This article is a lab memo from May 1979 about what Logo Music and Tuneblocks actually were, how people used them, and some initial analysis/impressions of those experiences. I am just going to list interesting observations, informally here, since the memo itself is also quite informal.

Something that was not clear to me in reading previous articles by Bamberger is that the Tuneblocks she uses in her composition environment are not “random” or designed-to-be-archetypal or following-the-rules-of-counterpoint types of musical phrases. Instead, they are taken from existing songs. So, any collection of tuneblocks users are faced with can be recombined to make the original song. This both makes it clear why she’s always using Hot Crossed Buns as an example and makes this format much more interesting to me as a potential framework for thinking about remixing songs kids love—whether at the phrase or sub-phrase level—into original pieces.

One of the things Bamberger includes in this memo is write-ups from people who composed using certain collections of her Tuneblocks, specifically a set which apparently have very little rhythmic variation. These write-ups are incredibly interesting. Something I would really like to figure out how to include in my research agenda, both the composition and reflection exercises, in some way.

One of these study participants draws a sketch to show the “dramatic arc” of the piece they compose from their tuneblocks. I really appreciate this impulse and think “drawing” the arc of songs would be a really interesting direction to pursue more generally. Somehow, reading some of the other stuff I’ve been reading today I was reminded of an activity I’ve done with young people in the past. Just saying, “Draw how you see time.” Discussing the outcomes is always super interesting, and I think drawing how you see a song—whether you composed it or not—would be similarly interesting!

This memo also has a (relatively) detailed description of what was implemented to incorporate Logo Music capabilities into LOGO. Perhaps useful if there is a future for me to riff off of or add onto itch.js?