Computer Music Research Articles

Трансдисциплинарный подход к изучению музыкальных явлений: теория информации и её воздействие на различные области музыкознания

At the present time, the application of mathematical methods in musicology, as well as the examination of the entailing facts of indeterminacy in the system of musical thinking are some of the most actively developing directions in the sphere of humanitarian disciplines, becoming important tools of cognition and interpretation of the semantic structures of all temporal arts, including the art of music. This article presents a continuation of the multicomponent complex research carried out by its authors, aimed at identifying the issues related to the use of a transdisciplinary approach, comprising an effectual foundation for a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of musical phenomena with the use of the resources of present-day musical computer technology, including the factors of indeterminacy in music researched with the aid of these technologies. Special attention in the article is devoted to the mathematical theory of information and its impact on various spheres of musicology. Musical computer technology, the use of which stipulates the possibilities of creation of new technological and experimental-practical means of music studies, may also be used upon the construction of music theory systems applicable to the sphere of musical education. It becomes an active instrument of research devoted to the problem range of trans-disciplinarity as a principle of organization of academic knowledge, presuming the interaction of many directions of scholarly research upon the solution of complex problems of musicology. The present-day level of development of musical computer technology makes it possible to examine use as an effective basis fo the creation of multicomponent complexes of hardware-software programs, which may be applied in the process of construction of intellectual systems of analysis and cataloguing of the music of the peoples of Russia and the whole world. The authors of the article illuminate the project of development of a Russian Electronic Musical Instrument undertaken by the associates of the scholarly-methodological laboratory “Musical computer technology” of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, relying on materials created with the participation of specialists who possess various methods and tools of a transdisciplinary approach towards the study of musical phenomena and endowed with the experience of developing contemporary musically directed programmatic means in both the sphere of the technology of their application for carrying out scholarly research and in the process of the realization of new professional directions in musical education.

РАЗВИТИЕ АНАЛИТИЧЕСКИХ СПОСОБНОСТЕЙ СТУДЕНТОВ С ПРИМЕНЕНИЕМ МУЛЬТИМЕДИЙНЫХ ПАРТИТУР

The article touches upon the problem of using only classical pedagogical meth-ods that make it possible to develop analytical abilities of the students of mu-sic colleges and universities, such as reading notes from a printed sheet, study-ing forms in the textbook while the modern world allows the use of computer technology. The article has defined the notion «analytical abilities» and its compo-nents, which are necessary for a modern musician-professional to possess for effective professional activity in the field of music computer technologies. A special emphasis is made on multimedia scores that allow to enrich the information base with auxiliary material to develop not only analytical abil-ities in particular, and analytical thinking in general, and also culture.

The Choice of Vocal Exercises and Their Application in Remote Learning

We live in a rapidly changing world and an increasing interest in distance learning. We need a selection vocal exercises available for use with modern musical computer technologies. The purpose of the article is to find the most constructive approach to the choice of vocal exercises, available for use in distance learning. The article discusses various classifications of vocal exercises created by famous teachers of the past decades. Based on the presented classifications, the main vocal tasks that require exercises are identified. There is an innovative approach to the exercises choice available for use in remote vocal training in this article. There is an innovative approach to the exercises choice available for use in remote vocal training in this article. This approach allows you to get maximum results with a minimum number of exercises. The equipment technical characteristics that are necessary for conducting high-quality online vocal lessons are also proposed.

Musical Live Coding in Relation to Interactivity Variations

This article explores the similarities and differences between live coding and traditional music performances. The focus is on how bodily movements are expressed and whether pre-reflective processes may be activated during a live coding performance. While reports from practitioners vary on percepts of embodiment, the community is missing a theoretical background that reflects on practice. Understanding pre-reflective processes in live coding can benefit performance practices and tool development. As a live coder, I reflect on personal experiences and explore what I call ‘interactivity variations’, a term to denote different gestural manners of interactions during a performance. I observe patterns of embodiment among various live coders who use diverse performance systems from online videos. Out of 11 examples of performance systems, two cases demonstrate interactivity variations that can activate pre-reflective processes while another exploits direct manipulation. I present some implications for the patterns of bodily movement during a live coding performance and discuss how descriptive and prescriptive notation can be important and potentially influence our sensorimotor network. The article contributes a first account of a sensorimotor theory on live coding performances, reflecting on practice and embodied music cognition by presenting an aesthetic analysis of 11 online video examples.

