Literacy and Communication

The word 'literacy' has a number of meanings. For the purposes of what I am discussing here, it is essentially three inter-related things: reading, writing, and communication. To understand my use of the word in this way, see the 'lit' in 'literacy' as akin to the 'lit' in 'literature'. I mean this in a way that is distinct from concepts such as fluency: one may be able to speak French fluently but be unable to read or write in French; or competence: one may be able to fix a car, but be unable to explain to others what one is doing. Literacy here is all about written communication following standard accepted conventions.

In terms of reading, I mean both reading what you have written, and also reading what others have written. Likewise with writing, I mean both writing things for you to read back later, and also writing things for others to read at some point in the future.

To write notes for yourself to read is to communicate from yourself now, as you write the notes, to yourself in the future when you read those notes, whenever that is. You don't know the circumstances in which you'll be reading those notes, so you want to give yourself the best chance of understanding them as you can. That means clear, organised notes, following conventions that you will understand whenever you come to read them back.

Communicating with others, either reading what others have written, or writing for others to read, requires conventions of various kinds: what language is used, what technical terms, what knowledge is assumed, and how notes should be organised.

When it comes to classical music, such conventions have already evolved. They are what we call sheet music notation. They are not ideal for everything, and indeed not suitable for somethings, but are good for many. Moreover, resources for learning to read and write music notation is of great benefit. Sometimes it is easier to see things in a piano roll, but sometimes things are clearer when written in standard notation. Moreover, there are many conventions for writing instructions about how something is intended to be played: piano roll has no analogue to this.

As I write this, my conventions for writing about synthesizer programming and sound design are a work in progress. I want to compile a recipe book of sorts, on how to make various sounds with various synthesizers, musical patterns, techniques, and so on. I'd love to share any good results, and indeed encourage others to do the same. In adopting conventions like I describe, it is akin to a bunch of computer enthusiasts agreeing on a common programming language for them all to use. If we consider Javascript or Python, massive communities have arisen around those languages, in a way that simply does not happen if everybody has their own personal language.

So in a sense, I am asking questions like:

1. What are the equivalents to Python, Javascript, or sheet music notation when it comes to sound design and electronic music production?