Interactive Music Systems: Machine Listening and Composing by Robert RoweReview by: Axel MulderLeonardo Music Journal, Vol. 4 (1994), pp. 108-109Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1513193 .

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the hermetic seal partitioning music from political and social exigencies was fit to be broken.

A similar aesthetic resounds in Antonin Artaud's scathing 1948 radio broadcast, "To Have Done with the Judgment of God," considered here by Allen Weiss in physiognomic, psycho- analytic and radiophonic terms. This re- markable text recorded to magnetic tape and overdubbed by Artaud himself with sound effects, glossolalia and per- cussive noises was summarily censored by French officials the day before its scheduled radio broadcast, at least in part for containing anti-Arnerican senti- ments. Consider, in this time of massive Genome funding and GATT negotia- tions, the absurd prescience of Artaud's contention that, as a measure of admit- tance to American public schools, samples of children's sperm are taken in order to breed soldiers ". . . destined to/ demonstrate by the crushing/efficacity (sic) of force/the superexcellence of American/products." The manic fits and starts of "To Have Done with the Judgment of God" (which is reprinted in Wireless Imagination) including the conclusion that humankind submit to a final autopsy and removal of bodily or- gans read like a supremely ironic refu- tation of the schizophrenic commodity culture then informing the progress of various European postwar wirtschafts- wundere.

Artaud's exploded radiophonics are shown in Mark E. Cory's essay to have a point of contact with the experimental German Horspiel (radio play) developed in the 1960s by a generation of artists including Paul Portner, ErnstJandl, Friederike Mayrocker and Peter Handke. Seeking, like Artaud, to ex- plore radio's shifting framework of space and time, these artists confronted the conventionality of traditional liter- ary Horspiel with experimental narrative structures and concrete and electronic music. Echoing the editors' assertion that sound artists are cut off from their prehistory, Cory relates these enfants terrzbles to the (then) nearly forgotten Weimar media aesthetics developed 40 years earlier by Bertolt Brecht, Walter Benjamin and Kurt Weill.

Several essays concentrate on litera- ture heavily impacted by sound record- ing and transmission technologies. Kahn reads Raymond Roussel's Impres-

the hermetic seal partitioning music from political and social exigencies was fit to be broken.

A similar aesthetic resounds in Antonin Artaud's scathing 1948 radio broadcast, "To Have Done with the Judgment of God," considered here by Allen Weiss in physiognomic, psycho- analytic and radiophonic terms. This re- markable text recorded to magnetic tape and overdubbed by Artaud himself with sound effects, glossolalia and per- cussive noises was summarily censored by French officials the day before its scheduled radio broadcast, at least in part for containing anti-Arnerican senti- ments. Consider, in this time of massive Genome funding and GATT negotia- tions, the absurd prescience of Artaud's contention that, as a measure of admit- tance to American public schools, samples of children's sperm are taken in order to breed soldiers ". . . destined to/ demonstrate by the crushing/efficacity (sic) of force/the superexcellence of American/products." The manic fits and starts of "To Have Done with the Judgment of God" (which is reprinted in Wireless Imagination) including the conclusion that humankind submit to a final autopsy and removal of bodily or- gans read like a supremely ironic refu- tation of the schizophrenic commodity culture then informing the progress of various European postwar wirtschafts- wundere.

Artaud's exploded radiophonics are shown in Mark E. Cory's essay to have a point of contact with the experimental German Horspiel (radio play) developed in the 1960s by a generation of artists including Paul Portner, ErnstJandl, Friederike Mayrocker and Peter Handke. Seeking, like Artaud, to ex- plore radio's shifting framework of space and time, these artists confronted the conventionality of traditional liter- ary Horspiel with experimental narrative structures and concrete and electronic music. Echoing the editors' assertion that sound artists are cut off from their prehistory, Cory relates these enfants terrzbles to the (then) nearly forgotten Weimar media aesthetics developed 40 years earlier by Bertolt Brecht, Walter Benjamin and Kurt Weill.