On the Integration of Machine Agents into Live Coding

Co-creation strategies for human–machine collaboration have recently been explored in various creative disciplines and more opportunities for human–machine collaborations are materialising. In this article, we outline how to augment musical live coding by considering how human live coders can effectively collaborate with a machine agent imbued with the ability to produce its own patterns of executable code. Using machine agents allows live coders to explore not-yet conceptualised patterns of code and supports them in asking new questions. We argue that to move away from scenarios where machine agents are used in a merely generative way, or only as creative impetus for the human, and towards a more collaborative relationship with the machine agent, consideration is needed for system designers around the aspects of reflection, aesthetics and evaluation. Furthermore, owing to live coding’s close relationship with exposing processes, using agents in such a way can be a useful manner to explore how to make artificial intelligence processes more open and explainable to an audience. Finally, some speculative futures of co-creative and artificially intelligent systems and what opportunities they might afford the live coder are discussed.

Visual Representations to Stimulate New Musicking Strategies in Live Coding

In live coding, the code can be considered as an archetypal form of score that notates formal processes. We aimed at investigating the possibility of using graphic visuals as a complementary form of descriptive score by visualising sound events using different time representations. To this end, we devised two visualisation systems (Time_X and Time_Z). Time_X represents time along thex-axis, while in Time_Z the objects overlap along an imaginaryz-axis. Based on our previous personal experience with the system, such forms of visual scores can help to develop new musicking strategies while live coding. In this article, we wanted to broaden such reflections, and we used them as probes in a study with three live coders. After tailoring the two systems to the usual practice of the three participants, we asked them to use the systems for three weeks and keep a diary. At the end, we interviewed them. Based on their comments, we present some reflections on the use of graphic forms of visualisation in live coding, on how they can support musicking process, and to what extent such visuals can be considered scores.

Live Coding Patterns and a Toolkit for Pure Data

Creative activities often involve specific processes and techniques that reflect the unique nature of the activity. For live coders, these processes and techniques can be expressed as algorithms and functions in live coding languages. In many fields, these idiomatic processes are referred to as design patterns. Design patterns are important to understand because they can structure thought and direct users towards particular outcomes. This article examines the design patterns in live coding practices and languages, specifically focusing on the Live Coding Toolkit for Pure Data. Pure Data is a visual programming language, but few live coders have traditionally used it. This article explains how the Live Coding Toolkit allows Pure Data to effectively express the patterns of practice required for successful music live coding performance.

Discovering Creative Commons Sounds in Live Coding

This article reports on a study to identify the new sonic challenges and opportunities for live coders, computer musicians and sonic artists using MIRLCa, a live-coding environment powered by an artificial intelligence (AI) system. MIRLCa works as a customisable worldwide sampler, with sounds retrieved from the collective online Creative Commons (CC) database Freesound. The live-coding environment was developed in SuperCollider by the author in conversation with the live-coding community through a series of workshops and by observing its use by 16 live coders, including the author, in work-in-progress sessions, impromptu performances and concerts. This article presents a qualitative analysis of the workshops, work-in-progress sessions and performances. The findings identify (1) the advantages and disadvantages, and (2) the different compositional strategies that result from manipulating a digital sampler of online CC sounds in live coding. A prominent advantage of using sound samples in live coding is its low-entry access suitable for music improvisation. The article concludes by highlighting future directions relevant to performance, composition, musicology and education.

Live Coding the Global Hyperorgan: The Paragraph environment in the indeterminate place

This article presents several scenarios in which a live coding environment called Paragraph was utilised to telematically play networked and geographically distributed hyperorgans. Situated within the framework of the Global Hyperorgan project, the TCP/Indeterminate Place Quartet have explored the affordances of the organ network through the concept of Tele-Copresence. By outsourcing certain dimensions of the parameter space of the Paragraph language to other members of the quartet, a shared instrumentality is enabled, where the organs are collaboratively controlled by means of this system. Rooted in a personal composer-performer practice and studied from the perspective of the live coder, the Paragraph system, adapted to the TCP/Indeterminate Place environment, can be understood as a modular system of human and non-human agents, into which the other musicians are patched. The distributed parameter space utilised, thus resembles a shared cantus firmus, a foundational, but dynamically changing, ecology for the live coder to play within.

The Unknowing Side of the Algorithm: Decolonising live coding from Latin America

In this article we discuss and critically analyse some colonial assumptions of live coding from the Global North in contrast to the practice of live coding in Latin America (LATAM). To do so, we first look at different colonial problems that arise from different contemporary approaches. This results in a recommendation to consider more complex conditions of power that exist in the Global South and shows how live coding can put into practice greater complexity in the social system of art that could contribute to the structural reinforcement of the next society, as well as a critique of the inherited tonality in different media. We then proceed to criticise other sound colonial assumptions by using the decolonial praxis-theory from LATAM live coders and propose different forms of sound decolonisation. Finally, we propose a way to reconcile the convergence of interests between live coding in Latin America, the ‘methodology’ of Black studies, and the ‘theory’ of sonic fiction. In the conclusion, we pose several critical questions that could serve as the basis for further investigations.

