David Cope is an “…American author, composer, scientist, and professor emeritus of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His primary area of research involves artificial intelligence and music”.2 I recently stumbled across an interesting article about the computer generated music by Cope which includes some interesting quotes by Douglas Hofstadter,3 a very well known cognitive scientist at Indiana University (who won the a Pulitzer prize for his remarkable book Gödel, Esher, Bach).1
That Cope has been able to create very moving music via his program Emily Howell does not surprise me one bit. I don’t want to write a whole essay on the subject here, but I think for younger people who have been engaged with computer technology for most of their lives, computers aren’t that surprising — many, myself included, view them simply as tools – that is, single use extensions of human creativity, ingenuity, and spirit. That a program can capture & then create music that is emotionally stirring is really just an expression of the fact that Cope’s program Emily Howell is an extension of his own creativity.
Anyway, a lot to think about. YouTube user macropon has been kind enough to produce a YouTube video of one of the pieces of music created by Cope via his Emily Howell program — give it a listen and you may understand what all the fuss is about. Enjoy!
You can find out more by visiting David Cope’s website, the article that appeared in the Miller-McCune magazine by Ryan Blitstein on David Cope’s work, or the Wikipedia page on David Cope.
QUESTION: Are you surprised by the beauty (or not) of the musical piece shared above that Cope created using his program Emily Howell, why or why not? Please share your thoughts in the comments section of this post.
References & Notes
- Triumph of the Cyborg Composer: David Cope’s software creates beautiful, original music. Why are people so angry about that? by Ryan Blitstein http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture-society/triumph-of-the-cyborg-composer-8507/ Accessed March 15, 2010.
- David Cope http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cope Accessed March 15, 2010.
- Douglas Hofstadter’s writings are fascinating, whether you agree with all his ideas or not. You can purchase some of his books on Amazon.com
. Here is a link to the faculty page for Douglas Hofstadter on the Cognitive Science Program website at Indiana University.
fascinating!!
Give me another J. S. Bach and be my hero forever.