Bill Pirkle wrote:

>My generated music works on this principle:
>
>It uses the approach taken by those who photograph models for magazine
>covers.  The model does not pose, she (or he) begins a series of movements
>with her body, throwing her hair back, smiling, twisting, throwing her arms
>up in the air.  The photographer is busy rapidly taking photographs of her.
>Then, the photographs (usually 36) are developed and laid out on a table.
>The photographer then looks for that great picture that could have never
>been posed for.  The camera caught her head going back, with her hair in
>the air, and that certain look in her eyes and that certain smile at just
>the right time with her body and arms in just the right position.

Please-- this analogy between classical music composition and photography
doesn't work.  With the photograper and model, you begin with a beautiful
subject; the experienced and tasteful photograher establishes the setting
and lighting; the movements of said subject are NOT random, but constrained
by the possibilities of the human anatomy and the experience and
intelligence of the model as to what is beautiful.  This then is followed
by the judgement of the photographer from among his limited choices, and
further enhanced by how he prints, crops, etc.  It sounds to me more like
the analogy you want is an infinite number of monkeys banging away at
typewriters in hopes of composing King Lear.  I hope your program is more
intelligent than that!  And by the way, Beethoven et al didn't generate
long lines of music randomly and stumble across tunes that pleased them;
they had specific shapes in mind.  While Mozart may have had a genius for
instinctively finding the melodies that met his intentions, Beethoven had
to struggle to find the right choices--but in both cases, and I'm sure in
most others, there was a meta-composition each composer was striving to
fill out with melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.  If your program begins with
such a meta-composition--either internally or supplied by the user, then
there's a chance it can create decent music.  Assuming, of course, that the
program is smart enough to know what musical elements to use to achieve
those desired effects.  And since the desired effects, at least in the
music that is most appealing to CM lovers--18th to early 20th Century --
are EMOTIONAL effects, whether or not anyone is willing to name said
emotions, if your program can do that, then you, too, would deserve the
accolade with which Schumann greeting the appearance of Brahms (Or maybe
it was Chopin), "Hats off, gentlemen: a genius!" Good luck.

Dave Wolf
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