Table of Contents Introduction Index

Preface

The Handbook of Computer Technology for Musicians should be useful for the musician of any level who is a computer novice. It covers basic computer operation, sequencing, desktop music publishing, multimedia production, and Internet use and is intended as a how-to introduction to those topics. It also describes the basic concepts of synthsis and sampling. The book was written with my Microcomputer Applications in Music students in mind. As such, it reflects my philosophy of education and the content I think is critical for our music majors to know. Learning about how to use computers in music well is like learning any musical instrument, it requires more than a one-semester course, it is a life-long process. Yet, if the early foundation is good, success comes much more quickly.

The Handbook contains the information concerning computing and music that is essential. It attempts to provide a good foundation in the basic concepts necessary for operating as a computer-literate musician now and enough knowledge to continue learning independently as the state of technology advances and as one's need for technological facility increases. It was written to be applicable to Windows and Macintosh system software, although the tutorials and operation references were written for our lab's specific software and hardware. The book seems to be successful in meeting its goal, judging by the success students have had on both platforms and many different sequencers and keyboards. The text is not meant to be an exhaustive treatise, instead it is a handbook reference for musicians of all levels.

The Handbook The book does not cover how to synthesize sounds, create databases, build spreadsheets, or desktop publish text. There are many fine books which cover those topics and the skills covered in the music programs are readily transferable to all such programs.

The tutorials describe how to use the sequencing program MusicShop 1.0, the notation program Finale, the authoring program HyperCard 2.1, the email program Pine, and the Internet client Gopher. MusicShop is a basic sequencing program; its tutorial should easily be adapted to any other sequencing program, especially Vision. Finale is the music industry's standard notation program. It is still the most powerful and flexible notation program, and is easy to learn. The tutorials cover the basic skills for success with Finale. This is the quickest, easiest method I know to learn Finale. HyperCard is not available for IBM-compatibles, but ToolBook and other IBM authoring programs work similarly. Pine and Gopher are typical examples of Internet programs which are available on most hosts.

I would be remiss if I did not express my appreciation to my husband for watching the back of my head so many hours while I am "computing." I must also thank my past students at UTSA and Florida State University for teaching me how to teach computers and for helping me edit this book.

Table of Contents Introduction Index