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The Usability of Music Theory Software: The Analysis of Twelve-Tone Music as a Case Study

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Computer Music Modeling and Retrieval. Sense of Sounds (CMMR 2007)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 4969))

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Abstract

Computer applications are an everyday tool for music analysts, composers, and music theory students. While these applications are a welcome tool to be used in the classrooms and research labs, their effectiveness could be improved by focusing on their usability.

The usability of a user interface can be evaluated and even measured with respect to the goals of its users. In order to demonstrate the evaluation of a user interface, I present an experiment in which the efficiency of user interfaces is assessed in the context of three scenarios or “use cases.”

Based on the experiment, I discuss some basic principles of usability theory, such as affordances, minimization of navigation, error handling, immediate feedback, and data visibility. The evaluation of these principles suggests some new types of music theory applications.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sibelius Academy, Finland

    Tuukka Ilomäki

Authors
  1. Tuukka Ilomäki
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Editor information

Richard Kronland-Martinet Sølvi Ystad Kristoffer Jensen

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ilomäki, T. (2008). The Usability of Music Theory Software: The Analysis of Twelve-Tone Music as a Case Study. In: Kronland-Martinet, R., Ystad, S., Jensen, K. (eds) Computer Music Modeling and Retrieval. Sense of Sounds. CMMR 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4969. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85035-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85035-9_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-85034-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-85035-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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