Pedagogical framework and students' perceptions in the creative process of multi-media composition: Visual stimulus and musical accent

When teaching scoring for computer animation, there is a tendency to emphasis the technological tools rather than the integration of visual thinking and musical thinking. A profile of the professional studies – Creative Multi-Media music project at the Hong Kong Institute of Education illustrates a pedagogical framework that associates the visual image with a storyboard as a stimulus to the student’s compositional skills. The students’ perceptions on the creative process on Multi-Media composition are discussed. The study utilizes a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collected through MIDI file observation, interview, written reports and reflective journals. Data from a group of 45 students and selected individual case studies of students are used to highlight the similarities and differences that arise between participants. Issues associated with the application of music technology computer software are discussed with reference to the pedagogy and findings. Findings are discussed in light of Nicholas Cook’s (1998) analyzing musical multimedia and recent literature and research about the application and development of film scoring and alignment between visual image and music (Davis, 1999; Lipscomb 1995). Copyright © 2005 Australian Society for Music Education.