Project update, March 2009


March 28th, 2009

Dear friends,

I write a newsletter every two or three months for the Lenmus-developers mail list. While writing this one I thought "Why only for people appointed to the mail list? Sure others might be interested about ongoing issues, project development and plans! Isn't that the objective of the 'News' section in our website?". Therefore, here you have a project update newsletter. I will publish one when important news and, at least, every two-three months. Thanks for reading.

The next program release, planned for October 2009, will be focused on fixing bugs and providing more study material and exercises. Here are the details.

eBook new pages

I've started to add theory on intervals, and also to explain and sequence the exercises on intervals. At the time of writing this, introductory theory on intervals and an exercise for this is finished. The plans are to add pages to explain also chords and to introduce four-voices harmony. But all this will depend on time availability. In coming newsletters I will update this information.

Exercises on four-voices harmony

Carlos De La Fuente has started to code a set of exercises to practise four-voices harmony. The idea is to use the score editor for exercises. The problem will be presented as a score (i.e. the bass voice) that the student has to modify (i.e. by introducing all other three voices) and the program will analyse the score and spot harmony errors. As the full editor is used, the student will be able to save the score so that he/she can later continue the exercise. At the time of writing this newsletter the basic infrastructure for this is operational and some initial code to analyse the harmony of a score has been successfully tested. Currently we are dealing with the final specifications for the analysis of harmony in scores.

Leitner learning methodology

Originally, LenMus exercises were not based on any particular learning methodology. Questions were selected just at random and no student performance data was saved. For next version I have started to add support in all exercises for a spaced repetition learning technique, also known as Leitner method or flashcards method. A database to save user data about exercises and answers has already been added and I have started to modify exercises to include four working modes: 'learning', 'practising', 'exam' and 'quiz'

  • In 'learning' mode the program analyses your answers and schedule questions to systematically covering all the subject and to focus on those questions that are troubling you. This mode is the most systematic one and asked questions are adapted your learning needs, to minimize your study time and optimise your learning rate. Your performance data is saved and the next time you return again to the exercise, the program takes care of asking questions to ensure an optimal learning path. The result is, ideally, a reduction in the amount of time needed to study a subject and the assurance that the subject has been systematically reviewed. This mode is based on the 'spaced repetition' or 'Leitner method'.
  • In 'practising' mode the program uses your performance data, saved in learning mode, to choose questions. It selects questions at random but giving more probability to those that are troubling you. Your performance data in this mode is not saved. This mode is useful when you have finished your daily assignment and you would like to practise more.
  • In 'exam' mode, neither your saved performance data not your answers to previous questions are taken into account to formulate the next question. At any moment, all possible questions have the same probability of being asked. This mode is useful for testing your knowledge before taking an examination, but is less useful for learning.
  • The 'quiz' mode is similar to the 'exam' mode but two answer counters are displayed and questions are accounted in both counters: one in first counter and the next one in the second counter. This mode is useful to work in pairs or in teams at classroom.

At the time of writing this newsletter all this is implemented but has been included only in intervals theory exercises.

Score editor

The editor crashes too often, specially when inserting and deleting notes, and this is very frustrating for our users. I'm very sorry about this! The crashes are caused by a bug in caret re-positioning when inserting/deleting notes. Although the editor is in beta status, I was not aware of the problem before releasing version 4.0 of LenMus. I will try to release a bug-fixing version before summer but that will depends on time availability.

The score editor is an important objective to me, but not because of the editor itself, but as a means to enable students for doing all kind of music exercises. For next release, the score editor will be improved, but only to remove bugs and to add some more functionality, basically the minimum needed for supporting the new four-voices harmony exercises that will be included.

Other issues

Regarding other issues:

  • Linux version could be soon available. Miguel Fernandez is working on preparing a standard installation package using autotools. He had to learn about how to do it and his last report is that it is almost working. Thanks Miguel!
  • Translations:
    • Basque translation continues going on. Currently, Karlos del Olmo has finished translation of 'TheoryHarmony' eBook.
    • As the number of translations is increasing, I've started to split program releases from language packages so that a language package can be added and updated without having to wait to a new program release. So I've started to prepare an independent installation package for the language files. With it, we could have independent installers for each language package and, in this way, it will be possible to update a translation without having to wait for a new program release.

Thanks for reading and for your interest in the project.

Cecilio Salmeron
LenMus project manager

 

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