ. A thorough bibliography is provided and the book is copiously illustrated with musical examples. Russell Stinson is associate professor of music and college organist at Lyon College. He is the outhor of *The Bach Manuscrpits of Johann Peter Kellner and His Circle*. His articles have appeared in Early Music, Musical Quarterly, Bach Studies, Journal of Musicology, and Journal of Musicological Research. *The Nineteenth-Century Symphony* D. Kern Holoman, editor 1996 450 pages, cloth Rights:000 0-02-871105-X $45.00H The sixteen contributed essays comprising this volume summarize existing scholarship and explore new critical approaches to nineteenth-century symphonic music. The contributors include Michael Bekerman, David Brodbeck, Clive Brown, Bryan Gilliam, Kenneth Hamilton, James Hepokoski, Joseph C. Kraus, Ralph p. Locke, Brian Newbould, Linda Roesner, R. Larry Todd, Stephen Hefling, and Stephen Parkany. D. Kern Holoman is dean of humanities, arts, and cultural studies at UC Davis. His articles have appeared in JAMS and Musical Quarterly and he is the author of the books *Berlioz* and *Evenings with the Orchestra*. *German Lieder in the Nineteenth Century* Rufus Hallmark, editor 1996 352 pages, cloth Rights:000 0-02-870845-8 $45.00H This collection of essays provides a fresh, intelligent look at the genre in which Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, and Strauss composed some of their finest works. Among the contributors are John Daverio, Virginia Hancock, Lawrence Kramer, Christopher Lewis, Barbara Petersen, Harry Seelig, Robert Spillman, Jurgen Thym, and Susan Youens. Professor of music at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Rufus Hallmark is a professional singer and writer. ===================== W.W. Norton Back In Stock! Kurt Stone, Music Notation in the Twentieth Century: A Practical Guidebook (ISBN: 0-393-95053-0) cloth, $29.95* (suggested list price). Now Available! Answer Key for Robert Gauldin, Workbook for Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music (ISBN: 0-393-97261-5) paper, no charge to adopters. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 7. Advertisement The Department of Computer and Humanities (Utrecht University) announces the publication of: Gioseffo Zarlino Music Treatises facsimile and transcription edited by Frans Wiering Thesaurus Musicarum Italicarum, Volume 1 CD-ROM for Windows 95 Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590) was one of the most influential music theorists of the Renaissance. His principal work, *Le istitutioni harmoniche*, is a unique synthesis of the music theory of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the compositional practice of his own time. The *Dimostrationi harmoniche* presents music theory according to the axiomatic model of Euclid's *Elements*. In the *Sopplimenti*, Zarlino displays his wide reading of classical sources in a sharp response to Vincenzo Galilei's critique of his earlier writings. This CD-ROM contains the first edition of the *Istitutioni* (1558), and all three treatises as they appear in the *Tutte le Opere* of 1588-89. Each document is available in two forms: a facsimile and a transcription. The texts are transcribed using Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), following the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). All illustrations are included, and the music examples from both editions of the *Istitutioni* have been transcribed into modern notation. Longer examples from the 1558 edition can also be played from MIDI. The CD-ROM also contains an SGML viewer for Windows 95, a viewer for the facsimiles, and two fonts. Together these provide a powerful and user-friendly software environment for the TMI. ORDERING INFORMATION The price of the CD-ROM is US$ 10, £ 6, LIT. 20,000, DM 20 or DFL 20 (cost of software, CD production and mailing). To order, please send this amount IN CASH to the address below. If you prefer to pay by cheque, please DOUBLE the specified sums in order to cover the banking charges we shall unavoidably incur. TMI Utrecht University Department of Computer and Humanities Achter de Dom 22-24 NL 3512 JP Utrecht Netherlands fax : +31-30-2539221 E-mail : tmi@let.ruu.nl WWW : http://candl.let.ruu.nl/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 10. Communications Editor's Message 1. Delayed Release 2. Multimedia and MTO 3. Jobs Well Done =================== 1. Delayed Release MTO subscribers will have noticed that volume 3.5 is tardy by a little over one month. Issues are generally released around the 20th of alternate months, starting in January. The present issue was planned for September, but the release was postponed due to unanticipated complications in preparing the multimedia articles during August. An unusually chaotic beginning to the fall academic term forced me, regrettably, to delay further so that I am able to publish the long-awaited issue only now. I assure readers that its content will more than compensate for the late release. ------------------- 2. Multimedia and MTO As announced