Sound & Hearing

Tune Blocks

The "tuneblocks" in this computer are collections of notes that make up the functional units—or phrases—of a melody. The blocks go together like the words in a sentence and have a kind of musical grammar. There is no single "right" way to arrange musical phrases to compose a song, just as there is no single right way to compose a sentence. People can usually recognize when the grammar of a song (or a sentence) sounds wrong. Like children who can understand words and form sentences before they learn to read, most people have an innate understanding of music, even if they've never had formal musical training.