MUSIC-MAS: Modelling a Harmonic Composition System with Virtual Organizations to Assist Novice Composers

Many music students today experience difficulties in composing melodies without a prior harmonical guide. While harmony can be helpful in creating a melody the generation of harmony is challenging due to the many factors that must be taken into account, such as style, harmonic functions, musical consonance or aesthetics. Although various solutions have been proposed in the past, our study employs a different expert solution based on virtual organizations to make musical harmonies, which can assist novice improvisers and/or composers. The virtual organizations are implemented with Multi-Agent System (MAS) using PANGEA (Platform for Automatic coNstruction of orGanizations of intElligent Agents), a platform to develop different multiagent systems. The main goal is to simulate an expert multiagent system that can compose harmony following specific rules. To do so, the Harmony Search Algorithm is implemented as the main behavior of the composer agent, and adapted to a Belief-Desire-Intention architecture. The application of a VO has not been previously used in the development of this kind of expert system in music. We measured the quality of the music obtained, by minimizing a mathematical function. Additionally, we developed an evaluation test that positively validates the musical results from the perspective of consonance and usefulness of the composers

Sociedades Humano-Agente: Un Caso de Estudio en Creatividad Musical

[ES] Hoy en día, el interés por la creatividad computacional va en aumento en la comunidad científica. Aunque este interés es reciente, hay una gran cantidad de algoritmos, esquemas y procedimientos para desarrollar una máquina tan inteligente, capaz de crear nuevas ideas o nuevas composiciones artísticas

Music in Evolution and Evolution in Music

Music in Evolution and Evolution in Music by Steven Jan is a comprehensive account of the relationships between evolutionary theory and music. Examining the ‘evolutionary algorithm’ that drives biological and musical-cultural evolution, the book provides a distinctive commentary on how musicality and music can shed light on our understanding of Darwin’s famous theory, and vice-versa. Comprised of seven chapters, with several musical examples, figures and definitions of terms, this original and accessible book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the relationships between music and evolutionary thought. Jan guides the reader through key evolutionary ideas and the development of human musicality, before exploring cultural evolution, evolutionary ideas in musical scholarship, animal vocalisations, music generated through technology, and the nature of consciousness as an evolutionary phenomenon. A unique examination of how evolutionary thought intersects with music, Music in Evolution and Evolution in Music is essential to our understanding of how and why music arose in our species and why it is such a significant presence in our lives

Analyzing compositional strategies in video game music

Composers of music for video games face a unique set of challenges, including issues of interactivity, non-linearity, diegesis, and versatility. This study explores several possible correlations among these challenges and the compositional strategies used to address them (i.e., thematic attachment, adaptive seaming, and deliberate silence). These approaches are analyzed across several popular gaming genres to determine how composers devise and implement a combination of compositional methods that most appropriately amplify the player's sense of immersion. With thematic attachment, for instance, the composer draws upon the player's feelings of nostalgia that are developed through their exposure to previous games within a franchise. To develop a greater understanding of the representation of musical genre, one-on-one interviews and written correspondence with selected game composers (Joshua Mancell, Martin O'Donnell, and Trevor Gureckis) working in targeted types of games provided evidence to suggest and explore specific techniques they used to develop greater diegesis and immersion. Current scholarship focuses primarily on the cultural and psychological implications and influences associated with video game music. Developing a greater understanding of these three strategies and their various forms of implementation expands and helps to standardize the field of ludomusicology within the broader discipline of musicology.Includes bibliographical references

Mashing through the Conventions: Convergence of Popular and Classical Music in the Works of The Piano Guys

This dissertation is dedicated to examining the symbiosis between popular music and Western classical music in classical/popular mashups––a new style within the classical crossover genre. The research features the works of The Piano Guys, a contemporary ensemble that combines classical crossover characteristics and the techniques from modern sample-based styles to reconceptualize and reuse classical and popular works. This fusion demonstrates a new approach to presenting multi-genre works, forming a separate musical and cultural niche for this creative practice. This dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter is further divided into two thematic discourses: genre and authorship. The research draws on Eric Drott’s (2013) position that contemporary genre definition is a heterogeneous product of technological and cultural shifts in creation, production and presentation of music. Following Thomas Johnson’s (2018) research on genre in post-millennial popular music, the first part of the chapter traces chronological developments of genre categorizations and attempts to place classical/popular mashups as a separate style within the contemporary genre framework. The second part investigates the transformations and the current state of authorship attributions in popular music and illustrates how group creativity and consumer participation prompt multiple authorial distributions in classical/popular mashups. Applying Topic Theory established by Robert Hatten (1985) and Kofi Agawu (1992) and concepts of intertexuality developed by Serge Lacasse (2000, 2018) to the works of The Piano Guys and other musical works of the same style, the second chapter presents a comparative analysis, revealing a multi-layered structure of signification different from the intertextual and topical relationships found in the works of other styles. In the third chapter the detailed exploration of three works by The Piano Guys places these methodological theories in dialogue with formal analysis to draw out a series of quantifiable technical, musical and interpretive characteristics that differentiate “classically originated” mashups from similar practices in other genres

2004 Sixteenth Annual IMSA Presentation Day

Students who attend the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy do not have to wait until they graduate from college to begin to make significant contributions to science, mathematics, the humanities and the world around them.https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/archives_sir/1012/thumbnail.jp