Handheld Composing: Using PDAs to Re-conceptualize Artistic Practice project was first
implemented into the music composition program of Central Washington University in fall of 2001 by
Dr. Mark Polishook by purchasing 12 Palm VIIs� with a grant from the NWACC (Northwest Academic
Computing Consortium) for use among composition students. I am among the first to participate in
this project to realize the advantages of composing with small, affordable, and portable, technological
equipment such as the Handheld Computer. I compose on my PDA between classes, when traveling in
a car, plane, or in cafe. It is small enough to fit into a coat pocket and versatile enough to use in almost
any situation. I found myself composing more often and in more ways. The greatest advantage of
creating music on a Handheld Computer is the ability to compose anywhere, anytime and immediately
hear what I have written.
I use the Handheld Computer to sketch ideas, then download those ideas via a cradle to any
desktop computer for final editing. The Handheld Computer can also be used as performance instrument,
as you will see in the score Pilot This!, for nine Handheld Computers, utilizing Beatpad,
Notepad, and Theremin. By incorporating the keypad the Handheld Computer is a useful classroom
tool for taking notes in wordsmith and copying examples in the notation software. My notes are
cleaner and my musical examples can easily be played back to reinforce ideas.
Using a Handheld Computer as a compositional tool is increasing the interaction between
composers in the music department both graduate and undergraduate, often working together on ideas
and �beaming� each other pieces through infrared beaming. I am able to see and be influenced by the
emerging musical styles of each composer.
Looking beyond the proposed use of the Handheld Computer as a organizer to the use as a
compositional tool, has not only increased my appreciation for technology and music, but is broadening
my skills as a composer.
Score examples included are representative of research and performance use of the Handheld
Computer over the last year. Information on the musical software included on the project. Articles of
the Handheld Composition project at CWU, and a similar project implemented at Libby Middle school
in Spokane, WA by Brian Bouge.
The purpose of the Libby Middle School PDA project is to use Handheld computers as a musical
educational tool for 5th. and 6th. graders in music. Dr. Polishook, myself and three other student
composers using PDA�s were invited to Libby middle school in March 2002 to do a compositional
workshop with PDA�s and a small concert by the middle school students based on what was accomplished
in that workshop.
Joyce Barnes, 2002
note: This article is an introduction for a presentation I made at the Composing a Career Symposium in San Franciso, CA in 2002.
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