Creating Music with Technology – Composition

 In a recent episode of Downton Abbey, season 4 episode 5, the new ladies maid brings a sewing machine into the house. This is met with great distain from several of the other servants, especially Mrs. Patmore, the cook. In previous episodes she has made it know that she saw no use for new gadgets, even a refrigerator. The interaction over the sewing machine causes Mr. Barrow, the under-butler, to remark, “Mrs. Patmore is not what you’d call a futurist.”

While most music teachers are not quite as adverse to technology as Mrs. Patmore, our music classrooms tend to speak otherwise. There are several reasons for this—finances, curriculum, education, etc.—but mostly I think it has to do with a need for a paradigm shift. Our current classrooms are set up for large group interactions, whether choral or instrumental, and music made by these large groups is geared toward performance rather than composition.

While teaching compositional techniques can be done in a larger group setting, by in large, digital music composition is done in a solitary or small group setting. A transformation is needed in order to effectively integrate digital music composition into the musical education experience. Nevertheless, the addition of teaching digital musical composition both in traditional music classrooms and in new classroom settings benefits existing students and those who engage in music but not in the traditional performance based classroom.

At its core digital music is composed on a desktop computer, laptop or tablet. The software used can be a straight digital audio recorder or a more complex digital audio workstation (DAW) that allows for the addition of both MIDI instruments and preset music or loops. For recording live audio, additional hardware is needed, microphones, cables and an audio converter. For inputting MIDI no additional hardware is needed but a keyboard, electronic drums, guitar, etc. can make putting in music easier. The main difference between using digital audio and MIDI is that MIDI can be assigned to make any sound where digital audio will sound as it was recorded.

The benefit of these systems is that it makes composing music attainable for novices. Most software is intuitive and often utilizes prepackaged music loops or template based songs. This software allows students to play, making good musical choices for composing. As with most software though, students will hit a ceiling as their creativity cannot be realized or when the software doesn’t allow for enough prepackaged options.

Music educators will find that they will be able to reach a larger population of students through this type of program. The aural skills needed and learned by this type of education benefit traditional programs too. It also challenges students to begin to think in terms of what makes good music as opposed to just reproducing written music. As teachers embrace this new technology they will realize, like Mrs. Patmore did when her apron was fixed by the sewing machine, that when technology is put to good use in the classroom it can become a powerful educational tool.