Customer Reviews

Experimental Music: Composition with an Electronic Computer

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When the experiments described in this book were conducted (mid 1950s), Hiller and Isaacson were both at the University of Illinois in Urbana--Hiller in the music school and Isaacson in the math department. Hiller had a PhD in chemistry and was hired initially by the chemistry department before receiving a graduate degree in music and migrating to the music faculty. He later moved to the music school at SUNY in Buffalo where he founded a program in computer music which still survives.

Hiller was aware of both Shannon's work in information theory and contemporary RCA attempts to synthesize musical sounds directly. Regardless of whether music was synthesized or produced by a conventional string quartet, Hiller's experiments were directed at how effectively one could translate traditional musicological rules of thumb about melody, harmony and counterpoint to programmed "constraints" on random sequences of pitch and rhythm. In plain speech, "Can one specify rules (program a computer) so that the resulting melody and harmony sounds like Bach (Mozart, Stravinsky . . . ) even though based on a random number generator?" The answer, though a bit surprising at first, is yes.

This is the first book about using a computer for musical composition. At the time, Hiller's agenda seemed radical to many in academic music circles. It remained so for thirty years--until roughly the last ten years of his life--when the Macintosh and MIDI made computers an accepted tool for both composers and performers.

The book is not an easy read. The computing tools then available were primitive, and because an attempt to use them for musical composition was so novel, the authors included extensive background material and justifications for their experimental agenda. Finally, both musicians and engineers comprised the intended audience, groups whose technical expertise hardly overlaps at all.

This treatise discusses the revolutionary work done on the Illiac computer at University of Illinois during the 1950's. A computing machine, programmed to compose music? The results, one piece played by string quartet, sound unmistakingly American. A rare book indeed, but essential for any computer musician's library.

When the experiments described in this book were conducted (mid 1950s), Hiller and Isaacson were both at the University of Illinois in Urbana--Hiller in the music school and Isaacson in the math department. Hiller had a PhD in chemistry and was hired initially by the chemistry department before receiving a graduate degree in music and migrating to the music faculty. He later moved to the music school at SUNY in Buffalo where he founded a program in computer music which still survives.

Hiller was aware of both Shannon's work in information theory and contemporary RCA attempts to synthesize musical sounds directly. Regardless of whether music was synthesized or produced by a conventional string quartet, Hiller's experiments were directed at how effectively one could translate traditional musicological rules of thumb about melody, harmony and counterpoint to programmed "constraints" on random sequences of pitch and rhythm. In plain speech, "Can one specify rules (program a computer) so that the resulting melody and harmony sounds like Bach (Mozart, Stravinsky . . . ) even though based on a random number generator?" The answer, though a bit surprising at first, is yes.

This is the first book about using a computer for musical composition. At the time, Hiller's agenda seemed radical to many in academic music circles. It remained so for thirty years--until roughly the last ten years of his life--when the Macintosh and MIDI made computers an accepted tool for both composers and performers.

The book is not an easy read. The computing tools then available were primitive, and because an attempt to use them for musical composition was so novel, the authors included extensive background material and justifications for their experimental agenda. Finally, both musicians and engineers comprised the intended audience, groups whose technical expertise hardly overlaps at all.

When the experiments described in this book were conducted (mid 1950s), Hiller and Isaacson were both at the University of Illinois in Urbana--Hiller in the music school and Isaacson in the math department. Hiller had a PhD in chemistry and was hired initially by the chemistry department before receiving a graduate degree in music and migrating to the music faculty. He later moved to the music school at SUNY in Buffalo where he founded a program in computer music which still survives.

Hiller was aware of both Shannon's work in information theory and contemporary RCA attempts to synthesize musical sounds directly. Regardless of whether music was synthesized or produced by a conventional string quartet, Hiller's experiments were directed at how effectively one could translate traditional musicological rules of thumb about melody, harmony and counterpoint to programmed "constraints" on random sequences of pitch and rhythm. In plain speech, "Can one specify rules (program a computer) so that the resulting melody and harmony sounds like Bach (Mozart, Stravinsky . . . ) even though based on a random number generator?" The answer, though a bit surprising at first, is yes.

This is the first book about using a computer for musical composition. At the time, Hiller's agenda seemed radical to many in academic music circles. It remained so for thirty years--until roughly the last ten years of his life--when the Macintosh and MIDI made computers an accepted tool for both composers and performers.

The book is not an easy read. The computing tools then available were primitive, and because an attempt to use them for musical composition was so novel, the authors included extensive background material and justifications for their experimental agenda. Finally, both musicians and engineers comprised the intended audience, groups whose technical expertise hardly overlaps at all.