Abstract
The problem discussed is that of simulating human composition of Western popular music by computer and some relevant theories of music and harmony are given. Problems with this kind of program and several schemes that are known not to work are discussed. Several previous computer compositions are discussed, including the ILLIAC Suite.
A program to generate short melody fragments was written to simulate some of the aspects of human composition. Five samples of its output are presented and discussed. It was discovered that although the fragments show many of the characteristics of popular melodies, they have a strangely alien sound. It is theorized that this is because the relevant probabilities which would discriminate against unfamiliar sequences were not used.
- 1 Brooks, F.P., Hopkins, A.L., Newmann. P.G., and Wright, W.V. An experiment in musical composition. IRE on Trans. Electronic Computers EC-6:1 (Sept. 1957), 175-182.Google ScholarCross Ref
- 2 Feldman, Jerome. First thoughts on grammatical inference. Stanford Artificial Intelligence Memo No. 55. Stanford, Calif., 1967.Google Scholar
- 3 Feldman, Jerome, Gips, James, Homing, James J., and Reder, Stephen. Grammatical complexity and inference. Stanford Artificial Intelligence Memo No. 89. Stanford, Calif., 1969. Google ScholarDigital Library
- 4 Fucks, W. Mathematical analysis of formal structure of music. IRE Tran. on htformation Theory 1T-8 (1962), 225.Google Scholar
- 5 Fux, Johann Joseph. Gratis AdParnassus. W.W. Norton, New York, 1943.Google Scholar
- 6 Hiller, LeJaren A. Computer music. Scientific American 201, 6 (Dec. 1959), 109-120.Google ScholarCross Ref
- 7 Hiller, LeJaren A. Electronic music at the University of Illinois. J. Music Theory 7 (1963), 99-126.Google ScholarCross Ref
- 8 Hiller, LeJaren A., Isaacson, L. M. Experimental Music. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959.Google Scholar
- 9 Hiller, LeJaren A. Musical composition with a high-speed digital computer. J. Audio Enghwering Soc. 6 (1958), 154-160.Google Scholar
- 10 Hiller, LeJaren A. Revised MUSICOMP manual. U. of Illinois Experimental Music Studio Tech. Rep. No. 13, U. of Illinois, Urbana, I11., 1966.Google Scholar
- 11 Hiller, Ledaren A. Some structural principles of computer music. J. Amer. Musicological Soc. 9 (1956), 247-248.Google Scholar
- 12 Jeppesen, Knud. Modal Counterpohtt. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1939.Google Scholar
- 13 Lundin, Robert. An Objective Psychology o f Music. Ronald Press, New York, 1953.Google Scholar
- 14 Luria, A.R. The functional organization of the brain. Scientific American (Mar. 1970), 66-79.Google Scholar
- 15 Meyer, Leonard B. Emotion and Meanbtg in Music. U. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1956.Google Scholar
- 16 Meyer, Leonard B. Meaning in music & information theory. J. Aesthetics and Art Criticism 15 (1957), 412.Google ScholarCross Ref
- 17 Mitchell, William J. Elementary Harmony. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1948.Google Scholar
- 18 Nettl, Bruno. Theory and Method bt Ethnomusicology. Free Press of Glencoe, New York, 1964.Google Scholar
- 19 Pinkerton, R.C. Information theory and melody. Scientific American 194, 2 (Feb. 1956), 77.Google ScholarCross Ref
- 20 Piston. Waiter. Counterpohzt. Norton and Company, New York, 1947.Google Scholar
- 21 Piston, Walter. Prhtciples o f Harmonic Analysis. E,C. Schirmer Music Co. Boston. 1933.Google Scholar
- 22 Redfield, John. Ahlsic: A Science and an Art. Knopf. New York, 1949.Google Scholar
- 23 Simon. Herbert A. Sumner, Richard K. Formal representation of human judgment. In Puttern hz Ahlsic. Wiley, New York. 1968. pp. 219-250.Google Scholar
- 24 Zwicky. A.M., Friedman. Joyce, Hall. B.C. and Walker. D.E. The MITRE syntactic anabsis procedure for transformational grammars. Proc. AFIPS 1965 FJCC Vol. 27, Pt. 1, Spartan Books, New York, pp. 317-326.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Music and computer composition
Recommendations
A method for composing simple traditional music by computer
A method is described for composing musical rounds by computer. This method uses some music theory plus additional heuristics. Fundamental to the method is a set of productions together with sets of applicability rules and weight rules which operate on ...
Comments on Moorer's music and computer composition
J.A. Moorer's “Music and Computer Composition” [1] was a distressing communication. While I realize that musical expertise is probably beyond the realm of the editorial staff, I must object to both the naiveté and faulty reasoning on the musical side of ...
Comments