Showing posts with label App. Show all posts
Showing posts with label App. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Classical Music for Smartphones: Composition, Part II
(Continued from Part I)
Music notation software has long been the Holy Grail for classical music app developers. Over the last five years, they have achieved considerable progress devising and implementing new interface paradigms apart from the traditional menus and buttons approach of PC software. An excellent example is Symphony Pro for iPad, by Xenon Labs (http://www.symphonypro.net). It features a simplified interface with a bar of playback controls and simple score setup features along the top, and a bar of icons representing the current class of music symbols (notes, rest, articulations, dynamics, etc.) along the left; the rest of the screen displays the score. Users enter notes by tapping directly on the score, using a virtual keyboard or fretboard, or by connecting to a MIDI keyboard with an adapter. The user can export the score in a variety of formats, including MIDI, PDF, and MusicXML (a text format for exchanging notation between programs), using social media, iTunes File Sharing, or e-mail. While the iPad’s screen size still makes it unsuitable for large orchestral scores, I could envision using Symphony Pro for flushing out individual parts which are then exported to MusicXML and imported into PC notation software.
The intersection of technology and music has always been a dicey subject for me, especially where composition is concerned. Technology provides the potential for new timbral, sonoral, and textural possibilities that were impossible without it, but the reliance on technology can box composers in and prevent them developing well-formed ideas in ways possible with traditional notation (or no notation at all). Inexperienced composers often use the playback function on their notation software to guess and check their ideas, but this can result in using the software as a crutch. Notation apps on tablets can be particularly limiting because they have less functionality than their desktop counterparts.
I think it is better to develop the internal ear as much as possible so that ideas can be conceived as complete units to be dictated on paper or entered with into a computer. Aural feedback, whether from a piano or multi-track software, is always valuable, but it should evolve from the primary source of inspiration to a role subservient to it. Ideas should be limited only by what it feasible to communicate to performers, not what a particular notation program can represent out of the box. Then, technology can become a powerful extension of the mind, and apps such as Pianist Pro and Symphony Pro can be a powerful addition to the composer’s toolbox.
Check out all the articles in the Classical Music for Smartphones Series:
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Classical Music for Smartphones: Composition, Part I
In this concluding article of the series, I explore apps related to composition. Touch screen devices are well known for being excellent consumers of content, but poor producers of it. Music creation app designers have had to devise new interfaces for their software, for touch-based interfaces are very intuitive but offer a limited number of gestures compared to a full keyboard and mouse combination. Filling a screen full of buttons and menus is impractical on the smaller screens. Using a smart phone for creating music is further troublesome because the relatively small screen size makes attempting anything resembling traditional notation impossibly tedious. For this reason, most serious music creation software is available solely for tablets, which feature a larger screen slightly smaller than a piece of paper.
While proponents of free and open software praise Android’s open platform and great customizability, Apple’s standardized software and hardware configurations make it much easier for developers to write good music creation software for iOS. Further, iOS was released earlier than Android, giving its developers a good head start. Combine this with the benefits of a tablet’s screen size, and the platform of choice for music creation apps is the iPad (for more information, see professor David Brian Williams’ page on tablet music). Still, developers have found clever ways of using smaller devices’ hardware to create music, such as in the 4’ 33” - John Cage app (see the first post in this series), which allows users to “compose” using ambient sounds captured with their phone’s microphone.
There are many apps that seek to emulate real-world instruments. When combined with recording capabilities, these can become very useful tools for classical composers. An excellent example is Pianist Pro by MooCowMusic (http://www.moocowmusic.com/PianistPro). Similar to other virtual piano apps, Pianist Pro allows users to customize the look of the on-screen keyboard and select from multiple “instruments”. Where it really shines is its ability to record what the user plays as both audio and MIDI files. A MIDI file can then be uploaded to the user’s computer and imported into their notation software. Even better, Pianist Pro acts a MIDI controller via WIFI or a special hardware adapter, enabling the users to record directly into compatible notation software. I prefer the feel of an actual keyboard to a piece of glass, but I could see using Pianist Pro or something similar to enter notes into notation software as a faster means than using a mouse.
(Stay tuned for the conclusion in Part II)
Check out all the articles in the Classical Music for Smartphones Series:
Monday, March 24, 2014
Classical Music for Smartphones: Education
The invention of tablet computers has given developers access to a whole new way of delivering educational content. Proponents see interactive, dynamic, touch-based interfaces as a vast improvement over textbooks, especially for teaching about music, itself an art form that is experienced in time (as opposed to “static” visual arts such as painting, photography, and sculpture). Music education apps cover a wide range of subjects, including musicology, instrumental method, music theory, music appreciation, and ear training.
The Orchestra, by Touch Press (http://www.touchpress.com/titles/orchestra), allows users to explore the makeup of a symphony orchestra through extended video excerpts of eight works that span three centuries, from Haydn’s Symphony no. 6 to Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto, a 21st century work. The user can zoom in on specific instruments, follow along with an on-screen score, or even watch an overhead view that highlights the individual instruments as they play to demonstrate the orchestration. The Orchestra is available on both iOS and Android platforms.
