Class notes are reminders of some of the main points discussed in class. They are not always presented in a rigorous format.
Cybernetics.
From the Greek word κυβερνήτης (kybernētēs, steersman, governor, pilot, or rudder — the same root as government).
It was defined by Norbert Wiener in his book Cybernetics (1948). Here are some definitions:
Norbert Wiener - “the study of control and communication in the animal and the machine”.
A. N. Kolmogorov - "a science concerned with the study of systems of any nature which are capable of receiving,
storing, and processing information so as to use it for control".
Gregory Bateson - "a branch of mathematics dealing with problems of control, recursiveness, and information".
Stafford Beer - "the science of effective organization"-Stafford Beer
Gordon Pask - "the art and science of manipulating defensible metaphors".
Heinz von Foerster - "Should one name one central concept, a first principle, of cybernetics, it would be
circularity.".
Announcement of 1987 ASC conference in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois - "Cybernetics: when I reflect on the
dynamics of observed systems and on the dynamics of the observer-whence 'creative cybernetics': when I
project the dynamics of a system I would like to observe"
Herbert Brün - "the ability to cure all temporary truth of eternal triteness".
See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTf1OysqCV4&feature=related
Herbert Brun was a remarkable personality; samples of his thinking maybe found in When Music Resist Meaning The Major
Writings of Herbert Brün, (Arun Chandra ed.). We listened in class to one of his compositions, I toLD You so, created with
his original system Sawdust.
Cybernetics describes a system that has a goal, it is causal, and contains circular chains leading to a continuous feedback.
Cellular automata. A pioneer of cybernetics and cellular automata was John von Neumann with his cellular
automaton. Other important names are John Conway whose Game of Life became widely popular and Stephen Wolfram,
professor at UIUC. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automata. They have been used in music in similar
ways to Markov chains, to create sequences of elements or states of the system; a particular application consists in
controlling the behavior of partial in complex waves (sounds).
A very good description of cellular automata can be found at:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ElementaryCellularAutomaton.html.
Somewhat related, neural networks, originally based on biological neurons. It can be imagined that each neuron
represents a sound in a composition interacting with other sounds/neurons in rather complex ways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_network
Also, look at Predator and Prey relationships:
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/predation/predation.html.
and volterratime.gif
More from Herbert Brün.
Q. Under what circumstances is a person a composer ?
A. As soon as a person wishes to bring about something which to the best of his knowledge would never happen without
him, he embarks on a process of creation. If, in addition to that, his interest lies in putting things together – establishing
connections between things – that otherwise would not connect themselves, and if he then connects them in such a way that
they now have a meaning and sense that without these connections they did not have, then he is a composer.
(from When Music Resists Meaning)
Stages of the compositional process:
Chaos
Experimental
Speculative
Reflective
Administrative
(in From Musical Ideas to Computers and Back in The Computer and Music, Harry Lincoln ed.)
Floating hierarchies. So that there be hierarchies, and so that these hierarchies float -Each member of the ensemble is top or center, yet also initial interpreter and linguist of one movement: a
temporary, therefore acceptable hierarchical structure. The movements show in preparation and performance how useful
and indispensable hierarchies can be, if they are kept afloat, if they float from any one to any other and are protected against
stability.
(from When Music Resists Meaning)