We present an implementation of an educational system that aids students in writing counterpoint by detecting and analyzing problems in student composed counterpoint lines. Counterpoint is the construction of a musical piece by superimposing multiple melodies, indirectly forming an underlying harmonic structure. We introduce computer system POINTER that aids a student in Species I counterpoint composition. POINTER is an intelligent, modular system that operates using MIDI files as input, a Visual Basic graphical user interface, a PROLOG inference engine to house the knowledge base, and a C++ computational engine to perform necessary transformations amongst the modules. In this paper, we discuss the architecture of the constituent modules as well as present a case for the educational benefits of counterpoint composition and the contribution POINTER makes to this cause.
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