Main Page
Welcome!
Aim & Scope
The world of contemporary music is constantly changing and evolving, and our research and identification tools need to keep up. We are currently seeing unprecedented developments in every facet of music; should the same not be seen in discoverability and knowledge sharing?
The Computer Music Preservation and Electronic Library (COMPEL) seeks to meet the needs of modern musicians in three ways: by providing visibility to their work, by supporting the exchange of ideas by a robust network of connections between people and ideas, and by preserving works in their original forms for future use and study.
The first step is visibility. COMPEL is building a database of computer music and the artists who work with it, including composers, performers, technologists, musicologists, and anyone else who participates in the creation of sound-based digital art. We collect data that pertains to people, their artistic works, and discrete performances- check out one of our sample records for a better idea of what that entails!
The next step is exchange. Rather than a static list of compositions, COMPEL aims to display the connections between composers and their inspirations, between performers and the compositions they play, the ongoing discussions about music, and everything in between. In short, COMPEL is a relational database, not just a list of people and pieces. Eventually, this will mean that researchers will be able to ask and answer complicated questions, like "how many composers working with electronics are employed at universities?" or "what instruments are most commonly used in electroacoustic pieces?"
The final step is preservation. Concert music that includes electronics is complicated to create and includes the utilization of many software and hardware components. While digital preservation is a rapidly growing field, there are no standards or "best practices" yet developed for musical objects in their original form- not recordings of performances, but the electronics themselves. COMPEL aims to develop a preservation strategy for electronic music and multimedia objects to ensure that the works created now are available for future performance and study.
FAQ
Is COMPEL an archive?
Not exactly, and not yet! Right now, we're collecting data to create a network of linked data about the music community. This includes composers, performers, instrument and software creators, researchers, ensembles, and anyone else involved with making music. We do not hold individual objects, electronic or otherwise, at this time! We are looking for metadata that is in the public domain. When we integrate preservation, we'll announce it, likely with great enthusiasm and ceremony.
What information do you collect?
Anything you're willing to share! This can include metadata (for example, a composer's name, the number of performers needed for a piece, the size of an installation, or the members of an ensemble) or in some limited cases, digital objects (generally, just photos, as objects in this database are open source and considered to be in the public domain, and can be downloaded or used by any website visitors). We prefer that scores and recordings be made available on the musician's own site; we will provide a link out to that. This allows musicians to track their own use metrics.
What is linked data, and why do you keep mentioning it?
Most of us are familiar with hyperlinks, which we see everywhere online, including this page. Linked data utilizes a similar concept, but rather than just link pages together, it links ideas in a web of connections. Each idea is editable in itself, which updates any changes across the database. This type of data allows for much more robust searching and visualizations. Linked data can be read by humans and machines alike, as it is structured in semantic triples; statements made by linking an object to another object with a property. If you're interested in linked data, check out this brief introduction!
Something is incorrect in my record. How do I fix it?
At the moment, the most efficient way to correct a record is to email compelmusic@vt.edu with a description of the needed change. Please include a link to the page in question.
Glossary
There are a lot of terms to describe music, especially electronic music. Many are similar, but not identical. COMPEL strikes a balance between nuanced, granular data, and data with broad enough terms to be useful. Here, we include our vocabulary as we define our terms, including "aliases-" terms that we understand have individual nuances, but we choose one to represent all of them.
Collaborators
COMPEL is hosted by Virginia Tech, but exists thanks to the diligent work of our collaborators:
Kristopher Bendrick, Western Michigan University, University of Pennsylvania
Carolyn Borcherding, Baldwin Wallace University
Ico Bukvic, Virginia Tech
Gabrielle Cerberville, University of Virginia
Michael Flynn, freelance composer
Kara Long, Virginia Tech
Andi Ogier, Virginia Tech
James Tuttle, Virginia Tech
Hollis Wittman, Virginia Tech
Contact COMPEL
Questions, comments, and requests can be addressed to: compelmusic@vt.edu. Thank you!