Transcript 06a_Cope 2010

FROM EXPERIMENTS IN
MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE
TO EMILY HOWELL
The Work of David Cope
CAREER CONTEXT

The composer
…
Professor at UC Santa Cruz
…
Author of books on

Musical intelligence (6)

Twentieth-century music (2)
 The programs
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EMI (Exp Mus Int)
… Teacher
…
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
Algorithmic composition

20th-century analytical methods
Composer

Uses several mediums

Writes works in groups, cycles

Recent works are assisted by
Emily Howell
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EXPERIMENTS IN MUSICAL
INTELLIGENCE
1990-2006
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DATA ANALYSIS PHASE
 Select a repertory (one composer, one genre)
 Encode several pieces
 Parse them into five elements of musical
grammar
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Statements
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Preparations
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Extensions
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Antecedents
… Consequents
 Discover and store “signatures” (identify
“earmarks”)
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SIGNATURES IN THE SPEAC GRAMMAR
 Are relatively short (2-5 events)
 Are shorter than themes
 Are stored with approach and departure info
 Are described by intervallic relationships
 Are not described by key or mode
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LISTENING TO SPEAC EXAMPLES
 Bach invention
 Joplin rag
 Mozart Violin Concerto, movement 3
 Gershwin
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COMPOSING NEW WORKS
 User selects a composer
 User selects a genre
 User selects a key and mode
 User selects a meter
 Emmy generates one (or many) new work(s)
 User discards what he does not want
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WAYS OF EXPERIENCING EMMY
 Listening to MIDI performances
 Listening to live performances
 Viewing the notated music
 Performing the music
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope/mp3page.htm
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REACTIONS TO EMI
From MIDI files
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
“mechanical”

Too fast

Too slow

Too soft

Too loud

Not human
From live concerts

That’s by a computer?
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Emmy-Beethoven Symphony
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COMPUTER MODELS AND HIDDEN
STRUCTURE
2005-2009
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COMPUTER MODELS OF MUSICAL
CREATIVITY
 Initiates process of signature capture from
interactive user responses
 Evolves its own lexicons
 Models broader processes of grammaticallyfounded processes including
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Speech
…
Poetry
…
Lyrics
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HIDDEN STRUCTURE
 Takes comprehensive view of 20th-century
analytical concepts
 Makes them available for compositional
algorithms
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Post-tonal music
…
Generative algorithms
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EMILY HOWELL
2010—
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EMILY HOWELL
 Debuted in March 2010
 Represents the second incarnation of Emmy
 Composes modern, original music
http://www.miller-mccune.com/culturesociety/triumph-of-the-cyborg-composer-8507/
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PIECES BY EMILY HOWELL
 From Darkness, Light
 Land of Stone
 Shadow Worlds
http://www.centaurrecords.com/
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