An Algorithm for Guiding Expectation in Free Improvisational Solo Performances
José Fornari, Stéphan Schaub · 2017
Free improvisation lets the performer to openly explore musical outcomes unbounded by any musical structure or notation. However, the human mind is naturally constrained by its own built-in habits. As such, musicians usually develop, during years of practice and aesthetic predilections, a repertoire of self-known musical patterns which are intentionally, and sometimes unconsciously, retrieved and used by them during improvisations. This work presents an algorithm that aims to retrieve in real-time similarities during sessions of free improvisation of certain specific sound features so the musician can better manage his repertoire of musical patterns instead of be unconsciously guided by habits.