(part 6 of 20)
Computer Notation
In the age of notation software it’s common for people wishing to compose to simply sit down at the computer, load up a blank score, and dive into writing. However, for all but experienced composers this is a mistake. The importance of composing at the piano can’t be stressed enough, particularly for those who have not attained Beethoven’s level of audiation. Composition needs to grow the same way a painter plays with lines and shades on paper, or colors and textures on canvas. The piano is the composer’s easel, their fingers the brush. The computer or manuscript paper are simply there to record the work.
Unlike painting, music isn’t tangible. Sheet music is not the equivalent of a finished painting. Viewing a finished painting is the equivalent of actually listening to music. Sheet music serves only as a means to realize the finished work of art, like a set of architectural blueprints for a performer to bring it to life.
A beginner sitting down at a computer away from an instrument to compose is like a 7-year-old loose in a chemistry lab. Well-intended parents might think this could lead their child to become a great scientist. Instead, they’ll play with beakers, hazardous chemicals, and burners (staves, notes, and midi playback). They won’t learn much about science, and they may get burned.
Computer notation is a godsend for composers. It not only allows for easy reproduction of legible sheet music, but it automates the process of making orchestral parts, and in general speeds up the notation process dramatically. However, for beginners it should only be used after the composition is complete. MuseScore is a free/open-source program useful for that purpose.
Beginners attempting to compose at the computer bypass the improvisation process, the heart of the creative process itself. At the computer, beginners tend to throw out notes, press play to hear what they sound like, drag them around a bit to hear how they sound higher or lower, add some more, change the rhythm as an afterthought, and so on. While entering one note at a time, they are often ignoring the music that came before, or the music that might come next. They lose perspective of the full musical line as new material is added.
Until you can fully hear and understand complex music in your head, you absolutely need the piano to give instant feedback as you experiment with various musical elements. In this way you imagine the music and you play it simultaneously, there is no delay, no separation. On the computer, altering one note, then listening to the last few bars, then altering the note again, is not just inefficient, but leads to bad habits. The student might as well compose by rolling dice, as improvisation and full musical creativity aren’t being employed. (Ha, rolling dice… get it?)
The solution is simple: paper-and-pencil at the piano.
(Download and print large or small staff manuscript paper.)
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Index
- Introduction
- Why Piano?
- Improvisation:
- Notation:
- Related Skills/Knowledge:
- Composition: