EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 65, Issue 07 This issue's topics: Guidlines for learning (General) MIDI... (4 messages) Info on General MIDI specifications... International MIDI Association Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 17:00:04 EDT From: Akintunde Omitowoju Subject: Guidlines for learning (General) MIDI... Greetings everyone, I am currently doing an independant study on using (General) MIDI to teach BOTH computer science students and music students how to use a computer with MIDI. The end result of this independant study would be a class course (of some sorts), and I was wondering whether I could get any guidelines or information on putting this all together. The two major problems I currently see are: Teaching a music student to learn how to use a computer and MIDI, and teaching a computer science student to learn how to understand music, and use MIDI. Any help or advice would *greatly* be appreciated. Thank you. Akintunde Omitowoju (Computer Science student) zao1@etsu.bitnet (BitNet ) zao1@etsu.east-tenn-st.edu (InterNet ) omit@wiw.org (InterNet ) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 23:33:12 +0200 From: Tommy Anderberg Subject: Re: Guidlines for learning (General) MIDI... Interesting question. I was just a high scool student interested in programming and computers in general when I started fooling around with MIDI back in 1984. Discovering that computers could be used in order to do music was actually what really got me interested in it (I had been playing with a keyboard before, but then who hasn't when he is in his teens?). My experience is that any computer literate person will find it quite easy to learn MIDI; after all it's just a very simple serial protocol, not to be compared with the serious stuff that 's out there (TCP/IP, just to mention one!). Same goes for sequencing software and so on. Learning music is quite a different matter: I am still a complete idiot when it comes to that! It's so easy to get stuck with computer-realted techniques and never progress to serious music theory etc. (that "etc." is there as a summary of my total ignorance!). So, from the "technicians" standpoint I would want the course to let me play around a lot on my own with the equipment (of course both handbooks and machines must be available for everybody, and generously so) while concentrating on music theory in classes. Maybe you could arrange "lab sessions" and exercises in which the goal is to apply various musical ideas to a composition of your own. AND I would pair up a computer scientist with a musician, and let them work together; there is no better way for fast information transfer! These are of course just theoretical standpoints; after all I'm neither a computer scientist nor a musician! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 09:01:06 +0500 From: Diane Kubarek Subject: Re: Guidlines for learning (General) MIDI... Akintunde, I recently sat in on a MIDI course here at Cornell, which is the reason why I got into this stuff in the first place. No knowledge of music or ability to read music was required. Instead, the course focused on learning the MIDI program and the different synthesizers, and the music was pretty freeform. For example, in the first assignment, we could only use percussive sounds, no melodic lines allowed. The "composition" had to be 3 minutes, with an A-B-A structure. Then we had to use specific pieces of equipment and satisfy certain conditions in the MIDI document itself - but that was it. It's an approach I highly recommend, for students who know nothing about music - concentrate on MIDI basics and the different instruments, and let the music come second. All they have to do is listen and experiment. Good luck designing your course! -- Diane Kubarek dmk2@cornell.edu At 5:00 PM 6/3/94 -0400, Akintunde Omitowoju wrote: >Greetings everyone, >I am currently doing an independant study on using (General) MIDI to teach >BOTH computer science students and music students how to use a computer with >MIDI. The end result of this independant study would be a class course (of >some sorts), and I was wondering whether I could get any guidelines or >information on putting this all together. > >The two major problems I currently see are: Teaching a music student to >learn how to use a computer and MIDI, and teaching a computer science student >to learn how to understand music, and use MIDI. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 13:03:13 GMT From: SCOTT MORSCHHAUSER Subject: Guidlines for learning (General) MIDI... Date: 06/06/94 From: SCOTT MORSCHHAUSER OU59105 - DACDXX21 To: EMUSICL - SSAUTORG Subject: Guidlines for learning (General) MIDI... Reference: Your note of 06/03/94 16:09 attached below ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akintunde, I recently purchased a nifty little product for teaching basic music theory. It's a package called Music Mentor from Midisoft. It goes through basic theory and movements in music history. The examples are midi compatible. The thing that I hated about theory in college was that the books made no sense without hearing the examples played properly. This software takes care of that. It's kind of basic, but neat. Check it out. Scott Morschhauser -------------------------------- ATTACHED NOTE -------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 06/03/94 FROM: EMUSIC-L SSAUTORG.EMUSICL To: SSAUTORG-EMUSICL *EMUSIC-L Subject: Guidlines for learning (General) MIDI... Greetings everyone, I am currently doing an independant study on using (General) MIDI to teach BOTH computer science students and music students how to use a computer with MIDI. The end result of this independant study would be a class course (of some sorts), and I was wondering whether I could get any guidelines or information on putting this all together. The two major problems I currently see are: Teaching a music student to learn how to use a computer and MIDI, and teaching a computer science student to learn how to understand music, and use MIDI. Any help or advice would *greatly* be appreciated. Thank you. Akintunde Omitowoju (Computer Science student) zao1@etsu.bitnet (BitNet ) zao1@etsu.east-tenn-st.edu (InterNet ) omit@wiw.org (InterNet ) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Jun 1994 10:37:43 EDT From: Akintunde Omitowoju Subject: Info on General MIDI specifications... Hi everyone, I hope this is not a FAQ; if it is, please forgive me. I was wondering where I can get info on the General MIDI specification, sample dumps, patches and all Thank you very much. O----------------------------------------------------------------O | \ __________________________________________________________/ | | | | | | | AKINTUNDE OMITOWOJU, COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENT | | | | EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY, JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE | | | | INTERNET: ZAO1@ETSU.EAST-TENN-ST.EDU | | | | OMIT@WIW.ORG | | | | BITNET: ZAO1@ETSU.BITNET | | | | | | | /----------------------------------------------------------\ | O----------------------------------------------------------------O ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jun 1994 19:53:55 EDT From: JRONA@AOL.COM Subject: International MIDI Association The International MIDI Association has a different address than previously posted. It is: IMA 23634 Emelita St. Woodland Hills, CA 91367 (818) 598-0088 ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************