Congratulations to Sylvie Truman for passing her PhD viva today.

The title of her thesis is “A computer supported approach towards collaborative and creative musicality in the classroom: study and framework”. The overall aim of the research was to develop and test a collaborative approach to composition that did not require knowledge of the conventional staff notation for music. A software environment called Soundscape was developed that allowed students to associate sounds with visual elements and then compose by organising these on a visual background. A key contribution of Sylvia’s research was investigating the importance of preparatory activities within creativity and proposing and testing how preparation could be supported within the context of Soundscape.