The design of computer-based composition software based on the intuitive symbolic representations of music young children

The use of computers in the field of learning is by no means a new phenomenon. Indeed, by the end of the 1970s categories of instructional use of computers were well established. From the outset, computing technology seemed to offer the learning environment a method for individualised pacing and sequencing of material. This concept grew from the realisation that the one-to-many relationship of teacher to learner might be replaced by a teaching surrogate one-to-one relationship. Today, with the advent of the microcomputer more components of the teaching learning process are being undertaken by the computer. The use of the microcomputer for music learning is becoming commonplace in the primary school classroom. Advances in technology have meant that the use of the computer for music instruction has evolved from the simple microcomputer displays of notation to the use of add-on piano keyboards, tape recorders and simulated mixing desk facilities. As with all software used in classroom music learning, music composition software has progressively had more features designed into it. But, while the features included in the software have increased, a closer examination of the educational design strategies employed by music compositional software show little real change has occurred.