[JPL] A computer composing and playing jazz

[Nou Dadoun]

There are also George Lewis' computer music research projects like Voyager
which improvises in real time:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/leonardo_music_journal/v010/10.1lewis.html

N

On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 9:34 PM, Eric Jackson <eric-jackson at comcast.net>wrote:

> Dr. Jazz wrote:
>
> Years ago someone from M.I.T. told me they were working on something
> similar. They said they could enter Duke Ellington's music into the
> computer. Then, if they played a phrase, the computer played back lines that
> were Ellington-like based on the data that was entered. I'm not sure if
> their program improvised or not but it did respond to improvisation.
>
> Eric Jackson
> Mon - Thurs 8 pm - mid.
> 89.7 FM WGBH Boston
> www.wgbh.org/jazz
>
>
>
>
>>       November 23rd, 2008
>>
>>
>>  A computer composing and playing jazz
>>  <http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1100>
>>
>> Posted by Roland Piquepaille @ 9:21 am
>>
>> The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has some unusual
>> teaching programs. One PhD student, Øyvind Brandtsegg, is a graduate of the
>> jazz program and this article <
>> http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/2008-english/24-25.htm> describes how has
>> developed a computer program and a musical instrument for improvisation. The
>> PhD student is 36 years old and is at the same time a composer, a musician
>> and computer programmer. His 'computer instrument' can take any recorded
>> sound as input and split it into a number of very short sound particles that
>> can last for between 1 and 10 milliseconds. 'These fragments may be
>> infinitely reshuffled, making it possible to vary the music with no change
>> in the fundamental theme.' Read more...
>>
>> You can see above Øyvind Brandtsegg giving a public demonstration of his
>> 'computer instrument' in February 2008. (Credit: Department of Music at NTNU
>> <
>> http://www.ntnu.no/portal/page/portal/ntnuno/tre-spalter?selectedItemId=26434&rootItemId=25703&sectionId=5308&_piref36_794797_36_794780_794780.artSectionId=5308&_piref36_794797_36_794780_794780.articleId=88920&_piref36_794799_36_794780_794780.sectionId=5308>)
>> Brandtsegg who is a graduate of the Jazz at NTNU program <
>> http://www.ntnu.no/research/research_excellence/jazz>, worked with
>> scientists at the Department of Computer and Information Science <
>> http://www.ntnu.no/idi/english> for the software architecture and with
>> the acoustics group at the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications
>> <http://www.iet.ntnu.no/en> for the development of the particle
>> synthesizer.
>>
>> This project has been described by Gemini, a quarterly magazine about
>> research news from NTNU and SINTEF. Here is a link to Gemini <
>> http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/2008-english/>. And here is a short excerpt
>> from the article mentioned above. "'It's easy to change a bit of music into
>> something that can't be recognized. It's the opposite that is the challenge:
>> to create variations in which the musical theme remains clear,' says
>> Brandtsegg. Brandtsegg has created a new link between composition and
>> improvisation with his new instrument. In a way, he's rediscovered the
>> energy of a piece in a new and much better form. What he's doing is
>> something that jazz musicians have always done --- they have a composition
>> as the foundation, and then they go up on the podium and play variations on
>> the basic theme."
>>
>> Of course, Brandtsegg's computer instrument is not capable of miracles.
>> "There are limits to what even Louis Armstrong can coax out of a trumpet.
>> 'This instrument allows me to expand the musical palette with new tonal
>> variations and timbres. It is also the first time that the actual
>> composition process can be controlled in real time,' Brandtsegg says."
>>
>> The jazz graduate student has also developed ImproSculpt, an open source
>> software that make it possible to sample surroundings during a presentation
>> and to control the process using a body sensor. Here is a link to the
>> SourceForge.net <http://sourceforge.net/> page about ImproSculpt <
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/improsculpt/>. You can download the
>> software and 'play' with it if you wish.
>>
>> /Sources: Tore Oksholen, Gemini, Research News from Norwegian University
>> of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF, November 21, 2008; and various
>> websites/
>>
>> http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1100#
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
====
Nou Dadoun
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