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    Laura Sirvent Collado
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    Algorithmic Composition

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    Algorithmic Composition

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    30 views4 pages

    Dod Idx

    Uploaded by

    Laura Sirvent Collado
    Algorithmic Composition

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 4
    Towards a Universal Algorithmic System for Composition of Music and Audio-Visual Works Jeremy L Leach, ‘School of Mathematical Sciences, Bath University, Bath, BA2 7AY, England, E-mail: j11@maths.bath.ac.uk Abstract “This paper presents a universal composing system capa- ble not only of automatically generating likeable music, butalso of generating animated visual sequences synchro- nised with the music. The system is based on general theories of human perception with respect to the tempo- ral domain, 1 Introduction “This century has seen many attempts to analyse and for- malise aspects of musical structure (Bent & Drabkin 1987). In some cases this work bas led to systems ca- able of automatically assigning structural analyses to pieces of music (Jackendoff & Lerdahl 1983). More ambitiously though, others have attempted to produce formal systems which can automatically generate music (Todd 1991). Most of the latter have had only limited suecess, The reason for this, I would suggest, is that they appeal to no fundamental understanding of the function of music, Although by no means a trivial task, I believe that the development of such an understanding - even i incomplete - is of the utmost importance. Without this, we cannot even define objectively what the goal of algo- rithmic composition should be. In this paper, therefore, 1 attempt to explain the function of music which, 1 be- lieve, is related tothe way the brain has evolved in order to process sensory information. Tt has often been said that music mimics the way natural processes change with respect to time (Pietgen & Saupe 1988, Leach & Fitch 1995), However, even if this is true, it must still be asked why music brings us so much pleasure. We know that the human besin hhas evolved to process sensory information derived from the kind of changes which occur in nature. By mak- ing relationships between events and then using them as templates to predict the future we give ourselves a survival advantage. This has been commented on by ‘other authors (Baddeley 1993). I would suggest thatthe reinforcement of these relationship templates could be linked to the sensation of pleasute. This would explain why repetition is so prevalent in music. Secondly, it ‘seems plausible that continually repeating a relationship would result in a diminishing reinforcement effect, This in turn would be linked with the relationship being per- Leach 320 flierarchically Superior ~ ci — Thevarenicatty Inferior wit Hierarchically Superior Edges Perceived Edges / ‘Transitions Figure 1: Edges / transitions perceived in groups of re- sions ceived as less and less pleasurable. In general this means that for a piece of music to be pleasurable it must make a compromise between pre- senting many relationships and ensuring that these rela- tionships are both perceivable and reinforced a number of times, 2. Visual & Auditory Perception Inorder to make relationships between entities itis nec- essary to perceive each entity as being distinc in some ‘way from the others, Now, in the physical world, mat ter is more often than not grouped together in some form. Our visual perception has evolved to make use of this, and in general, objects are identified by detecting edges or discontinuities around otherwise homogeneous regions in the visual field. This fact was demonstrated by Hubel & Wiesel (1962) who discovered neurons in the cat's brain which are activated at edges or discon- tinuities. Furthermore, itis also known that edges can ‘be perceived at a higher “hierarchical” level and serve to separate groups of discrete regions (See igure ‘This type of separation was observed by the Gestalt ICMC Proceedings 1996 Figure 2: Joseph Haydn, Sonata In G Major Hob. XVEG, first movement, bars i-4 and 8-11 theorists. Both ofthe above types of perception can be seen to be evident in music. For example, the musical term “note” is useful precisely because itrefers to an au-

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