Transcript Iteractive Music - University of South Carolina

2002 CMS/ATMI Conference
Kansas City
Thursday, November 26, 2001
A Web-based Multimedia Approach to
the Harmonic Series
Reginald Bain, Assoc. Prof.
University of South Carolina
[email protected]
Project Description
This author has created a suite of Web-based
multimedia resources entitled “The Harmonic
Series: A path to understanding musical intervals,
scales, tuning and timbre” designed to introduce
the harmonic series and related concepts to
musicians.
ATMI 98
My first report on the progress of work related to this project was
given at the 1998 CMS/ATMI meeting in Puerto Rico.
A Multimedia Approach
In addition to the usual media elements (text and image)
organized in a HyperText environment, the site would
contain:
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High-quality audio examples
Instructional animations
Interactive applications
JavaScript calculation tools
Worksheets and CAI lab assignments
Links to related resources on the Web
And more…
Why use the Web?
The Web has proven to be simple to use, convenient to access, and quite
popular among students. It provides immediate access to other high-quality
information sources in related fields such as math, general science and
physics. Recent innovations in digital audio/video compression and
streaming technology have made the dissemination of the high-quality
audio required by this project feasible.
A Web-based Approach
Pros
– Near universal
accessibility
– Students seem to feel “at
home” with Web software
– Easy for the student to
integrate use of software
into daily routine
Cons
– Limited screen real
estate for text and
musical examples
– Little control over
formatted appearance of
screen including:
• Fonts
• Size of form elements
• Appearance and features
of audio plug-in
A Web-based Approach (cont.)
Pros
– Easy for the student to
find an application,
launch it (no download
required)
– Hypertext navigation
provides non-linear
access to materials
– Access to related work
by other authors
Cons
– It is difficult (if not
impossible) to build
sophisticated software
using only DHTML
Impetus for this project

My students did not have access to an acoustics course that
focused on musical issues.

I wanted to add a two-week module to our sophomore-level
tonal theory course called Acoustical Foundations of Tonal
Music.

I could use the same materials for upper-level theory and
technology courses that focus on topics such as: microtonality,
digital audio signal processing, the music of Harry Partch,
composing in just intonation, and so on.
Tools/Production Cycle

Standard Web page development tools

Csound

Macromedia Flash

QuickTime Pro
Screenshot from Macromedia Flash
Tools
Csound
Csound is used to create
audio files and audio tracks
for instructional animations.
Tools
Macromedia Flash
Flash is used to create either
a frame-by-frame animation
or interactive application built
from static image files. Visual
playback indicators are also
added in Flash.
Tools
QuickTime/QuickTime Pro
Animations are distributed
over the Web as QuickTime
(.mov) videos. Audio and
video tracks are merged and
compressed using
QuickTime.
Tools
QuickTime Audio Compression
Site Organization
1. The Harmonic Series
2. Tuning Theory
3. Basic Acoustics
4. Worksheets/Lab Assignments
© 2002 Smithsonian Institute
The Harmonic Series
1. The Path to Just Intervals
2. The Path to Scales and Tuning
3. The Path to Consonance and
Dissonance
4. The Path to Timbre
See also:
Overtone Naming Conventions
Hear the Harmonic Series
Site Organization
Tuning Theory & Basic Acoustics
Historical tunings of the diatonic
scale:
- Pythagorean
- Just
- Meantone
- The relationship between
waveform and timbre
- Building complex tones from pure
tone components
Equal temperament (12TET, etc.)
- Analysis of complex tones
Microtonality
- Periodicity and pitch
- (Additive synthesis)
Site Organization
Terms Covered
beats
cents
comma
complex tone
consonance
critical bandwidth
dissonance
fast-Fouriertransform (FFT)
Fourier analysis
fundamental
fusion
harmonics
Site Organization
just intervals
line of fifths
microtonality
monochord
natural interval
frequency ratio
octave equivalence
oscillation
overtones
partials
pitch
pitch class
pure intervals
roughness
scale
simple harmonic motion
sinusoid
spectrum
sympathetic vibration
temperament
timbre
tuning
vibration
waveform
Software
Demonstration