Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
6.2 The Field: Creative Group Improvisation
Improvisation covers a spectrum of possibilities, from the spontaneous selection
of prepared materials, which may be edited and mutated on the fly, but are made
within an agreed macro-structure (for example Indian classical music and jazz), to
the spontaneous creation of new micro-structures within a performance with (ide-
ally) no previous agreements (within a genre known as “free improvisation”, Bailey
1993
). In the latter case, any discernible macro-structures can only emerge as the
performance unwinds, since there is no single pre-defined plan or score. Other im-
provisational practices sit between these extremes. For example a rudimentary score
might serve as a partially-defined macro-structure with opportunity for personal ex-
pression on finer levels.
6.2.1 Collective Improvisation
Free improvisation is a self-referential music. Practitioners seek to avoid any overt
references to other musical genres, organisational methods or expressive devices.
We propose that collective free improvisation is the ideal context for machine im-
provisation because the system can be considered formally, and at a first approxi-
mation, as an exchange of symbols (sonic events) between data sources (people and
machines).
It has been suggested, in analogy with self-organisation in Nature, that macro-
structures may emerge as a consequence of the micro-interactions between perform-
ers (Blackwell
2001
), and they can do so without the agents being aware of the de-
veloping structure, or even of needing to be aware. This is exemplified by animal
collectives such as vast starling flocks and herring shoals which are leaderless, de-
centralised and self-organising (Bonabeau et al.
1999
). When group improvisation
is viewed as self-organising (and this may not cover all aspects of human perfor-
mance), we perceive a possibility for machine participation if the Live Algorithm
can simulate inter-performer interactions.
6.2.2 The Individual (Human or Machine) in Interaction
A human performer in a collaborative improvisational context requires a basic set
of capacities in order to participate appropriately. These capacities are as much to
do with general aspects of the human experience and social interaction as with be-
ing a good musician. However, in improvised performance they can be specifically
manifest or recognisably lacking in more or less musical terms.
6.2.2.1 Autonomy
An autonomous system, in contradistinction to an automatic system, is able to act
and respond to unknowable and unforeseen inputs, and in ways that have not been
