Overview

Perhaps one of the most significant aspects that differentiates humans from other animals is the fact that we are inherently musical. Our compulsion to listen to and appreciate sound arrangements beyond the mere purposes of linguistic communication is extraordinary, and it is indeed this intriguing aspect of humanity that inspires two fundamental notions in this book. The first is the notion that music is sounds organised in space and time. In this context, space is primarily associated with vertical (or simultaneous) relationships between sounds, whereas time is associated with horizontal (or sequential) relationships. The notion of space in terms of the geographical distribution of sounds in the performance area is an exciting new dynamic. Contemporary composers are increasingly exploring real (that is, geographical) space in their pieces by either distributing performers at different locations in a room and/or using sophisticated sound diffusion systems.

Our ability to create and appreciate the organisation of sounds in space and time leads us to our second fundamental notion: the notion that musical compositions carry abstract structures. These notions are important for computer music because they address issues that are at the fringe of two apparently distinct domains of our musical intelligence: the domain of abstract subjectivity (musical composition and artistic imagination) and the domain of abstract objectivity (logical operations and mathematical thought). There is no dispute that the computer is a tool of excellence for the latter domain, but this book is also interested in exploring the potential of the computer...