Making+Music

CITATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

 * Title: [|Making Music]
 * Author: [|Morton Subotnick]
 * Publisher: [|Viva Media LLC]
 * © 2003
 * Platform: Windows (95/98/ME/2000/XP) or Macintosh (OS X/OS 9/OS 8)
 * Peripherals: None
 * Age: 5 and up (Targets ages 5-10)
 * Type of Class: General Music, Composition

TEACHER SUPPORT
This program does not come with a manual of any kind. There is a CD-insert with the CD-ROM that gives a brief overview, and there are several tutorials about the program in the "Overview" section that are narrated by Subotnick. However, I found these tutorials to be extremely slow, and this format makes it difficult for teachers to look up information quickly. Subotnick says that he designed this program as a way to allow young children to explore their musical creativity in a less ephemeral way than simply improvising without requiring the reading of musical notation. There is a free, [|simpler version of the program] available online. There is a number for technical support provided in the CD-insert. No other resources or support is included.

INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT
This program contains several different environments in which children can explore composition. The main "Making Music" program is set up very analogous to Microsoft Paint or other simple drawing programs, which lets children use their prior knowledge from these programs to create music. Students can also use the Melody Maker, Mix and Match, or Building Blocks functions to create music. All three of these interfaces are interchangeable, so students can load their work from one interface to another. The program also includes games which allow the children to practice listening for differences in musical phrases.

Making Music can be used to address the following [|National Music Standards for Music Education]: 5. Reading and notating music. 6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. 8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND PEDAGOGICAL SOUNDNESS
When I tried using this program without watching the long tutorials, I found the program a little difficult to use. I did not feel that the Making Music interface or the Melody Maker interface provided enough scaffolding for writing music, although perhaps very small children would have less trouble with this. They do, however, allow students to be creative on a number of levels, including pitch, rhythm, duration, dynamics, tonal material (students can even create their own scales to use in their compositions), and instrumentation. It also allows students to employ standard composition techniques such as augmentation, diminution, inversion, and retrograde with a click of a button. I found the Building Blocks function to be somewhat unintuitive as well. I think that the visual presentation in the game is appropriate for its target age level. The sound effects are fun, but somewhat distracting when children are working on creating their own sound effects. The site does not require students to be able to read very much, either in English or in musical notation, which is good for the very youngest children. Children have a very high level of control over the movement within the program, since there is very little built-in structure other than in the Games section.

Making Music is largely a discovery structure, since students have almost complete control over both their compositions and where they navigate within the program. There is no built-in sequence or instruction.
 * Sequence of Materials: N/A
 * Pace of Instruction: N/A
 * Quality of Instruction: N/A
 * Motivation for Students: Fair

RECORD KEEPING
Making Music allows students to save their compositions in a Composition Book. They can name their compositions and play them back from within the program.

OVERALL EVALUATION
I like that this program allows students to experience their musical creativity without requiring knowledge of notation. However, I think that the program has several serious drawbacks. The visually-based interface could allow students to see connections between music and visual art, but I think it would be just as easy for students to use this program to draw pretty pictures rather than focusing on the musical sounds they are writing down. Another drawback is the fact that student compositions have no way of leaving the program, such as exporting the sound or printing the graphic score, so sharing their works with others would be difficult. I think this program is best suited for a child to use at home to play using their musical creativity rather than in a classroom setting, since programs like Groovy Shapes and __Groovy Cit__y allow students to explore their creativity with greater teacher input and direction.

Rating: * * 1/2

REVIEWED BY
Erin Grady (04/03/2007) Updated: Kathy Wainwright 6/16/2010