From sws@bfxps (Steffen W. Schilke) Wed Dec 15 11:53:39 1993 From: sws@bfxps.UUCP (Steffen W. Schilke) Newsgroups: comp.music,fj.comp.music,rec.music.misc,de.rec.music.misc Subject: Randomly Composed Music RCM {long} Message-ID: <1653@bfxps.uucp> Date: 9 Dec 93 10:49:09 GMT Followup-To: comp.misc Organization: Battelle Institut, Frankfurt a.M., BRD Lines: 218 Nntp-Posting-Host: red Relpy-To: schilke@inf-wiss.uni-konstanz.de 2nd PRERELEASE VERSION This is a information file about "Randomly Composed Music". I would appreciate your comments and more information about this topic. "Randomly Composed Music" is to compose music by using the factor of randomness (e.g., by rolling a dice). In the pre-release version there is only a collection of answers, books, and Random Number Generators; no recipes for composing ! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Randomly Composed Music Information File by Steffen Schilke 0.0 Intro : 1.0 Some Answers : 2.0 A List of Books about Randomly Composed Music : 3.0 Random Number Generators : Randomly Composed Music 0.0 Intro : ----------- "Randomly Composed Music" is to compose music by using the factor of randomness (e.g., by rolling a dice). Usually one or two dices are used. Rolling them gives you a number between 2-12 (1-6). This number is used to look up a set of notes (one tact). Usually then recipe comes with a description how to use the table and scores (Kirnberger, Mozart, ...) 1.0 Some Answers : ------------------ I posted a question about "Randomly Composed Music" a couple of weeks ago. This are some answers from some people (all answers are from CI$) : >From Carolyn Hanson Mayer : > There's a book (I own a copy.) called *Mozart's Melody Dicer* that > describes the dice game/method of composing that Mozart invented. > Mozart's original name for the "game" is Musikalisches Wurfelspiel (in > English, Musical Dice-Game). > This inexpensive book, (c) 1983 and ISBN 0-935474-09-9, is published by > Carousel Publishing Corp., 27 Union St., Brighton, MA 02135. You might > try looking for it, or try to order it, from your local music store. > Another thought, if you're an Atari ST user, Dr. T has gone into aleatory > software a little. I have an aleatory program that goes with my KCS II > called PVG (short for Programmable Variations Generator, I believe). >From James Chandler Jr. : > A book which has the most specific algorithms (of the ones I've seen) is > "Computer Music in C" by Phil Winsor and Gene DeLisa. Published by > WindCrest, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 17294-0850. > The code is not helpful with MIDI programming or music theory. All the > book contains is lots of note-picking algorithms, several random number > generators, sort algorithms, lots of other composition-related > algorithms. >From Blake Ragsdell : > You might want to get Computer Composer's Toolbox, by Phil Winsor. It > is/was published by Windcrest, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294-0850. > 1-800-822-8158 (in PA and AK call 717-794-2191) > The phone number comes from the order blank for the disk that goes with > the book. > As I'm looking through here, I see the same address showing Tab Books, > Inc. as the company to contact, so you might want to try calling first. > The book contains a library of 117 music-generating subroutines written > in Basic or (BASIC if you prefer). 2.0 A List of Books about Randomly Composed Music : --------------------------------------------------- >From Steffen Schilke (that's me ;-) : I asked this question, but it looks like that I already had the most stuff which is available (unfortunately (not for me) the most publications are in German ;-). I am still looking out for the books marked with an '*'. I am also interested in other books which are not listed here. There are the following composing recipes available : Year Author / original book title (language) 500 Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius *"De Musica" (Latin) 1754 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach *"Einfall einen doppelten Contrapunct in der Octave von sechs Tacten zu machen ohne die Regeln davon zu wissen" (German) 1757 Johann Philipp Kirnberger "Der allezeit fertige Polonoisen- und Menuettencomponist" also "Tausend Billionen Musikstuecke fuer ein oder zwei Wuerfel" (German) 1771 Piere Hoegi "A tabular system whereby the art of composing minuets is made so easy that any person, without the least knowledge of music, may compose ten thousand, all different, and in the most pleasing and correct manner" (English) 1783 Johann Philipp Kirnberger "Methode Sonaten aus'm Ermel zu schiddeln" orginal title, (German slang) 1788 J.C. Graf *"Musikspiel oder Tabelle, unzaehlige Maersche fuer Pianoforte oder andere Instrumente mittelst Wuerfel zu erfinden" (German) 1779 Maximilian Stadler *"Table pour composer des menuets et des trios a l'infini avec deux des a jouer" (French) 1793 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "Anleitung zum Componieren von Walzern so viele man will vermittelst zweier Wuerfel ohne etwas von der Musik oder Composition zu verstehen" also "Musikalisches Wuerfelspiel Eine Anleitung Walzer oder Schleifer mit 2 Wuerfeln zu komponieren" (Available in German, English, French, Dutch) Koechel Verzeichnis KV Anh C 30.01 Anh 294d (German) 1798 Friedrich Gottlob Hayn *"Anleitung mit Wuerfeln Anglaisen zu componieren" (German) 1801 C.H. Fiedler "Musicalisches Wuerfelspiel oder der (unerschoepfliche) Ecossaisen Componist" (German) 1802 Antonio Calegari *"Wie die Wuerfel fallen ! Ein Scherz der Tonkunst, um mit drei Wuerfeln leicht Walzer zu setzen" (German) ???? John Cage* (Aleatorik ???, Roaratotio from 1979 ???) Karlheinz Stockhausen* (Momente 1964 ???) Pierre Boulez* ??? 3.0 Random Number Generators : ------------------------------ The most compiler/interpreter come with a randomize / random (rnd) function which should give you somekind of random numbers. I found an algorythm in an ACM journal (Communicatons of the ACM, Oct 1988, Vol.31 No.10, p1192) which should give you an example of a "good" Random Number Generator (Turbo Pascal source) : integer version : function random_i1 : extended; const a = 16807; m = 2147483647; begin iseed := (a * iseed) mod m; random_i1 := iseed / m; end; real version : function random_r1 : extended; const a = 16807.0; m = 2147483647.0; var temp : extended; begin temp := a * rseed; rseed := temp - m * trunc(temp / m); random_r1 := rseed / m; end; You have declare the variable ?seed and then you have to set an inital value for ?seed. In the article they mentioned some other ways of implementing a "good" Random Number Gernerators but I can not find it at the moment. Any other examples will be appreciated. ============================================================================= Thats all for today, I would appreciate your help to make this to a good, informative file (maybe a FAQ) about Randomly Composed Music (RCM). Any corrections on grammar and language are welcome (I am not an English native speaker) Send your reply (or letters, copies, disk's) to me (via e-mail) or to : S.Schilke PoBox 1303 Weiterstadt 64322 Germany -- [standard disclaimer] In addition I would like to speak to my lawyer...... Deutsches Grundgesetz Artikel 22 : "Die Bundesflagge ist Schwarz-Rot-Gold" German Constitution Article 22 : "The German Flag is Black-Red-Gold" sws%bfxps.uucp@germany.eu.net sws@battelle.de It's not a trick, it's a .sig