2003-05-22
... ? Toy Symphony - Music ToysHyperScore is the principal composition tool of the Toy Symphony project and is at the core of all pedagogical and creative activities. Designed to introduce children to musical composition and creativity in an intuitive and dynamic way, the "narrative" of a piece is expressed through freehand drawing: a linear gesture that is analyzed to derive its characteristic "feel." The child then creates or selects individual musical materials, in the form of chords, melodic motives, timbres or sounds-each color coded-which are then annotated along the spine of the narrative line. Finally, the HyperScore system automatically realizes a full composition integrating the specific musical material into the overall formal shape represented by the narrative line. Graphical building blocks, motives and completed works can be exchanged online in a version of the program that will soon be available for children and educators worldwide to download.