Several essays concentrate on litera- ture heavily impacted by sound record- ing and transmission technologies. Kahn reads Raymond Roussel's Impres- sions of Africa and Locus Solus in light of Edison's phonograph, finding within the phonograph's mechanical thiev- ery the startling moment when one's

sions of Africa and Locus Solus in light of Edison's phonograph, finding within the phonograph's mechanical thiev- ery the startling moment when one's

self-same voice is heard mechanically reproduced a "machine-critique" of phonocentrism, present nearly a cen- tury before post-structuralism got around to theorizing it. Robin Lydenberg situates William Burroughs's audiotape experiments in relation to his well-known axiom, "Language is a virus." His tape cut-up experiments with recorded speech circa 1953 pro- vide a fascinating analog toJohn Cage's concurrent William's Mix, for, as Cage struggled to reorganize consciousness into an entity no longer dictated by per- sonal tastes, Burroughs looked upon re- cording machines as tools to "move be- yond human sentiments and identity" (p. 419) in order to expose the coercive social mechanisms that engender them.

ExaminingJohn Cage's work from 1935 to 1965 in relation to phenom- enological and transcendental philo- sophical traditions, Frances Dyson ar- gues convincingly that while Cage's musicalization of sound invigorated the practice of Western art music, such an invigoration came at the cost of denud- ing sound of referential capacity, thereby denying it admission into the realm and practice of semantic opera- tion. In detailing Cage's aspirations to- ward a non-discursive yet all-inclusive musical practice, Dyson calls attention to a peculiar and widely pervasive cul- tural presumption that remained un- challenged by Cage that sound art ex- ists primarily as a subset of musical composition and performance.

It becomes clear in reading Wireless Imagzeation that sound artists and theo- rists contest this presumption on the grounds that, while sound comprises a poor objet d'art, this same shortcoming lends advantage to alternative and inter- disciplinary artistic practices incorporat- ing sound. If it is true that nothing es- sential happens in the absence of noise to borrowJacques Attali's well- worn phrase [1] then sound artists propose nothing less than an explora- tion of its relation to phenomena, inten- tion and context. This articulation is heard in the works of contemporary au- dio artists those producing gallery in- stallations, soundscapes and radio art as a discursive production, a type of "writing" with sound. For these margin- alized individuals, the arrival of Wireless Imagination bridges a historical gap and will be received as a landmark event.

self-same voice is heard mechanically reproduced a "machine-critique" of phonocentrism, present nearly a cen- tury before post-structuralism got around to theorizing it. Robin Lydenberg situates William Burroughs's audiotape experiments in relation to his well-known axiom, "Language is a virus." His tape cut-up experiments with recorded speech circa 1953 pro- vide a fascinating analog toJohn Cage's concurrent William's Mix, for, as Cage struggled to reorganize consciousness into an entity no longer dictated by per- sonal tastes, Burroughs looked upon re- cording machines as tools to "move be- yond human sentiments and identity" (p. 419) in order to expose the coercive social mechanisms that engender them.

ExaminingJohn Cage's work from 1935 to 1965 in relation to phenom- enological and transcendental philo- sophical traditions, Frances Dyson ar- gues convincingly that while Cage's musicalization of sound invigorated the practice of Western art music, such an invigoration came at the cost of denud- ing sound of referential capacity, thereby denying it admission into the realm and practice of semantic opera- tion. In detailing Cage's aspirations to- ward a non-discursive yet all-inclusive musical practice, Dyson calls attention to a peculiar and widely pervasive cul- tural presumption that remained un- challenged by Cage that sound art ex- ists primarily as a subset of musical composition and performance.

It becomes clear in reading Wireless Imagzeation that sound artists and theo- rists contest this presumption on the grounds that, while sound comprises a poor objet d'art, this same shortcoming lends advantage to alternative and inter- disciplinary artistic practices incorporat- ing sound. If it is true that nothing es- sential happens in the absence of noise to borrowJacques Attali's well- worn phrase [1] then sound artists propose nothing less than an explora- tion of its relation to phenomena, inten- tion and context. This articulation is heard in the works of contemporary au- dio artists those producing gallery in- stallations, soundscapes and radio art as a discursive production, a type of "writing" with sound. For these margin- alized individuals, the arrival of Wireless Imagination bridges a historical gap and will be received as a landmark event.

