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Making musical arrangements for the future: student designs software for amateur composers
Wh ile Internet mu sicswapp in g serv ice Napster makes headlin es over iss ues re lated to mu s ic copyrig ht laW;-Matt Joh nson is u'y in g to make it easier fo r amateurs to arrange their own mu sic. John so n, a g raduate student in co mpute r sc ie nce at UMR , recently co mpl eted hi s thes is on an auto mated co mputer program he desig ned fo r mu s ica l arrangements. The program first reads a soprano part from a data fil e, the n generates three additi onal parts - a lto , tenor and bass - to create a new alTangement in the style of a hym n. " Fo r an amateur mu s ic ian, thi s ca n be a great too l," says John so n, who is fro m M c Kenzie, Te nn. "The soft ware prod uces a rou gh draft of the an'ange me nt, e liminating some of the time-consuming wo rk
in vo lved ~ti ne a piece of mu sic. Tl len compose 's can come in and tweak the
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year whit start. " John son ecenfly got an opportunity to apply his research, when hi s wife, a teacher, as ked fo r he lp in composing a new spiri t song for L esterville, M o., Hi gh School. The soft ware perfor med well. The tri ck now will be to make the software he has created mo re user-fri e ndl y. "This is the tip of the iceberg ," Jo hn son says. "I think th ere 's roo m to develop the research a lot furthe r. " With more research and development, John son thinks h is so ft ware can be marketed fo r use by the public.
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MSM¡UMR ALUMNUS I WinlCr 2000