Australian developer Rising Software offers a pair of ear training apps, Auralia Interval Singing and Auralia Interval Recognition for iOS (http://www.risingsoftware.com/mobile). These apps offer snippets of the company’s flagship Auralia ear training computer software. Interval Singing displays a notated music interval and listens via the device’s microphone to the user singing the interval, providing appropriate feedback. Interval Recognition does the reverse, playing an interval via the devices speaker and asking the user to identify it. Wizdom Music’s EarWizard (http://www.wizdommusic.com/products/earwizard.html) takes the process a step further, playing a progressively longer sequence of chords in a progression and asking the user to name them.
These are only sampling of the many apps music education apps available to users. These can offer educators a 21st century addition to their toolbox, but require them to find apps that suit the curriculum well. Currently, there is very limited adoption of tablet-based software in collegiate music programs, but the technology’s adoption is sure to spread with time.
Check out all the articles in the Classical Music for Smartphones Series:
Monday, March 3, 2014
Classical Music for Smartphones: Delivery
Last week I began an exploration of smartphone apps related to classical music. I discussed how the 4' 33" - John Cage app brings users a novel approach to composing by treating ambient sounds as music as John Cage did in his landmark piece, and how the InstantEncore solution allows orchestras to reach a tech-savvy audience with promotions, media, and instant ticketing. This week I will explore a set of apps that do not just connect users to the realm of social music experimentation or to a specific performing arts organization but to the music itself. I speak specifically of apps that deliver music to the users’ devices.
Numerous apps have sprung up allowing users to create customized stations that stream music from an online provider. These apps are not strictly for smartphones, but provide access to services available on the web. Many people are familiar with Pandora (http://www.pandora.com), the first music of these music services. Pandora stations start with a seed song or artist, and bring in related songs using an algorithm called the Music Genome Project. Allegedly the “most sophisticated taxonomy of musical information ever collected” (http://www.pandora.com/about/mgp), the algorithm catalogues upwards of 450 musical characteristics to identity songs it thinks users will like in their stations. It has nearly 70 million users, and boasts 900,000 tracks in its library.
Pandora may be the oldest music service, but it is certainly not the only one. Spotify (https://www.spotify.com) is another popular provider which boasts fewer users but an impressive 20,000,000 song library. Unlike Pandora, users can create playlists with songs of their choosing. Users cans opt to use the radio feature that creates stations using a related song finding algorithm similar to Pandora. Apple’s iTunes Radio (http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-radio) and Google’s Play Music All Access (http://play.google.com/about/music) allow users to create streaming stations or download music from their online stores. In Google’s case, users can create custom playlists; however, there is no free version of All Access, unlike the other providers I mentioned.
Streaming music apps allow users to listen to any genre of music, but they can be especially beneficial for listening to classical music. This works in two ways. By having a large library of music from which to draw selections, a user can find many less well known pieces in the repertoire (although contemporary music may be hard to unearth). Creating customized stations where the service selects the tracks may introduce users to new works with which they are unfamiliar. I have found the Pandora’s algorithm does the best job of selecting pieces that fit with my stations, while introducing variety and opening my ears to new possibilities. But, Spotify’s library is much larger, making it easier to find obscure or new pieces, and its playlist function is extremely useful. It’s probably just best to try different apps and find what works best for oneself.
(Statistics from http://mashable.com/2013/02/13/music-services-compared-2)
Check out all the articles in the Classical Music for Smartphones Series:
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Classical Music for Smartphones
Last week I wrote about symphonies presenting music in radio and on-line broadcasts and how both major and regional orchestras take advantage of media to reach broader audiences. With increasing numbers of people carrying around web-connected phones, smartphone apps can provide perhaps an even more important means by which orchestras connect with audiences. As the public becomes ever more connected and tech-savvy, these apps could provide an increasingly important avenue for the younger generation to become acquainted to the classical music tradition. This article begins a series exploring smartphone apps that target the various facets of classical music.
A variety of novel smartphone apps have cropped up with classical music themes. Larson Associates has released an app to Apple’s App Store titled 4' 33" - John Cage (http://www.johncage.org/4_33.html). Like Cage’s famous and controversial composition, this app doesn’t produce any sound. Instead, it allows the user to capture recordings of ambient sounds in “movements” of lengths specified in John Cage’s piece. Users from around the world have uploaded their own “compositions” to share with others.
InstantEncore provides a development solution upon which organizations can build mobile apps for both iOS and Android platforms (http://www.instantencore.com/Learn/Mobile). Orchestras, opera companies, theaters, and ballets can all build apps that display event details; provide music, photos, and videos; send notifications to users; integrate with social media; and display custom content such as performer bios. Users can call the organization from within their app or purchase tickets online. Orchestras such as the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, and the Columbus Symphony have all taken advantage of the InstantEncore solution to connect with audiences.
As apps such as InstantEncore help orchestras reach broader audiences, the hope is they will bring more people to concerts to here live performances. There is a sense that classical music is the domain of elderly, stuffy, predominantly white audiences, and smartphone apps may help change this perception.
Check out all the articles in the Classical Music for Smartphones Series:
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