Reference

l.Jacques Attali, Nozse (Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1985).

Reference

l.Jacques Attali, Nozse (Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1985).

INTE RACTIVE MUSIC SYSTEMS: MACHINE IISTENING AND COMPOSING

by Robert Rowe. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993. 278 pp.

RBviewed f y Axel Mulder, Koninginneweg 135-2, 1075 CL Amsterdam, the Nether- lands. E-mail: <a.mulderWelsevier.nl>.

The first thing that caught my attention when reading this book was the fact that it is based on Rowe's PhD thesis. In many cases this can be a drawback, be- cause the PhD student's field of vision can be very limited. However, intensely in-depth research can sometimes also reveal interesting discoveries. It should be noted that Rowe was the first com- poser to be awarded a PhD from the MIT Media Lab. As for what the book covers, Rowe uses his system, "Cypher," as a guideline throughout the book, but does not forget to mention many others active in the field. The index tes- tifies to this.

One of the persons Rowe spends some pages on is George Lewis, who, in fact, has also performed with Cypher. I asked George about the book and the field. He said interactivity is going to be "hot" for the next few years, and that the book may therefore serve a devel- oping market. The idea of the book is to propose (quoted from the preface) "a consideration of building artificial performers and improvisers that quickly recognizes the relevance and potential contributions of those other fields. Other texts will detail those rela- tionships: this one shows why interac- tive music systems are unworkable with- out them."

Rowe's aim is certainly not to provide a comprehensive overview of the myriad of activities in this interesting, multidisciplinary field; he emphasizes that such coverage is impossible. At any rate, more than 300 pages (278, to be exact) would be needed for such a daunting task! The book draws on many well-established areas, as can be seen by taking a sample from the table of contents: chapters are devoted to live computer music, music theory and mu- sic cognition, machine listening, ma- chine composing and artificial intelli- gence. Again, Rowe has not attempted to cover these fields and their relation- ship in depth in one chapter each. It is

INTE RACTIVE MUSIC SYSTEMS: MACHINE IISTENING AND COMPOSING

by Robert Rowe. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993. 278 pp.

RBviewed f y Axel Mulder, Koninginneweg 135-2, 1075 CL Amsterdam, the Nether- lands. E-mail: <a.mulderWelsevier.nl>.

The first thing that caught my attention when reading this book was the fact that it is based on Rowe's PhD thesis. In many cases this can be a drawback, be- cause the PhD student's field of vision can be very limited. However, intensely in-depth research can sometimes also reveal interesting discoveries. It should be noted that Rowe was the first com- poser to be awarded a PhD from the MIT Media Lab. As for what the book covers, Rowe uses his system, "Cypher," as a guideline throughout the book, but does not forget to mention many others active in the field. The index tes- tifies to this.

One of the persons Rowe spends some pages on is George Lewis, who, in fact, has also performed with Cypher. I asked George about the book and the field. He said interactivity is going to be "hot" for the next few years, and that the book may therefore serve a devel- oping market. The idea of the book is to propose (quoted from the preface) "a consideration of building artificial performers and improvisers that quickly recognizes the relevance and potential contributions of those other fields. Other texts will detail those rela- tionships: this one shows why interac- tive music systems are unworkable with- out them."

Rowe's aim is certainly not to provide a comprehensive overview of the myriad of activities in this interesting, multidisciplinary field; he emphasizes that such coverage is impossible. At any rate, more than 300 pages (278, to be exact) would be needed for such a daunting task! The book draws on many well-established areas, as can be seen by taking a sample from the table of contents: chapters are devoted to live computer music, music theory and mu- sic cognition, machine listening, ma- chine composing and artificial intelli- gence. Again, Rowe has not attempted to cover these fields and their relation- ship in depth in one chapter each. It is clear that the book has been written for the educated reader who is already fa- miliar with the basics of these fields.

