Book Cover
New Evolutionary Computer Music book published; includes Waschka Chapter and Recording
Rodney Waschka has written a chapter in the newly published book, Evolutionary Computer Music. The book also includes an audio CD that features Waschka's computer music work, Singing in Traffic, performed by Steve Duke. The chapter, called "Composing with Genetic Algorithms: GenDash", describes how Waschka created his computer program called "GenDash" that he used to help compose various pieces of music. The piece, Singing in Traffic, was originally composed for Jonathan Kramer to perform on the haegum, a Korean two-string fiddle, or other instruments. It has been performed on the haegum, cello, and various saxophones. The included recording features Steve Duke (Northern Illinois University) performing the work on soprano saxophone. The book is published by Springer (London).
The evolutionary computation approach to music is an exciting new development for composers and musicologists alike. For composers, it provides an innovative and natural means for generating musical ideas from a specifiable set of primitive components and processes. For musicologists, these techniques are used to model the cultural transmission and change of a population's body of musical ideas over time.
This book discusses not only the applications of evolutionary computation to music, but also the tools needed to create and study such systems. This book, with contributions from experts from around the globe, demonstrates that evolutionary systems can be used to create and to study musical compositions and cultures in ways that have never before been achieved.
Waschka is an internationally recognized composer known for his computer music and his theatrical works including two operas. His pieces are widely performed and have been recorded on the Capstone, Centaur, and IRIDA labels in the USA, on the PeP label in Canada, and on the Ama Romanta and Plancton labels in Portugal. His works are published by Borik Press and ACE. He is Professor of Arts Studies at North Carolina State University.
The books editors are Eduardo Reck Miranda and Al Biles. Eduardo Reck Miranda is a Professor in Computer Music at the University of Plymouth, UK, where he heads the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR). Al Biles is a Professor and the Undergraduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Information Technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.
Evolutionary Computer Music
Miranda, Eduardo Reck; Biles, John Al (Eds.) 2007, XIV, 259 p. With CD,
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-84628-599-8 London: Springer.