a few months ago, this issue features multimedia articles about multimedia authoring. The three informative presentations, created by Ann McNamee (Swarthmore College), Dave Headlam (Eastman School), and coauthors Alexander Brinkman and Elizabeth West Marvin (Eastman School), familiarize readers with the possibilities of multimedia, as well as guide them through the steps of applying multimedia techniques to scholarly research projects for publication on the Web (McNamee), and to pedagogical objectives (Headlam, Brinkman/Marvin). Each presentation discusses the tools necessary for creating multimedia works, and explains in detail how to begin using those tools. Our goal is to inspire readers to think about and, hopefully, to explore the potential of multimedia by trying their hand at it. "Aller Anfang ist schwer" advises a German saying (roughly, the first step is always tough). Viewing a well-designed, well-executed multimedia presentation, with text, graphics, sound, and film clips, can easily intimidate. However, after seeing the potential of the techniques as demonstrated in this issue, and after reading the instructive discussions about the basic procedures of multimedia authoring, we hope that some of you will be stimulated to further investigate the prospects for music-theoretical scholarship, and take the plunge into what promises to be an exciting new era in scholarly publishing. ------------------- 3. Jobs Well Done After SMT's annual meeting, held in Phoenix this year (Nov. 6-9), there are changes in staffing. Dave Headlam rotates off of the MTO Co-editorial Board, Robert Judd steps down as MTO Manager, and Brian Alegant finishes his term as Reviews Editor. I want to thank all of them for their assistance in helping MTO mature as an electronic publication. Those of you who follow SMT networking will soon hear more from Headlam because he has been appointed to a new and, for the promotion of multimedia authoring in music theory, important post. His article in this issue gives a glimpse of what is to come. An announcement will follow soon about his new role, in which we wish him much success. Judd (University of Pennsylvania) has been involved with SMT Networking from the very beginning, particularly in the early days when MTO was initiated as a pilot project. He published commentaries in its first issues (0.2, 0.3), as well as an article (0.8). Among other valuable contributions, he designed the layout of the MTO home page, created the template that gives the HTML version of our articles their uniform look, and wrote our guide for new Web users. Bob was recently appointed Executive Director of the American Musicological Society. His obligations in that capacity, along with increased family commitments, prevent him from continuing as MTO Manager and as (year-long!) "interim" mto-talk Manager. Many thanks to Bob for helping literally to shape and to establish MTO as a respected scholarly journal. His and Headlam's successors will be announced in the next issue. As if losing two valued members of the MTO staff weren't enough, yet a third is leaving the team, Reviews Editor Brian Alegant (Oberlin). Over the past years Brian has done a tremendous job in commissioning, editing, and delivering excellent reviews of a wide variety of books. Producing one review for six annual issues is difficult enough, and Brian often produced two. MTO readers have benefitted greatly from the diligence and care that he has put into his work. Thanks to Brian for exemplary service. The announcement of a new Reviews Editor will follow soon. Lee A. Rothfarb, General Editor Music Theory Online mto-editor@smt.ucsb.edu +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Copyright Statement [1] *Music Theory Online* (MTO) as a whole is Copyright (c) 1997, all rights reserved, by the Society for Music Theory, which is the owner of the journal. Copyrights for individual items published in MTO are held by their authors. Items appearing in MTO may be saved and stored in electronic or paper form, and may be shared among individuals for purposes of scholarly research or discussion, but may *not* be republished in any form, electronic or print, without prior, written permission from the author(s), and advance notification of the editors of MTO. [2] Any redistributed form of items published in MTO must include the following information in a form appropriate to the medium in which the items are to appear: This item appeared in *Music Theory Online* in [VOLUME #, ISSUE #] on [DAY/MONTH/YEAR]. It was authored by [FULL NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS], with whose written permission it is reprinted here. [3] Libraries may archive issues of MTO in electronic or paper form for public access so long as each issue is stored in its entirety, and no access fee is charged. Exceptions to these requirements must be approved in writing by the editors of MTO, who will act in accordance with the decisions of the Society for Music Theory. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ END OF MTO 3.5 (mto.pak.97.3.5)