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Introduction
For many centuries music has been self-contained. With nothing more than an instrument and their bodies, musicians have composed and crafted beautiful melodies, harmonies, and rhythms for their own enjoyment, and for the entertainment of others. Until more recent times, if you wanted to hear music, you had to physically attend a concert or find a musician. Now all of that has changed. Today one can listen to music that was recorded decades ago on a medium such as a CD player. Composers no longer must write entire symphonies by hand on manuscript paper. They have programs which can greatly assist them in their work. Other musicians can use other programs and record and play music with people they may have never met, and possibly never will. In the present day, technology and computers are vital assets in the proliferation of music. As David Trubitt writes, "Technology and music have always been partners. The musician is limited only by his or her imagination and the capabilities of available instruments. As such, since early civilization, people have been using the latest technology in their quest to create new instruments to better release the music in their heads" (Trubitt vii).
"The practice of music has changed dramatically in the past years. Electronic and computer music have emerged from specialized studios and today pervade music for education, television, films, recordings, and live performances. Music students must develop competencies in the use of computer music technology in order to thrive in the various musical professions and avocations. More music is being produced for the recorded medium, and live performance has been affected by technology through expanded use of synthesizers and MIDI instrument controllers, interactive computer performance processing and by the inclusion of sequenced and prerecorded musical elements into concert music performance settings" (Bethel para. 1).
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