The Score in the Digital Age

Software, MIDI and tablets changed how scores are written, read and played.

Related

ContemporaryDAWScoreThe MIDI controller

The question

A paper score fixes notes, text and layout on one surface. A digital score separates these layers. The engraving file governs appearance, MIDI governs sound, and metadata governs version and rights. Once separated, a score can be searched, transposed and played, but it can also be copied until its source is lost.

Historical arc

In the 1970s computers entered music engraving, and SCORE, later Finale, Sibelius and LilyPond let composers set pages. In 1983 MIDI gave keyboards, synths and computers one language, so performance could be recorded as events and then edited, quantised and replayed. In the 1990s the web made score scanning and sharing ordinary; Mutopia, IMSLP and OpenScore turned public-domain works into editable digital texts. After 2010, MusicXML and MEI let programs exchange scores.

The turning point

The first turn was separation. Page and sound became two data sets, one for looking and one for hearing. The second turn was the editable performance. MIDI and the DAW allowed a take to be quantised, transposed and patched. The third turn was the score on screen. Tablets and synchronised scores turned the page into a timeline that moves with the music.

What to listen for

Begin with the Mutopia edition of Maple Leaf Rag, whose plain-text source compiles into a standard page. Then hear OpenScore's Mattinata, a digital transcription of a 1904 public-domain song. Finally hear a performance MIDI, where duration, velocity and pedal are written as numbers, so editing it feels like editing code. The library versions are mostly synthesised, so notice the split between page and performance.

Related

The digital score belongs to Contemporary, with DAW, Score and The MIDI controller.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "Computers and music" — terms checked, not quoted
• Nicholas Cook, Beyond the Score (Oxford University Press) — arguments checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.