Electronic Music II: Programming and Electronics for Art & Music |
| Music G6602 |
| Thursday 3-5pm, Room 320H Prentis Hall |
| Spring 2013 |
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| Professor: Douglas Repetto [douglas at music columbia edu] |
| TA: Natacha Diels [ndd2117 at columbia edu] |
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| Our Motto: "Why and how." |
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| syllabus | schedule |
* some simple algorithms
* big list of process pieces
Below is an unordered list of questions and comments. Post a response (text, code, images, anything) to one or more of them on the courseworks discussion site by next class.
What is an algorithm/system/process? *****
If a recipe is an algorithm, what are ingredients? *
Is a musical score an algorithm?
Is a map an algorithm?
How does the idea of data reduction fit in to all of this?
How is a loaf of bread different from the instructions for making a loaf of bread?
Who is the good cook? The person who wrote the recipe, or the person who follows it?
What about if a computer bakes your bread or plays your score? *
What if it's not played at all? What about an impossible algorithm? *
Sometimes you know the result of a system before running it, sometimes you don't.
Some systems give the same output every time, others don't.
Some systems finish running, others don't.
Some systems are used to create other algorithms.
What's a deterministic algorithm?
Are we all just lazy?
How does entropy figure in?
What's creative about random numbers? What if they're not even really random? *
What does non-linear mean?
Nature loves algorithms. *
Some people argue that nature is an algorithm. *
What does it mean to "discover" an algorithm? *
If you make art using algorithms, does your audience need to know that?
Do they need to understand the specifics of the algorithm? Jason Freeman's N.A.G. says it "downloads MP3 files which match the search keyword(s) and remixes these audio files in real time based on the structure of the Gnutella network itself."
Do you need to understand the specifics of the algorithm? *
What does it mean if you're not sure whether a work is algorithmic or not? Does the meaning of the work change?
You make a non-algorithmic piece and someone comes up to you and says, "What's your algorithm?" *
"Algorists" *
"Generative Art" *
"Algorithmic Art"
Is all "Computer Music" algorithmic?
"Through-composed."
Is it fair to tweak the output of a process in a piece? Do you have to admit it?
Christian Wolff's text pieces. *
Yoko Ono's instruction paintings. *
"Generative Psychogeography."
The ubiquitous "Game of Life." *
"Serial Music."
What's an "interactive system?"
What's a system with no inputs? *
What's an system with no outputs?
Algorithms make the infinite seem close.
Or really far away.
The ubiquitous "Monkeys Typing Shakespeare." *
Algorithms as time savers.
Algorithms as creative crutches.
Algorithms can be used at many different levels, from generating sound samples to creating large-scale forms.
What's the interesting part? The final product? Several iterations of the algorithm? The process itself?
Who wants to watch a wheel turn?
Who wants to read a computer-generated poem? *
What's the difference between the output from a really complex, difficult to understand algorithm and a bunch of random gunk?
If we can't perceive it, does it matter? *
What's the difference between pressing Play on a CD player and pressing Play on an algorithmic composition?
Can an algorithm tell a story?
Can a system be expressive?
Can a process be a work of art?
Larry Polansky's Four Voice Cannons. *
Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting in a Room. *
Sol LeWitt. *
The proof is in the pudding.