On Wednesday, July 10, 2002, at 08:30 AM, Jari Williamsson wrote: > However, a much more serious point here IMO is to use MIDI playback as > the main "tool" for composition to live musicians. Many books of old > masters tell you to learn to "hear" the printed score in the head, > without > the aid of a piano (which would translate to computer playback today), > and I believe there are many benifits of this.
Of course your points are extremely valid and important. I have learned to focus on MIDI implementation in two situations, both of which have to do with auditioning scores. The first situation is a (very well-paying) client who can't really read or play through a score and know exactly what he is seeing, or use his imagination when hearing a straight MIDI playback. I find that if I make the playback pretty realistic--especially in terms of dynamic and tempo fluctuations--then he has fewer complaints and there is less work for me in the end. (He does have a very good ear, and knows what sounds good!) The second is a far trickier situation. Undergraduate composition students. They are new to many things, including Finale. Some of them have used sequencers, and have that advantage. I have begun letting them use the computer from the beginning of their program because (a) we have great facilities with private G4 based workstations for them to use, and (b) they attach themselves to it readily, and get a lot done--probably because of less intimidation of knowing how to notate things. And there is the ??advantage?? of immediate MIDI playback (many are not accomplished pianists). And that brings me to your very true statement: > I think computers as tools just generally make people "lazy" but with a > much larger output - only a few actually get better cutting-edge > quality out > of it. Many "composers" who don't know nothing about notation or how to > write for an instrument write long pieces that are next to unplayable > or will > sound very bad on the intended instruments (I have seen this many > times). IF my students are going to use the technology during the composing process, then I need to teach them how basic playback is not satisfactory for evaluating what their score might sound like, and how either to only use it for pitch/rhythm/texture checking, or how to tweak it to do a better job of imitating real life. I admit to being queasy about the whole thing, but it seems to be the real world now. Then there are juries at the end of each semester, in which I allow the students to demonstrate their scores using MIDI playback if there has not yet been a performance recording. In this case, it is nice to have decent playback. I don't want to spend too much lesson time, and have the students spend too much time being picky about such things, but at the same time, once they get it, then it stays with them. For me, it is still a tricky issue. Best, Tim Thompson _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