Live Coding Outside, Live Coding Inside: Listening, participation and walking

This article is a text on the encounter of live coding with soundscape, soundart installation and soundwalking. This combination involves leaving the studio or a stage for live coding outside or moving to a participatory event inside a gallery, as in the case of an art installation. The article presents four cases of live coders and artists who have worked with this mixture. To understand how these artists combine live coding with these sound practices, I interviewed them and observed their works and performances in videos posted on internet platforms. The article shows that live coding sound, commonly performed within a concert space, can happen in listening, participation or walking contexts. The cases explore the sound of nature and the city to integrate it into the live coding practice of each artist. This shows that live coding can be expanded, combined or hybridised with other sound practices and establish a dialogue between different communities.

The Internet of Sounds: Convergent Trends, Insights, and Future Directions

Current sound-based practices and systems developed in both academia and industry point to convergent research trends that bring together the field of Sound and Music Computing with that of the Internet of Things. This paper proposes a vision for the emerging field of the Internet of Sounds (IoS), which stems from such disciplines. The IoS relates to the network of Sound Things, i.e., devices capable of sensing, acquiring, processing, actuating, and exchanging data serving the purpose of communicating sound-related information. In the IoS paradigm, which merges under a unique umbrella the emerging fields of the Internet of Musical Things and the Internet of Audio Things, heterogeneous devices dedicated to musical and non-musical tasks can interact and cooperate with one another and with other things connected to the Internet to facilitate sound-based services and applications that are globally available to the users. We survey the state of the art in this space, discuss the technological and non-technological challenges ahead of us and propose a comprehensive research agenda for the field.

Transferring Music Pieces into Different Scales based on Nyquist Language

As the increasingly need for art in the society and the current boost in technology, computer music is known as an increasingly important field in our life. While for music scales, which determine a music piece’s genre and style, is also important to any music pieces. The idea of this study is to combine the concepts of music scales and computer music, realizing the ability for music scales transformation. This article will use Nyquist language as an example to provide a clearer perspective of the way that computer algorithms are able to transfer music pieces into different music scales. This study combined the advantages programming within Nyquist, which will be the music synchronize functions and the presence of the unique data type “score” with our music ideas. Thus, it was easy for users to compose the notes in a clear and ordered manner. After composing the scales as functions in Nyquist, one can modify music pieces into different styles according to the scales. In addition, based on the auto backup function in Nyquist, it is easy to retrieve a .wav format video file after processing the program on our terminals. These results shed light on guiding further exploration of music pieces transferring based on computer techniques.

Composing Real Time Adapting Weather Music based on Nyquist

Contemporarily, as computer music is becoming more popular, plenty of people start to make their own music through the computer. In general, there are so many different types of software or language for people to use to create music. In this paper, we will introduce several basic lines that one can use for making music in terms of Nyquist, and the sound one can produce in Nyquist. The main idea of this paper is to create different pieces of main melodies and add sound effects according to the data obtained from a website related to weather conditions of Earth. By completing the work, we will demonstrate the way to create new scores by writing codes, abstract real time data from a separate media and letting it control the codes on Nyquist. The application of this product can help people emotionally and offer a tool and a direct feel of the variation of the planet by using acoustic techniques. However, there are still limitations that restricts the project from having a higher value, and worth more study and development in the future. These results shed light on further developments in creating music that will change and adapt according to a real time data.

Зонная теория музыкального времени и трансдисциплинарный подход к изучению музыкальных явлений

The study of the factors of uncertainty in the system of musical thought has become a subject of fixed attention on the part of music researchers, partially being in advance of certain analogous results in the spheres of the exact sciences. The synergetic approach, stipulated by processes of development of contemporary science, is determined by the substantiation of its application towards their studies, not only in the natural sciences, but also in the humanitarian disciplines and becomes an important instrument of cognition and interpretation of the semantic structures of all the temporal arts, including the art of music. the article examines a number of endeavors to study the probabilistic-statistic natural laws of music presented in Ludwik Bielawski’s book The Zonal Theory of Time and its Meanings for Musical Anthropology: The Endeavor of Definition of the Place and the Role in the History of Theoretic Musicology (Krakow, 1976), in which the natural laws of the functioning of musical levels on various levels and in the various forms of its manifestation. The authors of the article give attention to the use in scholarly research works devoted to this problem range of music computer technologies which has served as a basis for the possibility of creating new theoretic and experimental-practical means of studying music, including the factors of indeterminacy in music applied to the sphere of musical education researched with the means of music computer technologies. In this connection, the article elucidates a number of new educational directions and programs developed by the members of the learning and teaching laboratory “Music Computer Technologies” of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia called to provide the preparation of specialists who possessed various forms and means of the transdisciplinary approach to studies of musical phenomena and processes.

