Composing by Laypeople: A Broader Perspective Provided by Arithmetic Operation Grammar

Many existing approaches to teaching laypeople to compose are based, to a certain extent, on simply hiding the theoretical background. This is done, for example, by offering ready-made musical events that can be combined in any way to organize them in time. A different approach is taken in the work presented here. As an alternative to classical music theory, with all its complications, the generative composition method Arithmetic Operation Grammar (AOG) is used, which is much easier to learn. This approach has been taken in the conviction that the leaner theory on which it is based, in combination with the compact symbolic representation of entire compositions, can make a significant contribution to bringing forward the “everyday creativity” in the field of ubiquitous music. Furthermore, in the field of sonification, AOG offers the possibility of sonifying data that do not inherently include time as an ordering parameter. To prove practical use of this approach, AOG is combined with a user interface that is more suitable for adults as a target group and another one that is more appropriate for primary school children.