Computer Assisted Instruction Review – Morton Subotnick’s

Playing Music
Bonnie Butterfield CTMU 7566 Dr. Walls

Citation and General Information

Title:Playing Music
Author: Morton Subotnick
Publisher: Viva Media
Date: 2006
Content: Lessons and games for beginners focusing on musical
expression, ability to modify and hear compositions, and watch videos
of performances and performers
Age Level: K-8
Class: Games
Hardware: Windows/Macintosh CD-Rom
Price: 39.95 on Amazon.com (2008 edition)

Instructional Content

Specific Musical Content

There are many things to do in the program. Half is informative and
the other half is interactive, using the learned knowledge to play the
games or modify the music.
1. The lessons focus around musical expression terms and their use
in music. The Glossary helps identify these terms, and the
Master Class video give tangible examples.
2. The Expression Room allows the user to pick a well-recognized
piano piece and modify the tempo, dynamics, and add accents.

3. The user can hear their modified compositions in the

Auditorium, where one of three characters plays the piece back
for them, using the expressions indicated.
4. The Music Cinema includes videos of a classical pianist playing
beautiful works by famous composers. It also includes a Master
Class, which allows the pianist to talk about his start as a
performer and his take on how expression makes music exciting.
5. The games reinforce the lessons about musical expressions: how
they look and sound.
Procedures
The main screen is a table of contents that contains pictures as links to
the various games and activities. The mouse is the main tool the user
needs to play games, watch videos, or make changes to the music, so
it would be easy for a young child to participate. There is audio help
that gives you instruction every time you scroll over something, which
can be turned on or off at any time. There are also tutorials that have
more detailed instructions for more complicated tasks, such as
changing the musical expressions in the Expression Room. When in
the Performer’s entrance, the user can play through a song using the
mouse or any key on the keyboard. The user can manipulate much of
the program, except cannot go back and change answers for the
various games.

Educational Objectives: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application,

Analysis, Synthesis, & Evaluation
Instructional Mode: Game, Discovery/Simulation, Tutorial
Program Structure: Student directed
Sequence of Materials: Good – It would be nice if the game directed
the user onto a certain path. I jumped right into the concert hall, and
skipped over the introduction of the game. If I didn’t know what
expression marks were, I would be lost.
Pace of Instruction: Excellent
Quality of Interaction: Good – The user cannot manipulate
everything when adding expressions to the music examples, which can
be frustrating.

Record Keeping

Unfortunately, there is no record keeping for game scores or a Hall of

Fame. The program does, however, keep a record of the last musical
example the user has changed, and that one example will be used until
a new one is made.

Overall Evaluation: B+

Playing Music was pretty amusing software, even for a grown-up. The
music chosen is excellent (all simple, well-known, classical piano
works) and it can reach a large range of music consumers. The videos
of the piano player are clear, moving, and just long enough to keep a
child’s interest. I enjoyed adding expressions to the well-known
examples and seeing the animated characters perform my work. For
the piano sections, they lightly tap the keys, and bang on the piano for
a sforzando. I also respect that in several examples and games, they
show the actual notation of the music, so it could reach a music
student who has been studying for years on a different level. It is not
necessary to know any notation or theory, but it adds to the
experience.

I do have some criticisms to this software, starting with the

organization of it. The table of contents does not direct you to go to
the explanation of musical expression. You are allowed to choose
anywhere to go from the start, and any kid is going to want to go to
the games or in to the concert hall first. From there, they might not
understand what they are doing, as they have missed the overview for
musical expression. Other problems I found are not being able to add
certain markings, such as staccato and sforzando to the bass clef of
the musical examples, and there are only three dynamic levels you can
use: piano, mezzo forte, and forte. Also, I did not like the “Performer’s
entrance” area, where I had to click my mouse for each note. The user
does not have to click in rhythm, so it disconnects the user from the
true meaning of the music. As a silly grievance, I did not like how the
robot interpreted my song; the tempo was all wrong!

Overall, this software would be good for all ages, and the improvisation
and expression room where you manipulate the music could be played
with again and again.