Music Technology

This thesis focuses on the analysis and simulation of the behaviour of cognitive systems – both biological and non-biological – which are able to process musical information (i.e., creative music agents). The research questions of this work are: How can we formally define a creative system? How can we formalise the behaviour of creative music agents? How can we simulate the behaviour of creative music agents computationally? Neither mathematical nor computational systems sophisticated enough exist that attempt to describe/simulate how music agents behave and form musical societies.

To respond to the research questions a double approach based both on theoretical investigation and computer simulation is employed. Two formalised frameworks are proposed, i.e., General Creativity (GC) and Music Systems Theory (MST). GC attempts to extend the notion of creativity to non-biological systems. In doing so, GC provides a new definition of a creative system as well as of an iterative creative process. These notions are at the basis of MST, a theory which aims to describe
how agents (both biological and non-biological) involved in musical activities interact with each other and create musical societies. By using systems theory, MST attempts to describe how single agents and musical societies evolve over time.

The core concepts of GC and MST are used as a basis to design S(S(S)), an AI multi-agent system which has the double goal of creating convincing rock songs and of simulating a society of virtual songwriters which create songs, listen to the songs composed by their peers, and change their compositional style based on what they hear. S(S(S)) aims to provide an indirect proof of the validity of GC and MST. An exhaustive evaluation of S(S(S)) was carried out with expert rock musicians which demonstrated that the system shows an overall high level of creativity and that the single agents of the system are indeed capable of modifying their compositional
style.

This thesis provides several contributions. GC provides a formalise definition of creative systems which is valid for human and non-human systems, and which can be used as a basis for designing computational creative systems. MST is the first mathematical theory that attempts to formalise the behaviour of musical societies based on systems theory. S(S(S)) is one of the first systems that is able to show a degree of transformational creativity. The thesis also shows by example that the
simultaneous use of theoretical and computational modelling is an effective tool for tackling complex musical issues, and it is hoped that it will form the theoretical and methodological basis for future research in this rapidly advancing field.

Musicology is a small discipline within the wide spectrum of human knowledge, yet it is already divided into various branches, each with its own societies, conferences, journals, jargons, degrees, prejudices, …, and jobs. Although they share their object of investigation-"the art of music as a physical, psychological, aesthetic, and cultural phenomenon", these branches very often ignore one another. Research in musicology is mostly a solitary task, as investigations, papers, and publications are commonly signed by single authors, in contrast with STEM disciplines where teamwork is the rule. This is in part the result of tradition-the "Musicological Toolbox"-but also the aftermath of the job market and financing programs. Large funding schemes such as the European Research Council (ERC) grants are becoming a major disruptive factor in many disciplines in the humanities, including musicology. Scholars in all fields now have the opportunity to build research teams, and most of their members receive their salaries to exclusively work on the project. In other words, we are starting to build what could be called a Musicology Lab, learning along the way how teamwork is reshaping and transforming the Musicological Toolbox, the look and feel of our discipline, the way we work as well as the way we publish and disseminate our results. This paper presents some of the key features of the ERC Didone project, one of its principal tasks being to create a digitally encoded corpus of some 3,000 arias in MusicXML format from about 180 musical settings of a small number of opera librettos by Pietro Metastasio. It focuses on some of the project's research tasks, emphasizing how the skills of a team of eighteen scholars with very different expertise-historical musicology, music theory and analysis, cultural history, librettology, archival research, music performance, music engraving, MIR, computer science, and statistical modeling-combine to explore the potential answer(s) to the main research question of the project: How are emotions expressed through music?

Musicians' drive to be productive on the Internet led to the development of practices that can inform popular music education. Expanding the concept of popular music education to include online participatory culture practices provides inspiration for musicking online relevant not only in times of uncertainty (like during mandated quarantines experienced during the COVID outbreak in 2020), but also during times of prosperity when practices can be explored in classrooms and during leisure time. In this article, the author discusses three dispositions towards online musicking: DIY-disposition (do-it-yourself), DIWO-disposition (do-it-with-others) and DIFO-disposition (do-it-for-others). The development of these dispositions leads to online and musical literacies that help develop the skills needed for online musicking and performance. This text offers a creation theory about approaching online musicking that can be applied to new technologies and media as online platforms appear and fade on the Internet.

