The Virtual Score: Representation,
Retrieval, Restoration; Computing in Musicology 12
Walter B. Hewlett and Eleanor Selfridge-Field, eds. MIT Press, Cambridge,
MA, U.S.A., 2002. 291 pp., illus. Paper. $28.00
ISBN: 0-262-58209-0.
Reviewed by Richard Kade
Ubiquitous Iconoclast
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1346 USA
ubiq_icon@hotmail.com
Phone: (650) 813-7672
The twelfth and newest installment in the series of "Computing
in Musicology" from Stanford University's Center for Computer
Assisted Research in the Humanities shows, amongst other things, how
wrong Longfellow's notion of music as the "universal language
of the arts" was. Setting aside the historical underpinnings
of the poet's misconception -- dating back at least to Pythagoras
and his "Music of the Spheres" -- "The Virtual Score"
provides a plethora of programming solutions spanning "Representation,
Retrieval and Restoration" from Medieval repertoire through GUIDO
music-notation format to Extensible Markup Language (XML). Two fascinating
articles deal with the production of Braille musical scores. The first,
by a trio of French collaborators, centers on issues of practicality
whereas the second, by Silas S. Brown at Cambridge (UK),
explores the broader implications of data representation and conversion.
These are roughly analogous to much of the spectral array illuminated
by Douglas Hofsteadter's "Le Ton beau de Marot" -- covered
in this space (or sector of "cyberia") in 1998.
This volume is masterfully edited so that the reader need not be fully
conversant in the technical details of the programming languages discussed.
The articles are organized in a way that leads to ever-increasing
understanding of the broader issues at stake. (Abstracts of each article
and related links are posted at www.ccarh.org/publications/cm/12 .)
The most surprising thing about this collection of articles is, paradoxically,
unintended. The discourse on musical syntax and the like underscore
the most basic truism. Music always is an attempt at conveying abstract
expression. Accordingly, the notation involved -- centuries ago or
into the future -- inevitably involve pragmatic compromises. Thus
the creative process of the composer is far more like that of the
poet than of the painter or sculptor. Form follows function. David
Esterly's brilliant book on Grinling Gibbons put the entire process
of creation best when he said that one "begins as a god but ends
as a slave."