As we prepare this week to bring Hyperscore to MusicFirst.com as a web-based composition tool for student composers (and beyond!), I can’t help but do a little reminiscing. I’ll never forget sitting in Tod Machover’s Hyperscore 2007 workshop at the University of Iowa watching him demo Hyperscore and thinking that this graphic interface was THE missing link for students to demonstrate their understanding of the elements of music through composition! Little did I know that thousands of my student composers would go on to express themselves musically with ease in our Hyperscore unit.
Believe in your vision
I would never have imagined that June and Peter would see my passion for the software and hire me as their Director of Education when I retired from teaching in June of 2021. June has such incredible vision for what Hyperscore can be and Peter just makes it all happen…and I get to work with THEM!
I’ve met incredible teachers through the Beta Pilot program from Iowa and across the U.S. to Portugal, Greece and Canada. The 2022 Texas Music Educator’s Convention introduced us to passionate teachers (Jonathan and Vel Lewis) and users (Ralph) and gave us the opportunity to meet Music Education Technology innovators and authors like Richard McCready (2013 TI:ME Teacher of the Year), Will Kuhn (2015 TI:ME Teacher of the Year) and Dr. Jim Frankel (Director of MusicFirst.com and Board Member of TI:ME). My time on social media introduces me to teachers like Odysseas, Frederico, Kerry and Amanda who loved the old Hyperscore and the new one even more!
From there to here
I am so glad to know now that behind that little unit I did with my junior high Music Tech students was a passionate project created by Mary and Egon in Professor Machover’s MIT Media Lab; that host Alan Alda laughed with delight when introduced to Hyperscore on Scientific American Frontiers; that Dr. Kevin Jennings and Peter Torpey still have many creative ideas about how Hyperscore could and should work; that June doesn’t stop trying to introduce Hyperscore to everyone in the world; and that Tod is preparing for yet another City Symphony, this time in Bilbao, Spain. New Harmony Line is an ever-evolving company committed to the simple-to-use yet musically complex software that is Hyperscore. May we continue to grow the creative community that appreciates and is passionate for what Hyperscore does, and can do, in the future!