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From: [e-mail] (Nathan Torkington)
Newsgroups: rec.music.compose,news.answers
Subject: rec.music.compose FAQ
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Date: 14 Dec 92 11:00:16 GMT
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Maintained-by: [e-mail] (Nathan Torkington)

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This is the list of frequently asked questions (and their answers) for
the newsgroup rec.music.compose.  There is information about notation
software, composition software, inspirational sources, getting
published, music and the network, some theory hints, some guides to
orchestration, some recommendations of books, a brief discussion of
ethno-musicology, and some mention of hardware for composing.

Where possible, pointers to existing information (such as books, ftp
sites, other newsgroups, and mailing lists) is included here, rather
than rehashing that information again.

This FAQ is currently posted on rec.music.compose.  Hopefully it will
later be posted to news.answers, where it will be archived.  Then it
will be possible to retrieve the latest copy via anonymous FTP from
pit-manager.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/rec.music.compose/compose-FAQ.

Those without FTP access should send e-mail to
  [e-mail]
with
  send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources
in the body to find out how to get news.answers files by e-mail.

This FAQ was mostly written by [e-mail], and I give him
great thanks for his enormous contribution.  Comments and indications
of doubt are enclosed in []s in the text.  Each section begins with
forty -s on a line of their own, then the section number.  This should
make searching for a specific section easy.

Contributions, comments and changes should be directed to
    [e-mail]

----------------------------------------
Index

1   Notation software and its limitations
1.1 Finale
1.2 Music Construction Set
1.3 MusicTex, MuTeX
2.  Composition Software
2.1 CSound
2.2 CMIX
3   Inspirational Sources
4   Getting published
4.1 Copyright
5   Networked Music
5.1 NetJam
5.2 ?
6   Theory
6.1 Parallel octaves, etc.
6.2 Compositional hints (a-la gems)
6.3 diablo in musica
6.4 Rhythm
6.5 Stochastic Music
7   Orchestration
8   Books
8.1 Harmony
8.2 Counterpoint
8.3 History
8.4 Composition
8.5 Orchestration
9   Ethono-musiclogy
10  Hardware
Credits

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1: Notation Software and its limitations

The programs examined here are "Finale", "Music Construction Set",
"MusicTex" and "MuTex".

----------------------------------------
1.1: Finale

Finale is a Music Notation program for MAC, available from CODA Music
Software.  A demonstration system is available by anonymous FTP from a
number of sites.
[which sites]

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1.2: Music Construction Set

[some information please]

----------------------------------------
1.3: MusicTex

MusicTex is a set of macros which extends TeX for the printing of
music.  It was written by Daniel TAUPIN of Physique des Solides,
Centre Universitaire, F-91405 ORSAY, France.  The full system is
described in Cahiers GUT (1990).  It is available complete by
anonymous FTP from a number of sites.
[which?]

The following is from some of the documentation:

"MusicTex is a set of TeX macros to typeset polyphonic, orchestral or
polyphonic music.

"Two sizes are available: 16pt and 20pt (standard) staff heights.
For that purpose, it uses special fonts:
    musicn16,    slurn16        beamn16 and
    musicn20    slurn20        beamn20 respectively.

"It is to be emphasized that MusicTex is not intended to be a compiler
which would translate into TeX some standard musical notations, nor to
decide by itself about aesthetic problems in music typing. MusicTex
only typesets staves, notes, chords, beams, slurs and ornaments as
requested by the composer. Since it makes very few typesetting
decisions, MusicTex appears to be a versatile and rather powerful
tool. However, due to the important amount of informations to be
provided to the typesetting process, coding MusicTex might appear to
be awfully complicated, just as the real keyboard or orchestral music.
It should be interfaced therefore by some pre-compiler in the case of
the composer/typesetter wanting aesthetic decisions to be
automatically made by somebody (or something) else."

The notation is somewhat complex, but the output quality is very good.

----------------------------------------
1.4: MuTeX

MuTeX is a set of macros for TeX which provide a LaTeX-like language
for music notation.  It was written by Andrea Steinbach and Angelika
Schofer, and some of the documentation is in German.  While it is
restricted to a single stave the quality is extremely high.  It is
available by anonymous ftp from a number of sites, including St Olaf's
College (stolaf.edu), who have provided an English translation of the
manual.


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2: Composition Software

The programs examined here are "CSound",

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2.1: CSound

CSound is a suite of music software from MIT's MediaLab.  It runs on
VAXes, DEC-RISCS, SUNS, NeXT and Macintoshes.  It is available by
anonymous ftp from media-lab.media.mit.edu

It has a substantial manual, and comes with a number of examples.

It produces sound files in a variety of formats, including 8-bit char,
8-bit a-law, 8-bit u-law, 16-bit short ints, 32-bit long ints, or
32-bit floats.  It can be played directly on SUN and NeXT.

There is a mailing list for CSound users, which can be joined by
sending mail to [e-mail]

The following is from the UNIX manual page.

