Music

Marrying Music and Technology

The autumn dedication of the James J. Whalen Center for Music marked a new beginning for the school in many ways — not least of which is the use of technology to teach music students their art. The building brings new spaces, computers, and music software to the teachers, performers, and composers who work and study there.

"We knew from the earliest planning stages that we wanted a model technology program as a part of the Whalen Center," says Dean Arthur Ostrander, "so faculty and I worked together on the Technology Advisory Group." The group developed a proposal based on faculty recommendations and on guidelines developed by the National Association of Schools of Music. Recommendations from the TAG included the development of a composition workroom and creation of a new faculty position to develop music technology classes and oversee the new music technology classrooms.

As Dana Professor of Composition Dana Wilson says, "The means of disseminating music has always required technology." His students use the new composition workroom to notate, orchestrate, edit, record, print, and listen to the music they create. Student composers have access to a video monitor, a VHS VCR, a DAT machine, and three Power Macintosh G3 computers attached to Alesis synthesizers. These machines enable student composers to enter music into a computer and manipulate the score, making the editing process just about as easy as editing a word processing document. (In the past it was necessary to rewrite scores and individual parts after each revision.) After a change is made, the student can listen to the revised piece on a synthesizer - a much faster and cheaper alternative to hiring and rehearsing a small ensemble to perform the piece while it's in development. The unique configuration of the workroom makes it possible for a student to write a symphony or to view, score, and record music for a movie.

The use of this technology has not changed the way most student composers actually write music. They still create original sketches with pencil and paper, away from the computer and synthesizer. But the notation software simplifies the editing and distribution of the music. Wilson finds that software and synthesizers are also useful in providing students with the opportunity to hear the "large form" of their compositions.

"These new technologies are another tool in their toolbox," as Timothy Nord, assistant professor of music technology, puts it. Nord, former assistant professor of music theory, assumed this new role this past fall. He has long had an interest in music and computers: he wrote his first computer program as a high school student and continued to work with computers while studying music in college. His Introduction to Computer Technology for Musicians course integrates his experience as a public school music teacher and presents practical solutions to problems musicians will face as professionals.

The course, which is taught in the new David and Evelyn Sass Music Technology Classroom, uses Power Macintosh computers, Roland synthesizers, sequencing software, and notation software. Student assignments are varied and include such things as searching the Internet for information on, say, flute repertoire and using spreadsheets to keep a classroom grade book. Students discover how to use productivity software to develop a sheet music library database or a private studio database. They learn to use sequencing software and notation software to create arrangements and compositions. Because several different brands of software are introduced and used, the students become informed consumers of this technology.

This new course is offered to all music majors and has met with great approval from students. "Everything that you do in theory and sight-singing, you apply to create your own music by way of the computer," says Kim Santora '03. "I wasn't intimidated by the software; Dr. Nord takes the class at a pace you can follow." Josh Philips '03 agrees. The class, he says rather poetically, "gets you working right away on a skill necessary for today."

Nord looks forward to developing higher-level music courses for music education students. As technology continues to develop at breakneck speeds, these students will have the background to integrate it into their professional lives.