Piano Genie

We present Piano Genie, an intelligent controller which allows non-musicians to improvise on the piano. With Piano Genie, a user performs on a simple interface with eight buttons, and their performance is decoded into the space of plausible piano music in real time. To learn a suitable mapping procedure for this problem, we train recurrent neural network autoencoders with discrete bottlenecks: an encoder learns an appropriate sequence of buttons corresponding to a piano piece, and a decoder learns to map this sequence back to the original piece. During performance, we substitute a user's input for the encoder output, and play the decoder's prediction each time the user presses a button. To improve the intuitiveness of Piano Genie's performance behavior, we impose musically meaningful constraints over the encoder's outputs.Comment: Published as a conference paper at ACM IUI 201

Software agents in music and sound art research/creative work: Current state and a possible direction

Composers, musicians and computer scientists have begun to use software-based agents to create music and sound art in both linear and non-linear (non-predetermined form and/or content) idioms, with some robust approaches now drawing on various disciplines. This paper surveys recent work: agent technology is first introduced, a theoretical framework for its use in creating music/sound art works put forward, and an overview of common approaches then given. Identifying areas of neglect in recent research, a possible direction for further work is then briefly explored. Finally, a vision for a new hybrid model that integrates non-linear, generative, conversational and affective perspectives on interactivity is proposed

Polishing GEMS: A Supplemental Curriculum for Developing the Musical Literacy and Musical Expression Skills of Junior High Flute Students

This study determines the content for a supplemental curriculum designed to improve musical literacy and musical expression skills using the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra (ASBOA) all-state junior high flute etudes. It addresses the first two steps (analysis of practical problems and development of possible solutions) of a Design-Based Research (DBR) project. The author intends to address the third and fourth steps (iterative cycles of testing and refinement and reflection and enhancement) in future research studies. A pilot study identified technical and interpretive deficiencies exhibited in nine (N = 9) student audition recordings using excerpts from the ASBOA etudes. A modified version of Saunders and Holahans Woodwind/Brass Solo Evaluation Form (WBSEF) was used to assess the recordings. The results showed deficiencies in the areas of tone, intonation, rhythmic accuracy, technique/articulation, and interpretation (primarily musical coherence). These results were compared to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) Beginning Band Curriculum Framework in order to determine possible modifications and/or additions to address the technical and interpretive difficulties found in the pilot study. The second step of the DBR process involves the creation of a supplemental curriculum framework designed to improve musical literacy and musical expression using Patrik Juslins GERMS model that explains the components of musical expression: Generative rules (G), Emotional expression (E), Random variability (R), Motion principles (M), and Stylistic unexpectedness (S)