The Effects of Music Notation Software on Compositional Practices and Outcomes

Abstract

This thesis investigates the effects of music notation software (MNS) on compositional practices and outcomes. Research methods consisted of the administering and analysis of a mail-out questionnaire, comparative study of literature concerned with MNS-paralleling technologies and with general technologies and study of digital video footage of the author composing in situ. A mail-out questionnaire was completed by 106 New Zealand composers. The questionnaire posed a range of questions to gauge composer use of and attitudes towards MNS. The main findings were that eighty-two percent of respondents reported using MNS in their work, that the "professional" look of MNS scores, ease of part production and playback function were the factors that most attracted composers to MNS and that composers felt that MNS playback had some influence on their compositional decision making. While respondents expressed concern over MNS use by inexperienced composers, they felt that the overall impact of the software on their own compositions had been positive. The questionnaire findings laid the basis for literature-based enquiry into questions of resistance to new technologies and MNS specifically and historical shifts in modes of knowledge transfer. It was concluded that, while new tools for expression of thought typically encounter initial resistance, they are eventually accepted en masse and lead to powerful new artistic possibilities. The physical and cognitive aspects of MNS were explored and shown to constitute significant departures from traditional compositional practices and from the Romantic ideal that popularly defines composers and composition. MNS, as a compositional experience, was found to occupy a range of perceptual states along a continuum from real to virtual. The virtual condition was shown to have the tendency to encourage unwitting composers to write "for the software" rather than for the end-goal of live performance of works. MNS was also shown to impinge upon human time perception, something already altered by listening to music. This, it was argued, could lead to miscalculation of tempi and other temporal indications. MNS was also found to both reinforce and erode the historical importance of the music score and to both homogenise the outputs of composers and diversify composer communities. The author captured digital video footage of his own interactions with MNS during the composition of a work. Selected clips from this were analysed with particular attention to the frequency and nature of playback auditioning and how this stimulated the creation of material. It was found that the author related to MNS on a quasi-collaborative level and was deeply, but not negatively, reliant on playback as a means of musical comprehension and stimulation. Many other aspects of the findings of the preceding chapters were also brought to bear on this Human-Computer Interaction case study.