ATARI: “Musical Computer
--
The Music Tutor”
By Robb Murray
SoftSide Magazine, February, 1984
There’s
a bit of the musician in all of us! If
you’ve long nurtured the desire to learn to read music (and if you’re willing
to work at it) , “Musical Computer-- The Music Tutor” can start you on your way.
This
music course for the Atari covers the basics needed for reading music one note
at a time (it does not cover intervals and chords). Two main menus present the titles
for ten units total, consisting of six content and four quiz sections.
The
format of the content units is basically a “page-turning” one. Material is
presented linearly. Instructions and basic
explanations come first, followed by animation and sound sequences. The
animations appear in color, and the sounds are played through the television
speaker.
You need
strong motivation to succeed in this course because, while you are frequently
told to memorize things, no on-the-spot drill is provided to expedite the
memory work. Instead, you must make a point of learning things yourself. Be
prepared to spend some time with this course if you want to benefit from it.
The big
advantage that a page-turner course has over sitting down at the keyboard with
a basic theory book is that the sound and animation play the musical examples
for you. The program shows you how the notes sound, something no book can do.
Another
advantage over solitary book study is the drills offered. However, the
difficulty of the questions increases rather quickly, underlining the need for
motivated learning on your own.
The
course contains a total of ninety questions. The subject breakdown is:
20 questions on treble clef
pitches,
20 questions on bass clef
pitches,
20 questions on rhythms and
note durations, and
30 questions on rests, tempo
and dynamic markings, and accidentals.
One
strong feature of the course is that it presents material in a logical order.
Succeeding material dovetails nicely with preceding, and the abundant quiz
questions constantly reinforce learning. The course offers the ability to
freeze progress by hitting the space bar, and to resume by hitting it again.
Herein lies the user’s ability to tailor the pace of the course to his needs.
The
course occasionally presents things in a novel, refreshing way. For example,
the names of the lines in the treble clef are paired with the phrase “Every
good bird does fly.” This is a surprisingly nonsexist mnemonic that no one used
twenty-five years ago when I got my start.
Lackluster Impressions
While
solid and complete, this program nonetheless presents a somewhat listless
approach to computerized instruction. In the beginning, you’re greeted by a
rather corny blues riff, and introduced to “MC, the musical computer.” A
“welcome to the wonderful world of music” intro follows, hardly the motivation
builder it’s intended to be.
At the
end of various sections, the program informs you that “you are now ready for
more fun.” Given the difficulty of some of the quizzes, and the rather rapid
pace at which the course proceeds, one wonders if “fun” is an appropriate or
convincing word.
This
speaks to the whole area of production values. Screen composition in the
course is hardly elegant or pretty. The writing style often seems lackluster,
if not sloppy. For example, the mnemonic word “F-A-C-E” is called a “phrase.”
I
noticed two puzzling omissions. The term “fermata” is explained, with an example,
but it is never called a “bird’s eye.” While “bird’s eye” is considered a somewhat
backward term for fermata, it is certainly a memorable and helpful association
to know about. Another puzzling
omission, considering that the learner is apt to be a beginner working alone,
has to do with crescendo.” The program defines the term, but never gives its
unusual pronunciation.
Quizzes
lack the expected motivating tweaks. A
single, same response is always returned to you for every right answer (“___ is right”). Responses to your wrong answers
are no more varied or inspired (“Wrong, the correct answer is ____“).
Questions
missed do not recycle until they are answered correctly, which one would expect
them to do, and the program always presents the questions in the same order. So if you want another try at a missed
question, you must take the entire quiz over again. Scoring is rudimentary, showing only the
number of questions remaining in the quiz, and the number you have answered
correctly in the current round.
I noted
a small logic flaw in one area of the course. You are asked to learn the names
of note time values (quarter note, half note, etc.). Only following this does the course cover the
general notion of time in music, with the concepts of measures and whole notes.
Terms like “quarter note” would be much more meaningful if the learner knew
what “quarter” referred to (a quarter of what?).
A major
omission: While the time signatures 4/4 and 3/4 are used constantly, nowhere
is the implied practice of note accenting discussed. Yet knowledge about
strong beats and weak beats is fundamental to sight singing and to playing
instruments.
Two
outright mistakes are more irritating than damaging. One is a grammatical error: “The term ‘fortissimo’
is defined to mean ‘played very loud’”; another error gives the plural of
“staff” as “staffs” rather than “staves.”
Summary
Overall,
then, this program is a rudimentary and serviceable course for a motivated
learner. Certainly there are areas of possible improvement, perhaps to be
considered in future revisions. At the moment, though, it isn’t a bad program.
If you are prepared to spend time with it, it can teach you quite a lot about
the basics of musical notation.
From the
Atari Program Exchange, P.O. Box 3705, Santa Clara, CA 95055.
System requirements: 40K AtarI 4001800
with disk drive.
Retail
price: $17.95.