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Computers and Music Composition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1980

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Extract

Since the launching of the first commercial computer by the American firm of Remington Rand in 1951 the world has witnessed a technological revolution of a significance which may be compared with the invention of the wheel. In recent years the escalation of manufacturing activity in this sphere has fuelled a fierce controversy over the sociological implications of a world increasingly dominated by the powers of automation. Attitudes towards computing and the arts have also tended to polarize around two points of view, one in favour of exploring the creative benefits of such a marrying of disciplines, the other firmly opposed to any further encroachment of scientific principles into the cultural spheres of human expression. The fears which give rise to the latter attitude have been fermented to a considerable extent by a natural suspicion of the unknown, and it is the purpose of this paper to identify and examine at least some of the areas of music to which the processes of computation have been applied, with particular regard to the benefits or otherwise which have accrued from such ventures.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1982 The Royal Musical Association and the Authors

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References

NOTES

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