Creativity, Music and Computers: Guidelines for Computer-Based Instrumental Music Support Tools

This paper examines requirements for computer-based tools intended to support creative development in musicians. Approaches to instrumental music pedagogy are presented and implications for those seeking to support musical skill development with computers are discussed. A pedagogical philosophy based on the “natural learning process” is combined with recommendations from creativity researchers to build a set of suggested features and guidelines for developing instrumental music support tools which facilitate creative development. A prototype application illustrating our approach is described