Apart from specific music programmes, generic applications that use sound resources (data bases, authoring programs, etc.) may be useful. Educational software can be classified into two major categories:

1. Open programs

   These are applications where the user (teacher or student) can access and interact with the information, manipulate and personalise it. Most editors, sequencers and tone editors, as well as some multimedia applications, can be included in this group of programs. Many of these programs, while not directly related to acquiring or practicing subject matter, do allow you to generate activities using the computer for educational purposes:

   • Music editors
     These programs are used to write, edit and print scores. They work in a similar way to a word processor. After editing, the files can be played back if the computer is equipped with some sort of sound peripheral.

   • Sequencers
     These programs are used to record, modify and play back sequences of musical events. They work like a multitrack tape recorder that records MIDI messages. As the information is digital, it can be copied, duplicated or manipulated.

   • Sound editors
     These programs let you set and modify the parameters involved in synthesising sound (packages, wave type, panning, balance, etc.). Most synthesisers let you manipulate and create new sounds from the standard ones they come with.

   • Multimedia platforms
     These are structure-free programs that let the user (teacher or student) generate new activities and create sets of exercises. They are not specific music programs, but they may include sound resources that let you produce and personalise music activities adapted to the learning rhythms and level of knowledge of the users.

2. Closed programs

   With these programs, the user cannot alter the information nor be involved in generating activities (modify, add or erase data):

   • Tutorials
     These include music theory programs whose approach is to lead the learners through what has already been programmed, without allowing them any control over the process. The information is presented in much the same way as in a textbook. In fact, the way these programs are different from textbooks is in the type of medium used and the possibility of listening to sound (though sound is not always included).

   • Entertainment programs
     With the same approach of leading the user along a pre-established path are the programs designed to train the ear or teach musical rhythm. The users do a certain exercise, and when they finish it, the program suggests another one according to how they scored and how long it took them to find the answer.

   • Multimedia applicacions
     Most closed multimedia applications are presented in CD-ROM format. The users can access a great amount of information (text, graphics and sound). They access information by freely exploring screens. There is quite a bit of variety in the type of multimedia applications that exist: they can involve, for example, selecting MIDI files from compliations according to different criteria (composer, difficulty, period, etc.), listening interactively to a work of music, learning about instruments, etc. Many applications include trivia-type game activities related to the contents of the application, as well as glossaries of music terminology.