How to compose music with a recipe (Arvo Pärt, Xenakis and others)

Using algorithms to generate music can seem a bit 'inhuman', but for many of us composers they're an essential part of the process. In this video I look at some of the ways composers use algorithms. Many thanks to Matthew Rose and Ben Levin!

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Videos
Ray Kurzweil on I've Got a Secret

AI Mozart

Arvo Part Fur Alina
Iannis Xenakis - ST/10-1,080262
Per Norgard Voyage into the Golden Screen


Research
Algorithmic Composition
David Cope Interview:
Generate music out of words Guido-style
Guido:
Xenakis
Arvo Part
Musical Algorithms overview
Euclidian Rhythms
(The plugin shown is Euclidian Sequencer for Max for Live)
Brief history of Algorithms
John Clinton's Combinatorial Music Machine
Algorithms to Live By
Online Encyclopaedia of Integer Sequences
Per Norgard's Infinity Series
Recaman Sequence Numberphile

[gemmachaos]

"Woah, this video is nearly as trippy as Ben Levin's recent stuff..."
*Ben Levin shows up*
*head explodes*

[BenLevin]

This is a pedagogical masterpiece! I knew about like 2 algorithmic approaches before, but now I know about a bunch, but more importantly I am excited to use them in my music! Thank you for your devotion to your art, it’s really inspiring!

[creatief_met_kaas]

Editing is like Terry Gilliam mixed with Wario Ware. Weirdly nostalgic.

[hallamhal]

"If we change the sound to marimba and start overlapping we quickly get"
A ringtone?

[DavidBennettPiano]

Brilliant video and great visuals too! Nicely done 🤖

[fikradas]

Wow you really surpassed yourself for the editing in this one, love the illustrations !

[yuvalne]

Numberphile and the OEIS are two things I didn't expect to appear in a David Bruce video.

[Tantacrul]

Can I please get that machine as a guest on my channel? I just love it :) haha

[ernestogramsch]

omg three of my favorite youtube channels in one video
-numberphile
-ben levin
-david bruce
rock on!

[ListeningIn]

This is really inspirational. It both highlights the importance of some sort of algorithmic approach to composition, but also recognises that a more formulaic approach to writing music doesn't necessarily mean that either the music will be banal, or, at the other end of the spectrum, esoteric and impenetrable. You show that with your lush string piece! Also, the editing on this is amazing. It must have taken forever!

[alonamaloh]

Many musical conventions that have been used for centuries are algorithms in some sense. For instance, the sonata form is a recipe that says something like "Write a theme A and a theme B; Start with the exposition of A, then the exposition of B, then a section of increasing tension that plays with both A and B, then a re-exposition of A, etc.". Doesn't that sound like an algorithm?

[sh]

Very insightful! One of my favourite electronic music composers has recently said that even if they could, they wouldn't share the software they created themselves to help them make music, because even though algorithms definitely play a role, they still need the composer to play them. The software, the algorithms don't do anything without the player. They're all just instruments! It is up to us to make use of them in meaningful ways. And that is ultimately deeply tied to being human.

[KleversonRoyther]

I feel like I'm watching Monty Python and I love it!

[xencage]

Wow! Someone finally mentioned Norgard! I’ve been mentioning the infinity series to several of the folks who do music theory videos, but no dice😝

[SteffenThole]

I'm only halfway through the video, but I had to jump down to write how much I love the editing in this, and your interaction with it! It sprouts with creativity and charm, which shows that you're not really limited by your skills – or rather you perfectly worked within those limits. It's brilliant.

[lachlanblackwood]

This is my favourite video on YouTube.

[Bigandrewm]

Speaking of algorithms, I've never found the purely random ones like using the digits of PI to be all that interesting as a basis to create music. I definitely dig using highly structured sequences as compositional tools. Norgard's "infinity series" reminds me of another highly ordered set of sequences: superpermutations.

[aylbdrmadison]

Speaking of composing and inspiration: 1:36 I used to go for walks in the forest with my electric guitar and that exact same little marshall amp on the shelf, just to our left of Davids ear.

[gavinwild]

David's been upping his editing game during the lockdown!

[onetouchtwo]

As a software engineer and musician, bless you for covering this topic!!