Nov 22, 2004 - Claremont, Calif. -

If a computer combines the works of a great composer with the style of the software's designer, who should be credited with the resulting composition -- Bach, the computer or the software designer?

Composer and UC Santa Cruz Professor of Music David Cope will discuss this and other issues at Harvey Mudd College's Dr. Bruce J. Nelson '74 Distinguished Speaker Series on Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. in Galileo Hall. Cope, whose book "Experiments in Musical Intelligence" broke ground on the subject of the origins of musical composition and artificial intelligence, uses three basic principles in his software:

• Deconstruction (analyze and separate into parts)
• Signatures (commonality -- retain that which signifies style)
• Compatibility (recombinancy -- recombine into new works)

"I began 'Experiments in Musical Intelligence' in 1981 as the result of a composer's block," Cope says. "My initial idea involved creating a computer program which would have a sense of my overall musical style and the ability to track the ideas of a current work such that at any given point I could request a next note, next measure, next ten measures, and so on. My hope was that this new music would not just be interesting but relevant to my style and to my current work."

Ray Kurzweil, inventor and author of "The Age of Intelligent Machines," "The Age of Spiritual Machines," and recent Nelson Series speaker, wrote: "If only Beethoven or Chopin could explain their methods as clearly as David Cope. So when Cope's program writes a delightful turn of musical phrase, who is the artist: the composer being emulated, Cope's software, or David Cope himself? Cope offers keen philosophical insights into this question, one that will become increasingly compelling over time. He also provides us with brilliant and unique insights into the intricate structure of humankind's most universal art form."

Following early study on piano (including an extensive performance career) and violoncello, Cope completed degrees in composition at Arizona State University and the University of Southern California. More than 70 of his published compositions have been performed thousands of times throughout the U.S. and abroad, including those by the Vermont, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Cabrillo Festival and Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestras, as well as numerous university orchestras and wind ensembles. Cope's works appear on numerous recordings and his books include "Computers and Musical Style," "Experiments in Musical Intelligence," "Techniques of the Contemporary Composer," "New Directions in Music" (7th ed.), "The Algorithmic Composer" and "Virtual Music."