Looking more closely at the actual

clear that the book has been written for the educated reader who is already fa- miliar with the basics of these fields.

Looking more closely at the actual

1 08 Reviews 1 08 Reviews

This content downloaded from 62.122.72.154 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:30:18 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

contents of the book, I found myself at- tracted to the chapter on improvisation in live computer music, a topic that particularly interests me. I have always been struck by the "non-liveliness" of computer music, as compared to music that is performed by humans. The de- bate on how to model human expres- sion in performance is ongoing. Can it be done? Rowe discusses work by oth- ers on this fundamental issue, such as the aforementioned George Lewis, Ri- chard Teitelbaum, Jean Claude Risset, DavidJaffe, Andy Schloss, David Wessel and Cort Lippe. However, the chapter is mainly devoted to his own system, Cypher.

In Rowe's treatment of commercial interactive systems, MAX is the word; M andJam Factory are also mentioned. It is true that MAX is a great piece of soft- ware and today's "lingua franca," but there are more systems to discuss: HMSL, by David Rosenboom (whose work in the field predates Rowe's by quite a few years, but who is not men- tioned in the book); ForMuLa, by Ron Kuivila; Interactor, by Morton Subotnick and Mark Coniglio . . . George Lewis commented on the MAX proliferation by saying: "As you know, the use of Forth as a language for making interactive pieces predates the existence of MAX by at least 8 years. Well before MIT and IRCAM devised MAX, pieces were shown by Daniel Scheidt, David Behrman, Ron Kuivila, Nick Collins, Rich Gold, Martin Bartlett, Norman White, Michel Waisvisz,John Bischoff, Tim Perkins, Laetitia Sonami, Liz Phillips, Joel Ryan and quite a few oth- ers. In many ways, I feel that MAX is the institution-based computer music's an- swer to the need for musicians and com- posers for an interactive approach, not to performance, be;t to the composition of the work.... Before MAX became important, the same group of people were very excited about [the] Lisp-based environment."

It may also be called an advantage that the book isn't crammed with pages full of descriptions of all kinds of soft- and hardware systems suitable for the

. , . . . creatlon ot lnteractlve muslc systems. Instead, Rowe focuses more on underly- ing principles and theoretical consider- ations, while discussions of practical performance experiences are suffi- ciently incorporated. As Lewis put it:

contents of the book, I found myself at- tracted to the chapter on improvisation in live computer music, a topic that particularly interests me. I have always been struck by the "non-liveliness" of computer music, as compared to music that is performed by humans. The de- bate on how to model human expres- sion in performance is ongoing. Can it be done? Rowe discusses work by oth- ers on this fundamental issue, such as the aforementioned George Lewis, Ri- chard Teitelbaum, Jean Claude Risset, DavidJaffe, Andy Schloss, David Wessel and Cort Lippe. However, the chapter is mainly devoted to his own system, Cypher.

In Rowe's treatment of commercial interactive systems, MAX is the word; M andJam Factory are also mentioned. It is true that MAX is a great piece of soft- ware and today's "lingua franca," but there are more systems to discuss: HMSL, by David Rosenboom (whose work in the field predates Rowe's by quite a few years, but who is not men- tioned in the book); ForMuLa, by Ron Kuivila; Interactor, by Morton Subotnick and Mark Coniglio . . . George Lewis commented on the MAX proliferation by saying: "As you know, the use of Forth as a language for making interactive pieces predates the existence of MAX by at least 8 years. Well before MIT and IRCAM devised MAX, pieces were shown by Daniel Scheidt, David Behrman, Ron Kuivila, Nick Collins, Rich Gold, Martin Bartlett, Norman White, Michel Waisvisz,John Bischoff, Tim Perkins, Laetitia Sonami, Liz Phillips, Joel Ryan and quite a few oth- ers. In many ways, I feel that MAX is the institution-based computer music's an- swer to the need for musicians and com- posers for an interactive approach, not to performance, be;t to the composition of the work.... Before MAX became important, the same group of people were very excited about [the] Lisp-based environment."

