USING CODES: COOPERATIVE MUSIC PROTOTYPING
AND EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Evandro Manara Miletto Marcelo Soares Pimenta Rosa Maria Vicari
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Instituto de Informatica
PO.Box 15.064 - 91.501-970 - Porto Alegre - RS - Brazil. Phone: +55 51 3316-6168
{miletto,mpimenta,rosa} @inf.ufrgs.br
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses how to use CODES - Cooperative
Music Prototyping Design in music classes. CODES is a
web-based environment for cooperative music
prototyping that aims to provide users (musicians or
non-specialists in music) with the possibility of creating
musical examples (prototypes) that can be tested,
modified and constantly played, both by their initial
creator and by their partners, who will cooperate for the
refining of the initial musical prototype. CODES
characteristics are presented and the experiments in
learning situations are briefly discussed.
1. INTRODUCTION
Internet based networked music has gained wider
acceptance and the existing applications have evolved
towards more sophisticated projects and concepts
including, for example, real-time performance systems
and different systems for multiplayer interaction and
collaboration.
CODES is a Web-based environment for cooperative
music prototyping whose aim is to allow users (either
interested lay people or experienced musicians) to make
music experiences and interact with each other in order
to create simple musical pieces (here called music
prototypes or simply prototypes). CODES comprises the
concepts of Computer Music, Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI), and Computer Supported
Cooperative Work (CSCW) to allow lay people
interested in music to experiment and reinterpret the
sense of creating and developing their own musical
culture and skills through the web.
Like Weinberg [1], we are interested in providing
any user (from lay people like novices and children to
experienced musicians) with the possibility of accessing
meaningful and engaging musical experiences. By using
CODES, interested lay people can play the role - like
experienced musicians - of actors of their own musical
experiences, i.e., they can create musical examples
(prototypes) that can be tested, modified, and constantly
listened, both by the creator and partners that will be
cooperate for the refinement of this musical prototype.
This short paper is organized as it follows. The
motivation for this study is presented in section 2.
Section 3 presents some related tools or systems
supporting cooperative musical composition. The
CODES system, its architecture, and main
characteristics are presented in section 4. Some
characteristics of CODES interface are presented in
section 5. Section 6 discusses the educational
perspectives for cooperative music prototyping and
finally the section 7 concludes the paper.
2. MOTIVATION
The main motivation for this paper (apart from the
technical challenges posed by the environment
implementation) is the intention of overcoming three
barriers that people who wish to engage themselves
collectively in a process of musical prototyping usually
have to face. The initial barrier is related to the
possession of musical instruments. Currently, the
availability of virtual musical instruments and remote
tutoring and development over the Internet, allied to
interactions among users, allow people to have the real
possibility of creating musical material, instead of only
acquiring something that comes to them ready. Another
barrier is the physical distance between people in these
groups, which are essentially small and spread. The
creation of virtual communities on the Internet can
overcome this barrier minimizing interaction problems
among users. At last, another barrier to be broken is the
necessity of knowing common music notation (CMN)
[2]. This notation (score and symbols) is fundamental
for a deep and complete learning of musical theory,
despite its complexity. But it may pose some resistance
for lay people curiosity not interested in learning a great
number of symbols and forms in order to produce
musical material [16]. By eliminating this obstacle,
users can have all their creativity focused on sounds
experiments and creation.
3. RELATED WORK
This section summarizes the characteristics of some
environments found in literature for collective musical
composition. Clearly, they are environments for music
composition, not music prototyping.
In a survey about IMN - Interconnected Musical
Networks [1] - the author proposes four different levels
of interconnectivity among participants and the role of
the computer in enhancing their interdependent social
relations: "The Server", "The Bridge", "The Shaper"
and "The Construction Kit". Most of Internet based