"Csound is an environment in which a "scorefile" or external event
sequence can invoke arbitrarily complex signal-processing
"instruments" to produce sound. Audio may be displayed during its
creation, and the resulting sound sent to an on-line audio device or
to an intermediate soundfile for later playback.  Csound is invoked by
a single command, which induces three phases of action:

    Score sorting
    Orchestra translation and loading
    Sound generation (audio processing and synthesis).

"Csound audio processing is supported by various score manipulation
languages (SCOT, CSCORE, SCSORT, EXTRACT) and by soundfile
analysis-synthesis methods including additive synthesis (ADSYN),
linear predictive coding (LPC), and phase vocoding (PVOC).

"There is no complete on-line manual, but man entries exist for the
stand-alone analysis and scoring programs.  More complete information
can be found in the troff-able "Csound Reference Manual," which
provides an overview, tutorial, details of behavior, and step-by-step
examples."

----------------------------------------
2.2: CMIX

Cmix is a loosely connected group of utilities for maniplating
soundfiles.  The system is available by FTP.

The following description is taken from the UNIX manual page.

"Cmix is a package of routines for editting, processing, and creating
soundfiles.  It also includes a library of routines designed to make
it easier to write C programs which deal with soundfiles.

Typically, the user prepares a file of calls to various cmix
routines, and then invokes them by saying something like:

    mix < my.data

Consider the following example data file:

     input("snd_directory/elvis")
     output("snd_directory/elvis+industry")
     setline(0,0,1,1,10,1,11,0)
     mix(8.6,0,21,1,0)
     input("snd_directory/industry")
     setline(0,0,5,1,11,0)
     mix(0,0,11,1,0)

This first opens the file "snd_directory/elvis" for input, and the
file "snd_directory/elvis+industry" for the output of the new mix.
Setline creates the amplitude envelope to be used for a subsequent
call to mix.  The arguments to setline are pairs of time/amplitude
values.  It interpolates linearly between these points.  The next call
is to mix and asks to start copying the current input file to the
current outputfile, starting at time 8.6 in the input file, and time 0
in the output file.  It will mix until time 21 on the input file is
reached.  The fourth argument to mix is the relative amplitude of the
current input file, and the final argument is used to determine
channel location (see man page on mix).

Then, with a different envelope from the next call to setline there is
another call to mix "snd_directory_industry" into the same output
file.

To cause this to happen, once this data file has been prepared, the
user should type:

    mix <my.data >&my.data.output &

Note that the data file passes through the Minc preprocessor before
being passed to cmix.  Be sure to consult the manual page on Minc for
more information.

This is the general procedure for using any of the various cmix
utilities -- creating a data file and then invoking the routines with
a cal to cmix.  User writtne subroutines which either augment or
replace those in cmix can be compiled in the users own filespace.  See
the manual pages on usersub and Minc for more information.

----------------------------------------
3: Inspirational Sources

Obviously there isn't one true method of obtaining inspiration which
will enable everyone to become Bach, but here are some tricks that
have worked for people on rec.music.compose in the past:
 - walking.  The rhythm of walking seems to help people get a
   concrete foundation to hum to.
 - other music.  Listen to things that seem incomplete to you, and
   try and arrange it how it should have sounded.
 - theory exercises.  Play with some exercises in theory, and maybe
   something that is pleasant will jump out at you.


----------------------------------------
4: Getting published

[need info]

----------------------------------------
4.1: Copyright

The copyright laws will depend on the country you are in.  In general,
it is safe to select books whose authors/editors died more than 74
years ago.  Some things to beware of are:
 - missing copyright notices.  In any country that has signed the
   Berne Convention agreement about copyright, there doesn't need
   to be a copyright notice.  Simply publishing the work is enough.
 - facsimile editions.  In general the actual copied music isn't
   under a new copyright, but any commentary/annotation is.
 - collections.  If someone collects music and publishes it, they
   may be able to have a collection copyright for the whole
   collection.
 - editors.  Editors who rearrange, transpose or otherwise change
   the text have a new copyright on the new work.
 - audio editions.  Actual audio music has a different copyright
   lifetime than sheet music.

Discussion on copyright issues should not take place on
rec.music.compose, but should be directed to the copyright mailing
list (to join, send mail to [e-mail]).

----------------------------------------
5: Networked Music

This section discusses programs and groups that are for musicians
that have access to UseNet or Internet.

----------------------------------------
5.1: NetJam

For information on NetJam, see the NetJam FAQ.  This is posted
fortnightly to comp.music, rec.music.makers and rec.music.synth.

----------------------------------------
6: Theory

Topics covered in this chapter are Parallel octaves and fifths,
general compositional hints, rhythm, stochastic music and "diablo
in musica".

----------------------------------------
6.1: Parallel octaves and fifths

Parallel octaves and fifths occur when in polyphonic (multiple voice)
music when two voices that are separated by a fifth or an octave move
up or down by the same interval.  The reason these are considered bad
in traditional counterpoint stems from many listener's perceptions of
the voices.  Most people feel that when the voices move in parallel
fifths or octaves, the sense of there being two voices is lost; that
the voices "merge" into one.