This dissertation presents a new and expanded context for interactive music based on Moore’s model for computer music (Moore 1990) and contextualises its findings using Lesaffre’s taxonomy for musical feature extraction and analysis (Lesaffre et al. 2003). In doing so, the dissertation examines music as an expressive art-form where musically significant data is present not only in the audio signal but also in human gestures and in physiological data. The dissertation shows the model’s foundation in human perception of music as a performed art, and points to the relevance and feasibility of including expression and emotion as a high-level signal processing means for bridging man and machine. The resulting model is multi-level (physical, sensorial, perceptual, formal, expressive) and multi-modal (sound, human gesture, physiological) which makes it applicable to purely musical contexts, as well as intermodal contexts where music is combined with visual and/or physiological data.

The model implies evaluating an interactive music system as a musical instrument design. Several properties are examined during the course of the dissertation and models based on acoustic music instruments have been avoided due to the expanded feature set of interactive music system. A narrowing down of the properties is attempted in the dissertation’s conclusion together with a preliminary model circumscription. In particular it is pointed out that high-level features of real-time analysis, data storage and processing, and synthesis makes the system a musical instrument, and that the capability of real-time data storage and processing distinguishes the digital system as an unprecedented instrument, qualitatively different from all previous acoustic music instrument. It is considered that a digital system’s particular form of sound synthesis only qualifies it as being of a category parallel to the acoustic instruments categories.

The model is the result of the author’s experiences with practical work with interactive systems developed 2001-06 for a body of commissioned works. The systems and their underlying procedures were conceived and developed addressing needs inherent to the artistic ambitions of each work, and have all been thoroughly tested in many performances. The papers forming part of the dissertation describe the artistic and technological problems and their solutions. The solutions are readily expandable to similar problems in other contexts, and they all relate to general issues of their particular applicative area.

Composers working in the sonic arts have frequently found themselves attempting to use spatial audio in ways that didn’t work as intended. Maybe more than any other facet of technological music, mastering spatial audio seems to involve a learning process in which one slowly discovers the things that work and those that don’t. The purpose of this paper is to foster understanding of spatial audio through examples of practical problems. These problems include both some general misconceptions about spatial hearing and some specific examples of things gone wrong. A particular lesson to be learned from this discussion is that there is no silver bullet for solving spatial audio problems, and every situation needs to be understood in appropriate terms.

The aim of this research was to explore whether the use of mobile technology contributed to develop thinking skills, learning and musical performance. The population included students with a BA and MA degrees who participated in the 'Composition and improvisation in real-time' course. They used technological-musical tools (Ableton Live and M4L), turning computer, tablet devices and smartphones into a 'laptop ensemble'. The research method included questionnaires that were given to students at the beginning and end of the course and in-depth interviews with students during and after the course. Findings indicated that the pedagogic model studied, which examined an innovative teaching-learning strategy, established digital-musical literacy and led to meaningful learning, while experiential experience during musical performance in the group.

A sound synthesis algorithm which simulates and extends the behaviour of the acoustic prepared piano is presented. The algorithm is based on a finite difference approximation to multiple stiff string vibration, including an excitation method (a hammer) as well as several connected preparation elements, modeled as lumped nonlinearities. Numerical issues and implementation details are discussed, and sound examples are presented..

This book explores how digital technology is altering the relationships between people and how the very nature of interface itself needs to be reconsidered to reflect this – how
we can make sense of each other, handle ambiguities, negotiate differences, empathise and collectively make skilled judgments in our modern society. The author presents new directions for research at the relational-transactional intersection of contrasting disciplines of arts, science and technology,and in so doing, presents philosophical and artistic questions for future research on human connectivity in our digital age.

