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Computer

Music

Computer Music is a short, three movement choral composition project that has been in the works since the Spring of 2020 (or more accurately the Spring of 2019). This project embraces the collaboration of arts and technology, and demonstrates the struggles of this collaboration. What may seem like a relatively normal choral composition is actually heavily facilitated by an algorithm which was written to generate many of the notes in the piece. The algorithm used to generate these notes was written in python. The python script then converted these notes into a format readable for the engraving program Lilypond, which is ultimately where the piece was composed. Through my work with this piece, I found that the computer could not alway be programmed to create the exact sound that I wanted, and the algorithm would not always produce a melodic line that I enjoyed. This led me to take the technology from a computer to a pencil and paper and intervene to modify the piece when I did not like what the computer was producing. This juxtaposition of the aid that a computer provides, as well as the complications that it might provide an artist can be heard through the increasing chaos of the music and the lyrics in each movement.  

 

Watch the premiere choral video of Computer Music. Each movement features a variation of the "poem" below. The titles of each of the three movements reflects a different point in the programming process, some of which call attention to the annoyances of technology which you may see reflected in the corresponding movement.

Computer Music ................................................................................... Megan Aldrich

       I. Launch Python

       II. Invalid Syntax

       III. quit( )

Megan Aldrich, soprano

Stephanie Lewis, alto

Josh Moylan, tenor

Evan Strouse, bass

"Computer Music"

What if?

What if this song was 

Composed

by a 

Computer?

The product of a well composed algorithm,

What would you say?

An algorithm composed 

for composition,

and makes music.

What if,

What would you say?

Watch the Video

Click below to view the full score of Computer Music.

View the Score

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Click below to learn more about the evolution of the Senior Integrative Project.

Learn More

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