“There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.” ― Pythagoras “Where words leave off, music begins.” ― Heinrich Heine “Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” ― E. Y. Harburg As I usually do, I let my inner circle of friends know whenever I post a new installment of my blog. Usually, my friends give me a thumbs-up or a "like", and that's all I expect. This is, after all, a professional blog on a technology website that may not hold universal appeal; it's not a "personal" one where I post in detail about my most embarrassing moments as a parent, or make political rants, or sharing cat videos (yet). But this last blog post, Is it Music or Is it Amper? was different! It spawned fascinating conversation. I have summarized some of the conversation I had with friends and family below. * * * * * * * Juanita Harris : Well...I knew it was coming. The song is a snore. And I agree with your conclusion. This type of music is perfect for the online content peeps, and even professional musicians who want to add a little something to their music. I believe Bjork did some pretty amazing stuff with a machine kinda pre-AI-ish. It’s an interesting new little thing. And we’ll see where it decides to go. Paul Rhodes : Two different issues here: “music” and “music that one finds relevant/meaningful”. “Music” can be pretty much anything that is related to sound and the order of same, but “meaningful/relevant”, which, my spidey sense tells me, is where most people are regarding this subject, is like food and drink: we like what we like until we find something else that we also like... Meera Collier : Well... yes, of course. Just ask my dad about the question of what is the difference between good art, bad art, and not-art... It’s a great question. My “go-to” answer to the art/not-art question is that if the person creating the work in question truly and honestly believes in their heart that the work is art, then who am I to say otherwise? As to the difference between good art and bad art... that’s a stickier question for me. I think it has something to do with the artist’s experience with the medium, the arc of the development of the skill of the artist, and the artist’s intent. Good art must be expressive of something and executed with the skill learned from previous attempts. Bad art is missing one of those components. So with this definition, the “music” that is created with AI may be executed with skill, but without expressive intent. And without a sentient creator, then there is no one around to call it “art”. Michael : The only problem I see with your art/not art definition, is that children create just to create and have no sense of ego or intention around it. And yet they still create beautiful things, that in the eye of the beholder, is art. I think the definition of art must be in the eye of the beholder. Within this definition of art, even the artist is a beholder. Paul : Yes. The desire for something resembling a shared experience of “what is art”, while certainly not outside of the realm of possibility within small groups, is a kind of hopeful folly. If it speaks to you, great. If it doesn’t, ok too... * * * * * * * Michael : I too have thought about the absolute finite nature of the western scale and what our ears have been trained to hear as “musical” or “melodious.” I see no reason why AI couldn’t churn out all kinds of music and one day wouldn’t need human composers to interact. You could even program in an algorithm to slightly change melodies when they got too close to well-protected hits, as it were. What will we do when we’re all really bored and have heard everything that can be created within our scale? I dunno, but it seems to bode well for the Asian quarter tone composers. The main reason I fell in love with Indian fusion music is that I was just totally burned out on what was left for Pop/Rock/R&B and so many of the other genres that had such a limited chording structure. AI is going to be a little scary moving forward as it can only exceed its human masters in pretty much everything. I’m sure there is no way to stop it without a massive global agreement, but it’s ultimately going to make being a sloppy, flawed, memory impaired human less romantic to say the very least. Meera : Yes, I think you have hit the nail on the head, on all counts. Give me a warm cesspool of biohazardous human, though, any day of the week. That’s the beauty of life. (Of course, the very definition of “life” may change after a while, too. Well, I’ll not lock my knees and ride that wave, too.) Glenn Hendricks : “ What will we do when we’re all really bored and have heard everything that can be created within our scale? ” I kind of think that’s not really a problem. All the words have been written but we still read novels, poetry, and Facebook. Meera : I’m not worried about running out of words. That number is too vast to even imagine. But in Western music, with its decidedly finite number of “acceptable” tones... it’s more likely. Michael : I agree, words are not in danger at this juncture. The question is, are there any original melodies left? Especially now that everything is cataloged and available online? Meera : My un-researched guess? No, not using the restrictions laid out in the blog post. Ken Collier : A thought experiment: Suppose sometime in the future, we create an AI that can feel, something that understands moral and aesthetic concepts. Might we not say that it can create art? Indeed, might we not say that thought it is not Homo sapiens, it is nevertheless human? Michael : As my memory shows signs of aging, I wonder about an implant that I could access more easily than the cauliflower between my ears. Yep, we’re going to have to define what it means to be human at some point. * * * * * * * David Gordon : “…take the best of both worlds and make something entirely new” That’s the key. Meera : Major or minor? David : I don’t need no stinkin’ key signature Meera : You romantic, you! Marnie Singer : Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian... Meera : Fun fact—I originally wanted to name this blog “Modern Mixolydian”. I was discouraged from using this name, though, because no one (except music geeks like you and me) would know what it meant! * * * * * * * Special thanks to Juanita Harris , Paul Rhodes , Michael Guinn , Glenn Hendricks , Ken Collier , David Gordon , and Marnie Singer ! Friends (and family) like you make my job easy!![]()
↧