The computer as scaffold, tool and data collector:

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The computer as scaffold, tool and data collector

• Children composing with computers
• Nick Reynolds, University of Melbourne

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Key Points

• Musical composition as a language
• Stages of musical development
• Removal of skill barrier
• Multiple roles of the computer

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Composition

• Difference between music and art, and music as
  human activity
• Composition as part of development
• Composition as a fun childhood activity

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Some Background

• Symbolic transformation (Langer 1969)
• Metaphorical transformation (Swanwick 1999)
• Tones to tunes
• A life of their own
• Fused with our past experiences
• The computer environment aids the process for
  children

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Children Composing

• Research has focused on
• Composition as music
• Implications for music education

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Composition Studies

• How to compose - theory
• How composers compose (Wallas)

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My Focus

• What children write and how they write it
• How children learn to act and think through music

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The Project

• Seven 10 to 12 year olds
• Little or no formal music experience
• Childrens files analysed
• Video and audio recording

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Context

• Swanwick and Tillman (1986) Stages of Musical
  Development

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• Swanwick and Tillman show actual development
• Can we look for potential development?

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Computer as a Scaffold

• What does the environment do?
• Immediacy of feedback
• Consistent feedback
• Multiple parts
• No need to notate
• No musical (technical) skill required

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Music by an eleven year old girl using
metallophone
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Music by an eleven year old girl using a computer
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Which one is better?

• You tell me
• They are very different

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Computer as data collector

• File by file, save by save analysis
• Analysis of incomplete work

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Computer as analysis tool

• Decomposition of work
• Transcription
• Analysis of process

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New ways of composing
By appearance -Steps
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New ways of composing
By layers
Length of the piece
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New ways of composing
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New ways of composing
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Playing at composition

• What is a composer?
• What is a composition?
• Through play discover new understandings

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• New ways of thinking
• New ways of communicating