MIDI draw: Designing an impressionistic medium for young musicians, artists, and writers

Abstract

MIDI Draw is an impressionistic medium in the making—a computer program for color drawing and writing linked to a MIDI-based electronic synthesizer. A series of robust prototypes of modestly varying functionality is being developed based on use in various contexts: music composition, art, and creative writing at home and in the classroom; integrated arts-based teacher education; and research on child development. Children, artists, musicians, and teachers are influencing the design.

A well-designed medium in an engaging, supportive context enables creative expression by constraining it to a comfortable and manageable space. The creative spaces bounded by an electronic keyboard synthesizer, a computer-based color drawing program, and a wordprocessor change when the three media are integrated. But what is created within this hybrid space is governed mainly by the social context and individual imagination, capabilities, and experience. What insight might be gained into collaborative learning and into the interacting development of children's musical, artistic, and literary expression by examining the use of MIDI Draw for impressionistic play with sound and color, for illustrating or scoring musical compositions, for creating orchestrated paintings or illustrated stories or cartoon strips, and for whatever means children might invent?