The Internet Music Theory Database
Music theory teachers spend a great deal of time finding appropriate examples for their courses in tonal theory. Currently, there are few resources that offer help. To remedy this situation, the Internet Music Theory Database (the first of its kind) is an ongoing project that intends to offer teachers and students a resource for tonal harmonic and contrapuntal techniques. Currently, the database contains roughly 20 chapters and more than 1,000 examples. Each chapter consists of score excerpts and sound files that illustrate both typical and unusual examples of a particular technique. Eventually, members of the music theory community will be asked to contribute their own favorite examples. Thus, the database will be an ever-growing resource for music teachers and students. This presentation will examine the need for and history of the database, outline its organization and content, comment on some of the most interesting examples, discuss its potential uses, as well as consider future refinements and the possibilities for similar types of projects.
Developing More Usable Music Theory Software
The popularity of personal computers has given rise to the development of software related to music theory. While undoubtedly many of these applications serve their purposes well, it would be worthwhile to ask how could we improve the usability of our software. Instead of merely focusing on what these applications can do, I explore how they do it.
In this paper I argue, based on usability theory, against a deeply rooted myth that the quality of a user interface is a matter of opinion. International Organization for Standardization defines usability as “The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use” (ISO 9241-11). The usability of a user interface can only be evaluated with respect to the goals of the user. In order to demonstrate the evaluation of a user interface, I perform a live experiment by setting up a scenario or “use case,” presenting two user interfaces, and measuring the time it takes to finish a given task.
Based on the experiment, I discuss some basic principles of usability theory, such as minimization of navigation, input error handling, immediate feedback, and data visibility. The evaluation of some of these principles will suggest some new types of applications.