Tipografía musical para la educación y análisis de la dinámica del software libre

Abstract

Based on the observations that use of sheet music is paramount in the field of music education, and that free software has characteristics that make it very interesting for use in all kinds of learning activities, our first study describes from multiple points of view a free software project dedicated to music typography. Over a span of 18 years, data about development of the project are analyzed from the whole registered history of its source code. Several visualization and modeling techniques suggest that such a system offers a fairly high level of robustness against deep changes in the composition of the developers' team. In our second study, a set of scores made with this program were subject to a custom-made, comparative test through data collected from 106 participating musicians, and at the same time their consumption patterns of musical scores are analyzed. The survey questionnaire and the score models used are validated by a team of experts. A test essay is made and timewise stability is checked by means of the test/retest method. Results show that musicians seem to prefer, in a statistically significant way, music scores made with a program which happens to be freely available for download. We conclude that such a solution makes a valid option for education and professional uses. Both studies are leaded by a complete bibliographic compendium and a theoretical and historical framework about free software and music typesetting. Further and deeper studies are claimed to be done, as only the surface of the tool has started to show its full potential.