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12.8
Concluding Remarks
Research into BCMI often is devoted to technical aspects of building BCMI sys-
tems, which is not surprising giving the plethora of technical dif
culties that need to
be addressed to implement a decent system. In this chapter, however, we ventured
to explore the creative potential of the science and technology behind BCMI
research: music neurotechnology.
We introduced an approach to music composition informed by the notion that
the neural patterns and the corresponding mental images of objects and events
around us are creations of the brain prompted by the information we receive
through our senses. In the case of music, even though humans have identical
mechanisms for processing the basics of sound, music as such is a construction of
the brain. Indeed, there is increasing hard evidence that this construction differs
from person to person. When we listen to music, sounds are deconstructed as soon
as they enter the ear. Different streams of neuronally coded data travel through
distinct auditory pathways towards cortical structures, such as the auditory cortex
and beyond, where the data are reconstructed and mingled with data from other
senses and memories, into what is perceived as music.
Metaphorically speaking, the compositional approach that we developed to
compose
Symphony of Minds Listening
did to the Beethoven score what our hearing
system does when we listen to music: sounds are deconstructed as they enter the ear
and are relayed through various pathways towards cortical structures, where the
data are then reconstructed into what is perceived as music.
We would like to highlight that the composition of the piece evolved in tandem
with the development of the MusEng software. Some of MusEng
'
s functionalities
were
firstly applied manually to compose a section of the piece, before they were
implemented in software to aid the composition of other sections. The composi-
tional practice therefore informed the design of the software, and the design of the
software in
uenced the compositional practice. We believe that this is an important
shift of paradigm from most scenarios of using computers in music. A piece of
software is often developed from abstract speci
cations and tested only after it has
been almost fully implemented. Moreover, composers are often confronted with
software that does not always do what it needs to do. Our paradigm to systems
development may not be as cost-effective as more standard methods, as it requires
much more time to develop. However,
cant opportunity for
composers to actively participate in the design process. As we continue developing
this work, more and more procedures emerging from the left-hand side of the block
diagram in Fig.
12.5
will certainly make its way to the right-hand side.
We believe that Music Neurotechnology provides musicians with an unprece-
dented opportunity today to develop new approaches to music that would have been
unthinkable a few years ago. This chapter unveiled only the tip of the iceberg.
it opens a signi