▶ Introduces the relational interface, which questions the historical idea of the interface as a conduit of the transactional and addresses an aesthetic and ethical balance
▶ Formulates tacit engagement as an emerging concept for the study of human relations
▶ Proposes a fundamental framework of mediation for expertise and decision making in complex human systems
▶ Critiques the concept of data and what makes for the success of knowledge transfer

In this paper we report on the synthesis of sounds using cellular
automata, specifically the multitype voter model. The mapping process adopted is based on digital signal processing analysis of automata evolutions and consists in mapping histograms onto spectrograms. The main problem of cellular automata is the difficulty of control and, consequently, sound synthesis
methods based on these computational models normally present a high factor of randomness in the output. We have achieved a significant degree of control as to predict the type of sounds that we can obtain. We are able to develop a flexible sound design process with emphasis on the possibility of controlling over time the spectrum complexity.

Book Chapter (14) in King, A., Himonides, E. and Ruthmann, A. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Music, Technology, and Education (London: Routledge)

The concern of this chapter is the pedagogical value of technology-based improvisation in University music programmes. In essence the chapter is a call to remember the pedagogical imperatives and values of improvisation in music education in the light of the impact of advanced technocratic trends in education and changes in student competencies and kinds of literacy related to technology.

This communication proposes an approach to the policies of the interface, from the sound, based on a notion of listening as a powerful political weapon in the framework of musical creation that uses new technologies and with which the public or the users are understood like listener not only, but also whom it composes or create, whom they interpret, to the sound technical staff...

Esta comunicación propone un acercamiento, desde lo sonoro, a las políticas de la interfaz partiendo de una noción de escucha en tanto que potente arma política en el marco de la creación musical que emplea las nuevas tecnologías y con la que se entiende como oyente no sólo al público o los usuarios, sino también a quien compone o crea, a quienes interpretan, a los técnicos de sonido...

Os Melim são brasileiros, trata-se de uma banda especial que eu costumo comparar, com alguma ousadia, aos fantásticos Beatles. O motivo desta comparação está relacionado com a riqueza harmónica dos temas dos Melim especialmente no que diz respeito às vozes. A banda consegue transformar temas muito simples a nível melódico em verdadeiras obras de arte a nível harmónico. Parabéns aos 3!

Large broadcasters are beginning to recognise the importance of environmental sustainability in their operations as part of their corporate responsibility. The albert+ standard developed by the BBC and BAFTA and Sky’s ‘The Bigger Picture’ reports are evidence of this. There is evidence of pockets of development in environmental sustainability in the audio industries but the industry is yet to develop a coherent strategy in this area. The professional audio industry faces very specific challenges with regards to sustainability and carbon footprint, particularly in the area of reproduced sound. High sound pressure levels require high power amplifiers and the transportation of lots of bulky equipment. This paper reviews some of the current literature and practice in sustainability in the audio-visual industries and considers how this can be applied to some of the challenges of live and installed sound with regards to reducing carbon footprints and operating in a more environmentally friendly way. The paper explores what an environmental sustainability guidance document for audio engineers might look like and some key issues that must be considered. Recommendations are then made with respect to future working practices and future research required in this area.

The main object of this paper is the composition Seven Circles completed in 1959 by Danish composer Else Marie Pade. It is the first piece of purely electronic music composed in Denmark. The paper has three primary focuses which are first: the evolution of electronic music that leads up to Seven Circles, second: Pade and the production of the piece itself, and third: how the techniques used by Pade point out the way towards the electronic music we know today.

Tema muito solicitado por alunos e professores. Simplifiquei melodia e harmonia o mais que pude e alterei ligeiramente algumas nuances que o compositor faz, ao nível do ritmo, quando canta. Versão com voz guia aqui: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htR1AV2ZNZ0

Resumen – En el presente trabajo se expone el diseño de un arreglo lineal de parlantes con control de directividad utilizando procesamiento digital. Se desarrollaron los conceptos teóricos pertinentes al problema y se diseñó y planteó un modelo para futuras pruebas del sistema, a fin de comprobar conceptos teóricos y llevarlos a la práctica. Por otro lado, se implementó una modalidad distinta de reducción de lóbulos secundarios basada en un algoritmo de optimización, proponiendo una opción que difiere de métodos previos empleando " shading " derivado de ventanas o polinomios de Legendre.

