Otto E. Laske

Understanding music with AI: perspectives on music cognition

Part 1 Two views on cognitive musicology: artificial intelligence and music - cornerstone of cognitive musicology, O. Laske beyond computational musicology, P. Kugel. Part 2 General problems in modeling musical activities: representing listening behaviour - problems and prospects, S.W. Smoliar symbolic and sonic representations of sound-object structures, B. Bel music structures - interleaving the temporal and hierarchical aspects in music, B. Balaban on designing a typed music language, E.B. Blevis, et al logical representation and induction for computer assisted composition, F. Courtot. Part 3 Music composition: cybernetic composer - an overview, C. Ames and M. Domino Wolfgang - a system using emoting potentials to manage musical design, R.D. Riecken on the application of problem reduction search to automated composition, S.C. Marsella and C.F. Schmidt the observer tradition of knowledge acquisition, O. Laske. Part 4 Analysis: an expert system for harmonizing chorales in the style of J.S. Bach, K. Ebcioglu an expert system for harmonic analysis of tonal music, H.J. Maxwell on the algorithmic representation of musical style, D. Cope. Part 5 Performance: Bol processor grammars, B. Bel and J. Kippen a new approach to music through vision, S. Ohteru and S. Hashimoto. Part 6 Perception: analyzing and representing musical rhythm, C. Linster on the perception of metre, B.O. Miller, et al the quantization problem - traditional and connectionist approaches, P. Desain and H. Honing. Part 7 Learning and tutoring: an architecture for an intelligent tutoring system, M.J. Baker a knowledge intensive approach to mcachine learning in tonal music, G. Widmer.

Composition theory: An enrichment of music theory

Abstract An introduction to composition theory as an integral part of music theory, with an emphasis on virtual, in contrast to existing, music. The computer program for composition is seen as a catalyst for capturing and formalizing the composers insights into his own process, as well as a means for choosing his own process freely. A distinction is made between two paradigms of compositional thought, called model‐based and rule‐based, and three examples of the latter paradigm are outlined. These paradigms are conceived as ways of stepping through the compositional life cycle (from idea to realization) and are illustrated by referring to programs for computer‐aided composition.

Composition Theory in Koenig's Project One and Project Two

Composition theory is a theory about the process that underlies the design and realization of musical compositions. In particular, composition theory is about processes that are based on the use of explicit rule systems. In this century, the use of such systems has been given a new impetus through the development of computer programs. Programs for composition enable composers to work as musical engineers. This means they can use structured design methods and techniques developed for artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as knowledgebased systems. Composers can define compositional form in a series of steps leading from an overall design of deep structure (set of germinal ideas) to a more and more detailed specification of surface structures appearing in some notation. In this article, I will discuss problems of composition theory as embodied by two programs written by G. M. Koenig, Project One (PR-1) and Project Two (PR-2). Both programs were written between 1965 and 1970 and represent a first step toward an Al view of composition. They embody an analysis of the data base and the procedures required in composing. I will deal with the particulars of these programs only so far as is required for my topic, leaving it to the reader to study them in greater depth (Koenig 1970a; 1970b).

A conversation with Marvin Minsky

The following excerpts are from an interview with Marvin Minsky which took place at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on January 23rd, 1991. The interview, which is included in its entirety as a Foreword in the book Understanding Music with AI: Perspectives on Music Cognition (edited by Mira Balaban, Kemal Ebcioglu, and Otto Laske), is a conversation about music, its peculiar features as a human activity, the special problems it poses for the scientist, and the suitability of AI methods for clarifying and/or solving some of these problems. The conversation is open-ended, and should be read accordingly, as a discourse to be continued at another time.

Toward an epistemology of composition

Abstract The text is in four parts. In the first, I state reasons for why a theory of composition, when elaborated on the knowledge level of mental representations (in contrast to the level of information processing), is of benefit to systematic musicology, and why it is an integral part of that science. In the second, I focus on the goals and requirements of the theory and, in part three, comment on the limits of the enterprise entitled “Artificial Intelligence and Music.” Then, in part four, I introduce an epistemology of ‘rule‐based’ composition, a term that for me encompasses constraint‐and criteria‐based approaches. I consider composition a variety of design, and outline three approaches to compositional design, emphasizing music. The thesis overall is that as long as musicology does not also adopt Composition as a paradigm and topic of research, basing itself entirely on assumptions about Listening (an activity that is poorely understood), the chances for musicology to mature as a science are not ve...

The Computer as the Artist's Alter Ego

This article is an exposition of composition theory, the cognitive theory of processes of music composition. The text is in three parts. In the first part, a compositional task environment typical for the mid-1980s is discussed, to demonstrate the heterogeneity of tools a composer needs when creating a musical work. The second part presents a written lecture-demonstration of a compositional process for producing a score for saxophone solo. In the third part, an abstract model of compositional problem-solving is proposed using the blackboard paradigm from artificial intelligence research. The point of the article is to show that, far from inhibiting compositional intuition, the computer program has become an indispensable alter ego for composers who care to work systematically. The article proposes a framework for studies in composition theory as a discipline based on artificial intelligence.

Toward a theory of musical cognition

Abstract The concept of musical science as a behavioral science is developed. Such a science is a (comprehensive) theory of music whose task it is to elaborate explicit connections between the systemic properties of sonic designs (as researched by a theory of sonic artifacts) and the properties of the perceptual and intellectual processes underlying the generation and recognition of such artifacts (as researched by a theory of musical cognition). Ideas concerning the theory of music are developed as the meta‐theoretical base of a theory musical cognition. They concern a scientific epistemology of music. In the main body of the essay, the domain and the methods of a theory of musical cognition are discussed. As an example of the actual implementation of such a theory, the system called OBSERVER is discussed and its resources for musical protocol analysis and for musical sufficiency analysis are documented.

Considering Human Memory in Designing User Interfaces for Computer Music

In the following paper, I will discuss the parallels between computer music systems and a particular model of human memory. It would be of great methodological significance if one could use general features which define human information processing in formulating guidelines for the design of user-interfaces for computer music tasks. As I will try to show, interface design is ultimately concerned with establishing alternative possibilities to human memory transaction, i.e., by sparing the need to remember everything at every level of composition. Interactive composition involves a variety of tasks and a variety of kinds of knowledge. This paper analyzes this task environment towards the goal of establishing guidelines for memories and representations appropriate to these various kinds of compositional knowledge.

In Search of a Generative Grammar for Music

The idea of a generative grammar for music is the outcome of research geared toward the formulation of a system, or set of rules, capable of rewriting the sequence of mental representations (of sound structures) which are assumed to underly the execution of activities called musical. Such a system can be called a (general or particular) competence model for music or, since it is a rewriting system, a grammar for music.1 The research, undertaken in order to formulate a methodological framework for programmed studies in musical competence, was initially conceived as consisting of two principal kinds of investigation:

The humanities as sciences of the artificial 1

Abstract This text is in two parts. In the first, we deal with the relationship between the humanities and the computer and information sciences; in the second, we give an example of research regarding the acquisition and modeling of musical knowledge.