Patterns of Intuition

The project is investigating the creative process of composing by means of algorithmic composition. Although such investigations have not been performed so far, the methods and captivating aspects of algorithmic composition allow for a strong methodological basis for the realization of the project goal. Within the framework of an "artistic laboratory" the composers, project leader and the programmer enter a manifold dialog and explore musical intuitions within the framework of generating and evaluation cycles. The composers work within the framework of self-found musicals tasks in order to realize a piece for chamber music setting. The specific compositional strategies and musical constraints will be discussed with the project leader. The project leader and the programmer draft formalization strategies. As a result of this process generating and controllable software will develop, whose output will be evaluated by the composers in regards to the realization of their musical task formulations. The evaluation of the output, artistic implications and new compositional strategies will be discussed in a subsequent cycle with the project manager and then subjected to suitable formalization strategies. Through the work within several such generation and evaluation cycles musical material should be generated, which more and more comply with the musical intentions of the composers. At the same time a dynamic algorithmic model is evolving, increasingly allowing for a better description of the compositional intentions. Representation strategies for said algorithmic models are explored, which are able to efficiently describe aspects like compositional premises, musical constraints, decision-making processes on an objectifiable level. The approach of this project hence tries to illuminate subjective knowledge-generating elements from a scientific external point of view via a multifaceted dialog. The focus of these explorations lies on the creative process of the compositional process itself. The specific formulation of the project should enable the development of new methods of musical arts-based research, which are highly suitable for process-oriented research of musical creation. Findings of this project should be accessible and effectively conveyed to both, the scientific and artistic community and also to the general public by means of a presence on the internet, publications, concerts and project presentations. Project Website: http://point.kug.ac.at/ Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) University of Music and Performing Arts Graz

The project Patterns of Intuition (POINT) investigated the creative process of contemporary music composing by means of formalizable methods and envisaged a kind of musical analysis that begins with the composers structural ideas and, by way of a dialogical process, makes the ideas visible on a more objectifiable plane. If the fundamental methodological approach of this project is to be summarized in one sentence it might read: Clarification of compositional strategies and musical intuitions within the framework of generation-evaluation cycles. Such generation-evaluation cycles can be understood as an artistic laboratory in which the project team (Gerhard Nierhaus, Daniel Mayer and Hanns Holger Rutz) stood in a creative dialogue with 14 European composers, seeking to trace important facets of their respective individual compositional approaches. In all this, the composers themselves chose a point of departure, whereupon we focused on researching a specific aspect or compositional principle, proceeding thereafter in a dialogical manner with the artists. Generally, the procedure was thus: Presentation of a compositional principle. Formalization of the approach and implementation in the form of a computer program. Computer generation of musical material. Evaluation of the results by the composer. Modification of the strategy of formalization with respect to the identified objections. Entry into new and further cycles of generation and evaluation until correlation between the computer generated results and the composers aesthetic preferences is sufficiently high, or the limits of formalization have been reached (which might be the case for various reasons). The project was therefore not aimed at addressing musical intuition as a whole in completely formalizable terms; rather, the project aim was to shed light on those particular aspects of intuitively made decisions that can be related back to implicit rules or constraints applied by the composer.In each case of collaboration with the composers the approach taken was markedly different, and it did not follow the described cycles of generation and evaluation in every case. The same diversity was present in the individual compositional practices and aesthetic positions of the composers. There were a large range of different approaches, starting from improvisational structures, through the attempt of an automatic classification of personal compositional preferences to the morphing of harmonic constellations.Participating composers:Tamara Friebel (AUS), Clemens Gadenstätter (AUT), Elisabeth Harnik (AUT), Sonja Huber (AUT),Katharina Klement (AUT), Peter Lackner (AUT), Clemens Nachtmann (AUT), Dimitri Papageorgiou (GRC), Eva Reiter (AUT), Mattias Sköld (SWE), Alexander Stankovski (AUT), Orestis Toufektsis (GRC), Bart Vanhecke (BEL), Djuro Zivkovic (SWE).The findings of the project are covered in detail by the book:Patterns of Intuition Musical Creativity in the Light of Algorithmic Composition, published by Springer, see: http://www.springer.com/computer/ai/book/978-94-017-9560-9.