Computational Creativity and Music - Computational Creativity Research: Towards Creative Machines - page 303

hear the results as creative and another not, based on previous experience. These
notions, too, obviously play significant roles in determining whether something is
creative.
Not finished taking potshots at my definition, I would also ask whether creativity
can be pigeonholed as a single observable type. For example, few would doubt that
John Cage was creative. At the same time, how can we consider the more subtle
musical techniques created by Debussy and Schoenberg, for example, in the same
category? One—Cage—clearly revolutionized the entire definition of the meaning
of the word 'music,' while the other two revolutionized within the canon of music
itself. And, of course, there are yet further refinements that separate onework ofmusic
from another and one part of one work from another part, and many refinements exist
between these extremes that require creativity or otherwise remain stagnant.
Luckily, my definition includes these differences. At the same time, however, I
offer the following three categories to help refine what I hope will become a clearer
notion of creativity. These three areas reflect the previous distinctions: Global, Styl-
istic, and Constrained. Cage falls clearly in the Global category, as do many other
experimental composers who attempt to expand the traditional definitions of music
in their work. Debussy and Schoenberg fall into the Style category, since they clearly
mark expansions of previous music but without straining standard definitions. As for
Constrained, one would place most composers who follow whatever rules of their
time and yet attempt to expand them in their own ways as those rules allow. I note
here that these three distinctions can be applied to other areas of creativity besides
music.
My reason for explicitly defining the above categories is to ensure that readers will
find my examples of creativity clear rather than vague, and reasonably executable by
computer programs. To clarify my definition here, then, I propose to investigate the
Constrained category of creativity within traditional concert music. The computer
programs I develop, therefore, do not attempt to redefine anything or expand on a
particular style of music, but use given rules to demonstrate how those rules can be
used creatively to produce new-sounding music.
15.2 Games
Before presenting musical examples, I often find it useful to explore metaphors in
other fields—most often games for me—in that any remaining concerns regarding
definitions can be clarified.
One simple example of creativity aside from the arts is a game I often play with
family and friends. This game involves choosing three letters, any three letters, and
finding words—discounting plurals and proper names—that contain those three let-
ters grouped in the order presented. 'GST,' for example, can be found together in
'angst,' or 'RST' from 'overstuffed.' Obviously playing this game without having a
computer or dictionary available can become quite challenging, especially if you're
pulling letters out of thin air. A simple brute force approach, while possible, could