
Programmers who are also musicians – what's your #1 motivation? (Survey) - MusicToTheEars
I know this sounds like a weird request – but apparently a lot of software developers also happen to be musicians.<p>I&#x27;m looking to structure music lessons for &quot;logical-minded&quot; learners (e.g. STEM-oriented people). But first, I&#x27;d love to get a sense of what programmers are like – what motivates you, what style you like, why you would want to take up a creative art, etc.<p>Anyone up for filling out this short survey? It&#x27;s only 8 questions. All responses are anonymous.<p>Survey link: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.surveymonkey.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;TCD32ZV<p>I might make another survey to get specific insights about music concepts. I know a lot of people find music, especially the notation, completely illogical (thanks to an article I came across here called &quot;Music theory for nerds&quot;).<p>Thanks, I appreciate your feedback!
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brooklyn_ashey
The notation of western music needs a serious upgrade. Or more people should
be made aware of the other types of notation out there such as graphic scores.
I think programmers would really dig coming up with their own notation to
favor a certain aspect of music they would like to bring out. For example,
western classical (the usual notation everyone thinks of as musical notation
that isn't a lead sheet) notation isn't so great for having the result come
out all that much differently each time. It is a kind of "paint by numbers"
that favors the composer who wrote it. Other types put more responsibility on
the player. I think novice musicians are not encouraged to think in these ways
that can be tremendously inspirational from an educational standpoint.

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MusicToTheEars
Thanks! Yes certainly, the notation looks outdated. Even the names and
terminology are so ingrained in western classical. Lately I've been using
numbers 0-11 for the intervals, instead of the traditional 1-7 with a
confusing system of #'s and b's. 0-11 uses more numbers, but at least I can
just subtract two different notes to find the interval between them.

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brooklyn_ashey
the intervals being important is one of the problems with its notation. But
then we have Ornette and Andriessen and many others after them who write
otherwise; free-er with emphasis on different elements or structural shapes.
Obviously, the terminology depends on the composer, but in old classical music
up to about 1960, that is true. After that, there was a lot of linguistic
variation. The sharps flats thing is really confusing, especially to learners.
Then there is the whole transposition thing. (on different instruments) And
all of this because composers want to make sure their music will sound almost
exactly the same each time it is played so we all know who to give credit to.
The cool thing and the progressive thing would be to let go of that idea of
attribution and reproduction being the key thing. It is very colonial, not
very artistic, actually. In my view, we should always be reaching for
something as artists, and the underlying philosophy has been revealed to be
outdated- not aspirational for our world today, and rather elitist. It would
be cool to have more people like you working on new notation systems that open
up the field.

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twoquestions
I think programmers especially are attracted to music because it's an
emotional medium that follows logical rules, not terribly unlike fractal art.

Unlike something such as painting, there is an absolute 'right' and 'wrong'
sound. The music "won't compile" if you play a note in the chord too sharp or
flat.

That and you can enjoy your hobby while working, which is a huge plus for me
:)

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kdamken
Music is one of the most logical things out there. It either sounds good (to
you), or it doesn't. If it doesn't sound good to you, you change it until it
does.

In your research, you might want to look into people who only play physical
instruments, versus people who record and use DAWs to compose and put songs
together on their computers. The latter is even closer to programming than
just thinking about music theory, and a lot of people might be interested in
learning how to do it.

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MusicToTheEars
Thanks for your advice! Yes, instrument-players and DAW users probably have
different work styles, though many respondents still had a similar motivation
for music – improvising and coming up with melodies – based on the results so
far. A lot of people chose "develop their creative side", so perhaps
composing/creating music is a common trait among programmers (as opposed to
just performing).

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hellwd
Survey completed! Maybe a bit off topic, but it would be good to create a list
of music artists or bands that programmers listen the most. I'm always
thinking about how Pink Floyd for example helped me a lot to finish some
important tasks and how their music helped me multiple times to bring myself
in to the zone :)))

