I have been a software developer for ten years, and am now working my way towards spending as much of my life as possible with music. This software is my halfway house between being a computer nerd and a muso and hopefully a way to make my software skills pay for my music education.
I'm currently concentrating heavily on learning jazz saxophone, but am fascinated by many different genres of music. I don't see boundaries between musical genres - only between good and bad music.
I play, and listen to, a lot of music every day, and use my own software when I practise.
A few words on my philosophy about developing software to help with learning music:
It has to make you work more, not less
More and more software is available to help create music with less thought and less effort. To me, this is completely beside the point of learning and playing music. Music is all about taking pleasure in the moment, of involving yourself completely in something challenging and in something sensual. Using a computer to take you out of the process is counter-productive in my view.
I hope to create software which challenges the user to work harder, think more carefully and dive deeper into what they are doing. It is not intended to think for the user, but to give the user more feedback with which to think for themselves, and about themselves and their playing.
It has to be simple
If you incorporate a computer into your practice routine, the aim of the exercise is to learn and play music, not to sit at a desk with a computer fiddling with software. I hope that the software allows you to spend time with your instrument and your music, and that the computer and software are forgotten in the background.
I want the software to work for you without any thought, and to that end, an overarching principle in its design is simplicity.
It has to be organic
Music education has evolved over many hundreds of years. I am fascinated by learning and education, and having read a lot about these topics, I feel that many of the practices we have for teaching and learning music have naturally evolved to match what people are now coming to understand are the best ways for people to reach their potential.
I refer to such practices as close one-on-one contact with an expert teacher, the creation of exercises appropriate to a student's level and needs, the endless repetition and intense focus that is a part of music practice and many more.
This process cannot be replaced by a computer. It's essential to spend time with good teachers and other musicians. You can't learn music from a computer any better than you can by reading a book.
My software is intended to enhance aspects of the practice routine you are already working on with your teacher.