It may also be called an advantage that the book isn't crammed with pages full of descriptions of all kinds of soft- and hardware systems suitable for the

. , . . . creatlon ot lnteractlve muslc systems. Instead, Rowe focuses more on underly- ing principles and theoretical consider- ations, while discussions of practical performance experiences are suffi- ciently incorporated. As Lewis put it: "Robert's book is excellent, but does not, I feel, pretend to be an exhaustive look at interaction as a field.... Robert's article is oriented toward com-

"Robert's book is excellent, but does not, I feel, pretend to be an exhaustive look at interaction as a field.... Robert's article is oriented toward com-

puter composition and recognition of patterns. This is only one part of interactivity.... Really, an attempt to be comprehensive would be rather irre- sponsible in my view. His book is a very well{locumented, narrowly directed work that attempts to cover many im- portant issues. How well he deals with those issues is more important to me than any attempt at a survey of the field. To my knowledge, Robert's book is the first to deal explicitly with inter- active computer performance, though there are many articles. There is lots of room for more."

The book comes with a CD-ROM full of music and software, some of which requires the presence of other software programs such as SmallTalk, LISP, or MAX. Cypher will run on any Macintosh without further specific sup- port. E-mail addresses of the authors of the software are listed in the Read Me file on the CD-ROM. I have tried out a few of the MAX patches, and some are quite intriguing. The author clearly states in the Read Me file that some parts of the software may not run, so I was warned. Indeed, some patches need specific objects to be installed properly, so users need to be informed about MAX's workings and setup. Some patches did not immediately put me into a "wow" mode. It seemed as if these patches were merely meant to demonstrate MAX in the context of in-

. . . . teractlve muslc systems, whlch 1S some- what below the level the book aims to

. . . reach, ln my estlmatlon. I was also concerned about the avail-

ability of the software supplied on the CD via the Internet i.e. for free. A quick check of three archives for music software showed me that most of the patches on the CD were not available through ftp from these sites. At the very least, Stephen Pope's contribution to the CD, "MODE," is available via the Internet.

Other contributors include Jeff Press- ing, Miller Puckette, Zack Settel, and all of the above-mentioned names ex- cept George Lewis and David Wessel. The CD also contains excerpts of a number of pieces that were publicly performed, among them "Maritime," a piece that was composed by Rowe for violinist Mari Kimura. According to her, Cypher is very reliable and conducive to expressive performance. I found

puter composition and recognition of patterns. This is only one part of interactivity.... Really, an attempt to be comprehensive would be rather irre- sponsible in my view. His book is a very well{locumented, narrowly directed work that attempts to cover many im- portant issues. How well he deals with those issues is more important to me than any attempt at a survey of the field. To my knowledge, Robert's book is the first to deal explicitly with inter- active computer performance, though there are many articles. There is lots of room for more."

The book comes with a CD-ROM full of music and software, some of which requires the presence of other software programs such as SmallTalk, LISP, or MAX. Cypher will run on any Macintosh without further specific sup- port. E-mail addresses of the authors of the software are listed in the Read Me file on the CD-ROM. I have tried out a few of the MAX patches, and some are quite intriguing. The author clearly states in the Read Me file that some parts of the software may not run, so I was warned. Indeed, some patches need specific objects to be installed properly, so users need to be informed about MAX's workings and setup. Some patches did not immediately put me into a "wow" mode. It seemed as if these patches were merely meant to demonstrate MAX in the context of in-

. . . . teractlve muslc systems, whlch 1S some- what below the level the book aims to

. . . reach, ln my estlmatlon. I was also concerned about the avail-

ability of the software supplied on the CD via the Internet i.e. for free. A quick check of three archives for music software showed me that most of the patches on the CD were not available through ftp from these sites. At the very least, Stephen Pope's contribution to the CD, "MODE," is available via the Internet.

