Fusing creative operations into evolutionary computation for composition: From a composer's perspective

Chun-yien Chang, Ying-Ping Chen

Abstract: This paper presents a study on fusing creative operations into evolutionary computation for music composition, as an attempt to provide a collaborative creation environment between human and machine and to investigate into the mind process during music creation. A framework based on the paradigm of evolutionary computation is proposed to incorporate key mechanisms observed in the creation process and implemented to work on evolving abstract musical ideas and thoughts. The developed software framework is released as open source. The collaborative creation process, involving the framework, the composer, and the performer, is presented and discussed, and the results of this study also include a composed music work for unaccompanied cello, played by a renowned cellist.