Abstract
As it turns out, the great majority of research into computer music technology is developed by engineers and computer programmers who are passionate about music. Albeit very knowledgeable, it is often the case that their knowledge of music is limited to classical thinking that pre-dates contemporary approaches to music. This limitation is prone to restrict the imagination of those who are pioneering the development of new music technologies, in particular for music composition. In these cases, the research community may as well end up with new pieces of technology but for the same old kind of music, or problem. The objective of this chapter is to present an introduction to several topics of interest for those who are not conversant with contemporary music theory, in particular theory that has been evolving since the 1950s. These include approaches to music representation and parametrization for computer processing and modern composition practices that influenced the development of generative music techniques.
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Notes
- 1.
This chapter contains materials adapted from the book Composing Music with Computers by this author, published in 2001 by Focal Press, which is now out of print.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
An Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music.
- 5.
Coincidentally or not, this was the very same type of treatment that Medieval composers applied to musical modes in order to add variety to their compositions.
- 6.
https://github.com/CQCL/tket (Accessed on 16 May 2022).
- 7.
https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/page/essential-20th-century-reading-list/essential-20thcentury-reading-list (Accessed on 30 Apr 2022).
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Miranda, E.R. (2022). Music Fundamentals for Computer Programmers: Representation, Parametrization and Automation. In: Miranda, E.R. (eds) Quantum Computer Music. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13909-3_2
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