Computer-aided musical composition with emotive constraints

Abstract

As the application of computers in the musical world continues to grow, the art and practice of composing music is shifting towards the use of specialized software tools. Computer music has led us to explore totally new areas such as digital sound design and algorithmic composition. Several attempts have been made by numerous researchers to build software programs that try to imitate the composition talent of humans, some of which can be considered fruitful efforts. Nevertheless, the consideration of emotions in musical composition has frequently been left aside. The importance of music to the composer, performer and listener is greatly attributed to the emotion that is expressed or invoked. It is therefore crucial for the world of digital music to have systems that effectively consider the emotive perspectives of music. In this project we design and build a system that aids composers in writing music in a way that expresses an emotion chosen by themselves. Apart from directing the composer emotionally, the assistant also provides musical guidance by following concepts similar to those in expert systems. Five orchestral string instruments will be used and the sound generation is triggered by MIDI. The evaluation of the artefact was made by composing six music extracts expressing different emotions. Ten subject users listened to these pieces and uttributcd un emotion for cuch. The results obtuincd from this exercise by comparing the emotion set for each piece and those attributed by the users, are considered to be significantly close in most cases.