MUSIC-COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY SOUND RECORDING ENRICHES STUDENTS' MUSIC KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN AN EXTRACURRICULAR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The development of modern society requires the application of new forms of presentation of educational content in order to build personality and form a generation of creative people. It’s necessary that the approach and forms of the structure of the learning process to stimulate students’ development to the maximum extent. Attracting students’ attention and stimulating their activity by presenting the learning content most effectively is a challenge for the teacher. This way, their interest should be increased and they should acquire lasting, long-term knowledge in Art music. This report presents the possibilities of consolidating and enriching students' knowledge and skills in the academic discipline Music outside the traditional music lesson. The research presents the benefit of education through music computer technology Sound Recording in a recording studio for students aged 10-16 as a part of their scheduled observation hours in extracurriculum learning environment. The aim is to increase students' interest in music as an art and to support the gaining of new knowledge. In this way, the students will be provoked to get to know their surroundings in full. At the same time, the research is an example of successful good practice to motivate and support music teachers with new practical ideas.

Возможности и перспективы использования музыкально-компьютерных технологий в терапии психогенных расстройств

The beneficial effect of music on the human body has been known since ancient times and has been actively used in the methods of music therapy. The article analyzes in the manner of a survey the advantages, possibilities and limitations of the traditional methods of music therapy, wherein the patient is presented with a set of musical compositions empirically selected. A radically different and innovative method of music therapy is based on musical or music-like stimulation that is generated by a computer on the basis of feedback signals from the patient’s own physiological characteristic features. The advantages and prospects of this innovative method are examined here and an evaluation is given of the effectiveness of computer-aided transformations of the patient’s brain biopotentials into musical or music-like effects, which are used in the adaptive neuro-stimulation technology developed by the authors with feedback from the current electroencephalogram (EEG) parameters. By means of the examples from our own research with the use of EEG-guided adaptive neurostimulation, we have outlined the prospects for the development of music computer technologies in the treatment of psychogenic disorders and the cognitive rehabilitation of human beings.

Learning Music Blind: Understanding the Application of Technology to Support BLV Music Learning

Learning to play a musical instrument and engaging in musical activities have enabled blind and/or low vision people to develop self-identity, find community and pursue music as a career. However, blind and/or low vision music learners face complex obstacles to learn music. They are highly reliant on their learning environment and music teachers for accommodations and flexibility. Prior research has identified the challenges faced by blind and/or low vision musicians and recognized the importance of touch for music reading and physical guidance. However, limited research has addressed these challenges through the development of assistive technology. The development of music computer technologies with haptics and the affordances of wearable technologies provides encouraging opportunities to develop haptic wearable devices to support blind and/or low vision music learning. I identify three unexplored research questions: (1) what design considerations must be addressed in future assistive technologies for BLV music learning, (2) how can wearable technologies with vibrotactile feedback support BLV student-teacher interactions, and (3) what are the long-term benefits and limitations of the use of assistive technologies for BLV music learning? I outline my research to date and highlight my findings.

Human Movement Datasets: An Interdisciplinary Scoping Review

Movement dataset reviews exist but are limited in coverage, both in terms of size and research discipline. While topic-specific reviews clearly have their merit, it is critical to have a comprehensive overview based on a systematic survey across disciplines. This enables higher visibility of datasets available to the research communities and can foster interdisciplinary collaborations. We present a catalogue of 704 open datasets described by 10 variables that can be valuable to researchers searching for secondary data: name and reference, creation purpose, data type, annotations, source, population groups, ordinal size of people captured simultaneously, URL, motion capture sensor, and funders. The catalogue is available in the supplementary materials. We provide an analysis of the datasets and further review them under the themes of human diversity, ecological validity, and data recorded. The resulting 12-dimension framework can guide researchers in planning the creation of open movement datasets. This work has been the interdisciplinary effort of researchers across affective computing, clinical psychology, disability innovation, ethnomusicology, human-computer interaction, machine learning, music cognition, music computing, and movement neuroscience.

Embodying Spatial Sound Synthesis with AI in Two Compositions for Instruments and 3-D Electronics

Abstract The situated spatial presence of musical instruments has been well studied in the fields of acoustics and music perception research, but so far it has not been the focus of human–AI interaction. We respond critically to this trend by seeking to reembody interactive electronics using data derived from natural acoustic phenomena. Two musical works, composed for human soloist and computer-generated live electronics, are intended to situate the listener in an immersive sonic environment in which real and virtual sources blend seamlessly. To do so, we experimented with two contrasting reproduction setups: a surrounding Ambisonic loudspeaker dome and a compact spherical loudspeaker array for radiation synthesis. A large database of measured radiation patterns of orchestral instruments served as a training set for machine learning models to control spatially rich 3-D patterns for electronic sounds. These are exploited during performance in response to live sounds captured with a spherical microphone array and used to train computer models of improvisation and to trigger corpus-based spatial synthesis. We show how AI techniques are useful to utilize complex, multidimensional, spatial data in the context of computer-assisted composition and human–computer interactive improvisation.