Similar effects are heard by relatively few people, on other
intervals, but because not as many lose the sense of polyphony those
intervals aren't "forbidden".

Having voices moving in parallel while separated by an octave or fifth
isn't necessarily bad.  It has been used by composers, with
well-defined means of avoiding the merging sound.

For more information on the parallel octaves and fifths subject, see
Matt Field's essay "Gems 2" which was posted to rec.music.compose.
[ftp-site?]

----------------------------------------
6.2: Compositional hints (a-la gems)

[need info]

----------------------------------------
6.3: diablo in musica

[need info]

----------------------------------------
6.4: Rhythm

[need info]

----------------------------------------
6.5: Stochastic Music

Stochastic music is the name given to a style of generation of musical
ideas developed by Iannis Xenakis, and well described in his book
"Formalized Music".  This is not the same as random music, but rather
describes a technique for developing a musical progress with a random
walk-like method.


----------------------------------------
7: Orchestration

[need info]


----------------------------------------
8: Books

The books in this section are categorised by the subjects they cover.
The entries are in bib format.  That is (taken from the man-page
for addbib(1)):
  %A   Author's name
  %B   Book containing article referenced
  %C   City (place of publication)
  %D   Date of publication
  %E   Editor of book containing article referenced
  %F   Footnote number or label (supplied by refer)
  %G   Government order number
  %H   Header commentary, printed before reference
  %I   Issuer (publisher)
  %J   Journal containing article
  %K   Keywords to use in locating reference
  %L   Label field used by -k option of refer
  %M   Bell Labs Memorandum (undefined)
  %N   Number within volume
  %O   Other commentary, printed at end of reference
  %P   Page number(s)
  %Q   Corporate or Foreign Author (unreversed)
  %R   Report, paper, or thesis (unpublished)
  %S   Series title
  %T   Title of article or book
  %V   Volume number
  %X   Abstract - used by roffbib, not by refer

----------------------------------------
8.1: Harmony

----------------------------------------
8.2: Counterpoint

%A C.H. Kitson
%T The Art of Counterpoint
%I Clarendon Press
%D 1907
%O This is a detailed book, but is rather confusing to the beginner.
   Covers classical style (Palestrina) counterpoint.

%A Johann Phillip Kirnberger
%T The Art of Strict Musical Composition
%I Yale University Press
%D 1982
%S Music Theory Translation Series
%O A very clear book with numerous examples.  This has a section on
   counterpoint which explains simple counterpoint in two or more
   parts.

----------------------------------------
8.3: History

[need info]

----------------------------------------
8.4: Composition

%A Johann Phillip Kirnberger
%T The Art of Strict Musical Composition
%I Yale University Press
%D 1982
%S Music Theory Translation Series
%O A very clear book with numerous examples.  This has a section on
   counterpoint which explains simple counterpoint in two or more
   parts.

%A Robert Twain Adams
%T Electronic Music Composition for Beginners
%I Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown
%D c1986
%O Electronic composition.  ISBN 0-697-00457-0 (pbk.)

%A Iannis Xenakis
%T Formalized Music
%I Indiana University Press
%D 1971
%O Revised and enlarged edition published Pendragon Press (1992).

----------------------------------------
8.5: Technology

%A F. Richard Moore
%T Elements of Computer Music
%I Prentice-Hall
%D 1990
%O Lots of stuff on software synthesis, and more, all centered around
   cmusic.  ISBN: 0-13252-552-6 $38.00 + $4.00 shipping UPS surface

%A Tom Darter, Greg Armbruster
%T The Art of Electronic Music
%I New York, Quill
%D c1984
%O "...Edited from material originally published in Keyboard
   magazine from 1975 to 1983"--T.p. verso.
   Electronic music--History and criticism.
   Musical instruments, Electronic.
   Synthesizer (Musical instrument)
   Musicians--Interviews.
   ISBN: 0-688-03106-4 (pbk.) : $15.95
   ISBN: 0-688-03105-6

%A Herbert Russcol
%T The liberation of sound: an introduction to electronic music
%I New York: Da Capo Press
%D 1994 (I'm presuming this is a joke)
%S Da Capo Press music reprint series
%C Notes: Reprint. Originally published: Englewood Cliffs, N.J. :
   Subjects: Electronic music--History and criticism.
   ISBN: 0-306-76263-3 : $35.00


----------------------------------------
8.5: Orchestration

[need info]

----------------------------------------
9: Ethno-musicology

[need info]

----------------------------------------
10: Hardware

You can buy many different types of hardware to help you wish
composition.  You should see the following newsgroups for help in
choosing and buying hardware (which newsgroups you ask for help will
depend on your existing setup and whether you have decided what to buy
yet):
  comp.sys.ibmpc.soundcards
  comp.sys.amiga.audio
  rec.music.synth
  rec.music.makers
  rec.music.marketplace
  comp.music

[any others?  Are these bad groups?]

----------------------------------------
Credits

[e-mail]
Nathan Torkington ([e-mail])