Our journey with Digital for Good started in September. In the wake of a bumpy start to the year for all, we at Drake Music Scotland were thankful for the glimmer of hope Digital for Good provided: a solution to an impending software problem for our ever-expanding Figurenotes community.
Background
Drake Music Scotland is the leading organisation in creating music making opportunities for children and adults with disabilities in Scotland. A large part of Drake Music Scotland’s work uses Figurenotes.
Figurenotes is an inclusive form of music notation that uses colour and shape to show pitch and rhythm. Originally created in Finland at Resonaari School, Drake Music Scotland brought Figurenotes to the UK in 2010 and developed it further, creating software and printed resources. There is now a world-wide demand for Drake Music Scotland’s award-winning Figurenotes resources.
The Challenge
Our goal was to modernise our current Figurenotes Software to run on the newest operating systems. Apple users may be familiar with the recent shift in compatibility with some older apps, meaning some do not work on new machines and the latest software updates. Our challenge was to get our current software working on the latest computers and those with older operating systems – with perhaps a few new features thrown in if time allowed.
From the moment we began working on this project, we have had such tremendous support from the Digital for Good team. From the project coordinator, to the developers and everyone else in between offering support, advice, pro-active solutions to problems and a positive “we can do this” outlook on what was admittedly a daunting project for a bunch of music nerds.
We are now over halfway through the development. We have a working build being tested and we are working on bug fixes. The DFG team have also helped us to understand our product better and collate our information in a more productive and future-proof way.
We will be very sad for our time with DFG to come to end but when it does, we will have learned invaluable lessons andhad a great time with a great bunch of people.