Este tema do cantor Charlie Puth, foi composto pelo próprio intérprete com o auxílio de DJ Frank E, MoZella, Matt Prime, Breyan Isaac, sendo que DJ Frank E e Prime também estiveram a cargo da produção.
Melodia simples em Fá maior, apesar das semicolcheias o ritmo é intuitivo e as notas são fáceis de executar.

Um Natal Virtual foi inspirado no êxito Jerusalema. Este tema muito badalado durante este ano pareceu-me ser ideal para adaptar a uma letra de Natal. Neste caso a temática está também relacionada com Pandemia provocada pela COVID19 que veio afetar a nossa forma de estar e conviver, nomeadamente em momentos muito importantes como o Natal.
A letra pode servir para cantar a um familiar que costuma estar presente com a família no natal e este ano não vai poder estar. Quem diz um familiar também diz um amigo ou amiga que, por causa das restrições da Pandemia vai ter de estar a celebrar o natal à distância.
O tema original está em Dó Sustenido (#), neste caso desci meio tom para ficar só com notas naturais e sem acidentes na armação de clave.

Recent advances in online technologies coupled with increasing access to the Internet in American schools and at home have contributed toward a paradigm shift in the ways students use the Internet in their daily lives (Prensky, 2001). The shift toward a second generation Internet, often referred to as the Web 2.0, is defined and encompassed by number of new technologies designed to enhance social collaboration such as blogs,
wikis, and streaming on-demand multimedia content (O’Reilly, 2005). Along with new tools have come more efficient, flexible, and easy to use Internet interfaces for creating media-rich online content. Participation in social networking sites such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com have spread rapidly among students here in the United States, especially among those in secondary and tertiary schools. A by-product of these recent
developments is in essence a new vision of the Internet as not just a repository of information and conduit for communication, but instead as a highly interactive and highly personalizable collaborative platform for socializing, communicating, and learning.

What follows is a description and discussion of several online collaboration technologies including blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other online multimedia technologies, including recent projects by music educators and researchers that take advantage of the
collaborative potential of the Internet. Though many of these tools were not specifically designed for music education, they can be easily adapted for use in and in support of a broad range of music education classes in secondary schools.

This chapter concludes with a summary of strategies music educators might use to extend the both physical and temporal bounds of their classroom by creating online music learning environments for students to engage collaboratively with music and with each other both inside and outside of class time.

In her article "Technology and music: ethical and moral issues", Fol focuses on three technological innovations that present moral-vs. ethical value conflicts causing massive changes to the music profession: 1) the ability to send money easily in a fast and reliable way through the internet, with the entire transaction taking no more than a few clicks; 2) the emergence of paid "calls for scores", announced on easy-to-design simple websites; and 3) reliable online sound file streaming. Fol examines how the fast-paced technological development has allowed for the mental separation of the illegal consumption from its effects-namely the impossibility of professionals to make a living and the consequent decline of the music profession. Fol discusses the issues from different philosophical viewpoints on morality and proposes a moral code for independent professional musicians.

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is an industry-standard communications protocol for electrical musical instruments. Since its introduction in 1983, MIDI has rapidly achieved prominence, revolutionizing the music world, with most musicians and manufacturers growing increasingly dependent on it; yet, some musical communities have remained critical because its use has presented numerous technical and aesthetic issues.

Devido à falta de tempo para responder aos MUUITOS pedidos que vão chegando aceitei a ajuda voluntária do colega Emanuel Vieira que está numa fase de promoção do seu estúdio musical. Ele fez o instrumental e eu fiz o vídeo.
O tema é simples embora não tenha um ritmo regular. Aconselho a audição prévia tanto do original da Cindy Lauper como da versão feita para o filme "Trolls" cantada por Justin Timberlake e Anna Kendrick.

O tema "Blinding lights" do músico "The Weeknd" começou a ser ouvido pelos portugueses, em parte, por causa da sua inserção num anúncio da marca de automóveis: Mercedes Benz. Subi o tom para ficar em fá maior e assim ser mais facilmente executado na flauta. Alterei a melodia nas notas inferiores ao dó grave (na flauta) mas deixei o som do original para não ficar muito diferente. O tema tem apenas 4 acordes rotativos, nomeadamente: Solm, Rem, FaM, DóM OU Gm, Dm, F, C.