ALGORITHMIC COMPOSITION
Reading List


Books and Published Articles

Bregman, Albert S. Auditory scene analysis: the perceptual organization of sound. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1990.

Cope, David. "Algorithmic Composition". New Directions in Music, 7th ed., ch. 8, pp. 159-181. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 2001. (c.f., Bibliography, pp. 246-247)

Dodge, Charles and Thomas A. Jerse. Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition, and Performance, 2nd ed. NewYork: Schirmer Books, 1997. Ch. 11, pp. 341-401.

Kosko, Bart. Fuzzy Thinking. New York: Hyperion, 1993.

Lerdahl, Fred and Ray Jackendoff. A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1983.

Lerdahl, Fred and Ray Jackendoff. "Toward a Formal Theory of Music". Journal of Music Theory, v. 21, pp. 111-172.

Moles, Abraham A. Information theory and esthetic perception. Translated by Joel F. Cohen. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1968. (Originally published by Flammarian, Paris, 1958.)

Moore, F. Richard. Elements of Computer Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990. Ch. 5, pp. 397-454.

Pritchett, James. The Music of John Cage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. "Chart Systems: Music of Changes", pp. 78-88.

Roads, Curtis. The Computer Music Tutorial. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1996. (c.f., Bibliography)

Rowe, Robert. Interactive Music Systems. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992.

Rowe, Robert. Machine Musicianship. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2001. Ch. 5, pp. 201-234.

Schank, Roger C. and Robert P. Abelson. Scripts, plans, goals, and understanding : an inquiry into human knowledge structures. Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates, 1977. pp. 3-10, 36-42.

Searle, John. "Minds, Brains, and Programs". The Behavioral Brain Sciences, vol 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.

Todd, Peter. "A connectionist approach to algorithmic composition". Computer Music Journal, 13:4 (1989), pp. 27-43.

Turing, Alan M. "Computing Machinery and Intelligence". Mind, 59:236 (1950).

Williams, J. Kent. Theories and Analyses of Twentieth-Century Music. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997. "Minimalism", pp. 310-321.

Xenakis, Iannis. Formalized music; thought and mathematics in composition. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1972. (Published as Musiques formelles, Paris, 1963.) pp. 1-16.

York, Wes. "For John Cage". The Music of Morton Feldman (DeLio, Thomas, ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996. pp. 145-195.


Web Articles

Burns, Kristine H. "Algorithmic Composition".

Clark, James J. "Algorithmic Composition [Using the Nord Modular System]".

Dobrian, Christopher. "Algorithmic Generation of Temporal Forms: Hierarchical Organization of Stasis and Transition".

Dobrian, Christopher. "Computer Pitch Techniques in Musical Composition".

Dobrian, Christopher. "Music and Artificial Intelligence".

Dobrian, Christopher. "Music Programming".

DuBois, Roger Luke. Applications of Generative String-Substitution Systems in Computer Music (.pdf document)

Elsea, Peter. Fuzzy Primer (.pdf document)

Elsea, Peter. Fuzzy Logic and Musical Decisions (.pdf document)

Laske, Otto. "Algorithmic Composition in the New Century".

Maurer, John A., IV "A Brief History of Algorithmic Composition".

Peterson, Ivars. Mozart's Melody Machine.

Reich, Steve. Steve Reich on "Pendulum Music".

Sturm, Bob L. "Synthesis and Algorithmic Composition Techniques Derived from Particle Physics". (.pdf document)


This page was last modified August 25, 2003.
Christopher Dobrian
dobrian@uci.edu