Other contributors include Jeff Press- ing, Miller Puckette, Zack Settel, and all of the above-mentioned names ex- cept George Lewis and David Wessel. The CD also contains excerpts of a number of pieces that were publicly performed, among them "Maritime," a piece that was composed by Rowe for violinist Mari Kimura. According to her, Cypher is very reliable and conducive to expressive performance. I found most of the pieces very interesting, es- pecially those that make intensive use of real-time sound processing. It is somewhat unfortunate that the pieces

most of the pieces very interesting, es- pecially those that make intensive use of real-time sound processing. It is somewhat unfortunate that the pieces

were not recorded in full on the CD, because excerpts may give the listener the feeling that the whole piece re- sembles the fragment, when interactive systems, if they are sufficiently complex, can actually allow very weird and unex- pected things to happen. Nevertheless,

. . . some lnteractlve muslc systems a LSo tend to be somewhat indecisive about where to mark the beginning or the end of a piece, so that one CD might not even be enough . . . all in all, the music and software are both quite inter- esting collections that, together with the book, will make for some lost nights for many of us.

THE MUSIC MACHINE: SELECArlEl) READINGS I<ROM COMPUTER MUSICJOURNAL

edited by Curtis Roads. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992. Paperback, $25.00, 740 pp.

Reviewed by Axel Mulder, Koninginneweg 135-2, 1075 CL Amsterdam, the Nether- lands. E-mail: <a. mulder@velserier. nl>.

The Music Machine is an anthology cov- ering many aspects of electronic music. The chapters are reprints of articles originally published in Computer Music Journal, which Curtis Roads, editor of The Music Machine, edited for many years.

The book opens with six interviews with pioneers in the field, such as Max Mathews, James Moorer and Clarence Barlow. The interviews are especially useful because they allow the reader to

. . . . . . galn some lnslg zt lnto t ze motlvatlons that have driven developments in the field, instead of just being confronted with the developments themselves. It seems to me that developments in this field are driven more by personal moti- vations than by the needs of society in general.

Logically, composers play an impor- tant role in this book as well 12 ar- ticles are devoted to various aspects of composition in the digital domain. MIDI (two articles) and music software (13 articles) are also well covered. It should be mentioned, though, that the subject of music software is discussed in a quite product-dependent way, which makes it appear somewhat out of date. However, an equally valid consideration

were not recorded in full on the CD, because excerpts may give the listener the feeling that the whole piece re- sembles the fragment, when interactive systems, if they are sufficiently complex, can actually allow very weird and unex- pected things to happen. Nevertheless,

. . . some lnteractlve muslc systems a LSo tend to be somewhat indecisive about where to mark the beginning or the end of a piece, so that one CD might not even be enough . . . all in all, the music and software are both quite inter- esting collections that, together with the book, will make for some lost nights for many of us.

THE MUSIC MACHINE: SELECArlEl) READINGS I<ROM COMPUTER MUSICJOURNAL

edited by Curtis Roads. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992. Paperback, $25.00, 740 pp.

Reviewed by Axel Mulder, Koninginneweg 135-2, 1075 CL Amsterdam, the Nether- lands. E-mail: <a. mulder@velserier. nl>.

The Music Machine is an anthology cov- ering many aspects of electronic music. The chapters are reprints of articles originally published in Computer Music Journal, which Curtis Roads, editor of The Music Machine, edited for many years.

The book opens with six interviews with pioneers in the field, such as Max Mathews, James Moorer and Clarence Barlow. The interviews are especially useful because they allow the reader to

. . . . . . galn some lnslg zt lnto t ze motlvatlons that have driven developments in the field, instead of just being confronted with the developments themselves. It seems to me that developments in this field are driven more by personal moti- vations than by the needs of society in general.

Logically, composers play an impor- tant role in this book as well 12 ar- ticles are devoted to various aspects of composition in the digital domain. MIDI (two articles) and music software (13 articles) are also well covered. It should be mentioned, though, that the subject of music software is discussed in a quite product-dependent way, which makes it appear somewhat out of date. However, an equally valid consideration is that the techniques implemented in the software of earlier times still apply today. This dilemma is especially rel- evant to the section on synthesis and

is that the techniques implemented in the software of earlier times still apply today. This dilemma is especially rel- evant to the section on synthesis and

Reviews 1 09 Reviews 1 09

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