Automated Composition in Retrospect: 1956-1986

Predictive information processing in music cognition. A critical review

“…The application of statistical fragment models reaches back to the early 50s and 60s (e.g. Cohen, 1962;Youngblood, 1958;Hiller and Bean, 1966;Hiller and Fuller, 1967;Pinkerton, 1956;Ames, 1987Ames, , 1989. In the context of musical prediction, predominantly n-gram and derivative models were applied while Competitive Chunker or PARSER remained unexplored.…”

AI Methods in Algorithmic Composition: A Comprehensive Survey

“…Some of them provide an in depth and comprehensive view of a specific technique for algorithmic composition, as Anders and Miranda (2011) do for constraint programming, as Ames (1989) does for Markov chains, or as Santos et al (2000) do for evolutionary techniques, while some others are specialized in the comparison between paradigms for computational research on music, as Toiviainen (2000). Others offer a wide-angle (but relatively shallow) panoramic of the field (Papadopoulos & Wiggins, 1999), review the early history of the field (Loy & Abbott, 1985;Ames, 1987;Burns, 1994), or analyze methodologies and motivations for algorithmic composition (Pearce et al, 2002). There are also works that combine in depth and comprehensive reviews for a wide range of methods for algorithmic composition, such as Nierhaus's (2009) book.…”

“…During the following decade, Hiller's work inspired colleagues from the same university to further experiment with algorithmic composition, using a library of computer subroutines for algorithmic composition written by Baker (also a collaborator of Hiller), MUSICOMP (Ames, 1987). This library provided a standard implementation of the various methods used by Hiller and others. Iannis Xenakis, a renowned avant-garde composer, profusely used stochastic algorithms to generate raw material for his compositions, using computers since the early 1960s to automate these methods (Ames, 1987). Though his work can be better described as CAAC, he still deserves being mentioned for being a pioneer.…”

“…Though his work can be better described as CAAC, he still deserves being mentioned for being a pioneer. Koenig, while not as well known as Xenakis, also was a composer that in 1964 implemented an algorithm (PROJECT1) using serial composition (a musical theory) and other techniques (as Markov chains) to automate the generation of music (Ames, 1987).…”

Automatic Phrase Continuation from Guitar and Bass Guitar Melodies

“…A more detailed discussion of Markov chains, and their application in the current work is presented in later chapters. The reader is also referred to [GS97] for an introduction to Markov chains and to [Ame87] for a survey of their applications to musical composition prior to the 90s.…”