May
16, 1996 UC Santa Cruz professor releases new book on computer program that composes its own music Book is accompanied by CD-ROM containing a version of the program and music samples FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SANTA CRUZ, CA — Commander Data; HAL 9000; Robbie, the robot — speculation on the potential of computers has generated some extraordinary fictional characters. In recent years, a number of real-life computer programs have emerged that are nearly as remarkable as their fictional counterparts, if not quite as quirky. Chess whiz Deep Blue is one of the most famous in this new generation of computer prodigies, but it's not the only one. Another is EMI — a program that composes its own music. EMI is the subject of the newly released book, Experiments in Musical Intelligence (A-R Editions, Inc., Computer Music and Digital Audio Series, Vol. 12, June 1996, $49.95). The book is the second in a planned trilogy on EMI by David Cope, EMI's inventor and a professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Pronounced "emmy" and short for Experiments in Musical Intelligence, EMI composes original music in the style of other composers. Of the 100 or so programs in the world creating music through computer algorithms, EMI is rare in that it operates by analyzing and recombining previously composed music. The program took six years to create and has been operational since 1987 when it composed its first sonata in the style of Mozart. Cope uses EMI as both a compositional tool and to understand musical style. Experiments in Musical Intelligence extends the concepts presented in Cope's previous book, Computers and Musical Style (Vol. 6 in the A-R series). The new book offers further explanation of Cope's intriguing program as well as theory on musical style. In addition, users can try out a simpler version of EMI for themselves through a scaled-down program and databases supplied on an attached 630-megabyte CD-ROM. (To use the program, users must have MIDI equipment.) Experiments in Musical Intelligence explains in clear language everything users need to know to understand EMI's six-step algorithm and operate the accompanying program without having to resort to reference manuals or other programming books. Cope not only gives readers the program — named SARA for Simple Analytic Recombinance Algorithm — but provides the program's source code. Having access to the source code allows users to examine the structure of the program and alter it if they wish. Most programs are released as object codes that cannot be examined or altered. "When anyone makes a program it's biased toward his or her own personality. Those who use SARA can personalize it and make something that works to their own taste," Cope explains. Along with explaining the workings of the program, Experiments in Musical Intelligence explores musical style. Most music lovers can identify a well-known composer simply by listening to the music for a moment, but explaining why that music is recognizable is more difficult. Using EMI, Cope has developed methods that may help musicologists understand style. "Because they can handle massive amounts of data, computers enable us to look at musical style in a concrete way we have not looked at before," he explains. "They give us information that we can quantify and patterns that we can recognize." David Cope Cope is a respected composer whose works, in the genre of twentieth century-classical music, have been performed around the world. He is the author of New Directions in Music, one of the most popular textbooks on twentieth-century music, now in its sixth edition. Cope began work on EMI in the early 1980s when he was commissioned to write an opera and found himself facing a composing block. He conceived an artificial intelligence program that could serve as a composing tool to help with the block. Cope completed EMI six years later and, with the program's help, finished his commission. Titled Cradle Falling, the opera received rave reviews. Cope's EMI-related recordings are Bach by Design (1994, Centaur Recordings CRC 2184) and Dedications (forthcoming). His first book on EMI is Computers and Musical Style (A-R Editions, 1991). Other publications include New Music Composition (1977; second edition forthcoming) and New Music Notation (1976). EMI (Experiments in Musical Intelligence) The works it has produced have been performed in concert and released on the CD Bach by Design (1994). Since it became operational in 1987, EMI has created music in the styles of such composers as Mozart, Bach, Stravinsky, Gershwin, Joplin, and Cope. EMI's six-step algorithm works like this: The user carefully selects
and inputs compatible works of music from a composer (pieces with
similar tempos, ranges, and orchestration); EMI analyzes them;
identifies signatures (characteristics unique to the composer);
breaks the music into its components; recombines the music into
a new piece that preserves the composer's signatures; and, ultimately,
performs it. This release is also available on the World Wide Web at UCSC's "Services for Journalists" site (http://www.ucsc.edu/news/journalist.html) or via modem from UC NewsWire (209/244-6971). |