Creative Computers - Robots Unlimited: Life in a Virtual Age - page 166

Figure 38. The music of “Push Button Bertha” and the music's composer, a Datatron
computer, from “Syncopation by Automation” by Martin Klein ( Radio Electronics ,June
1957, pages 36-38))
compose an example of song music deemed good enough, by the nation-
ally known song writer Jack Owens, for him to write the lyrics. Owens
called the song “Push Button Bertha” (see Figure 38 ) and less than one
week after he completed it there were five recordings on the market. 23
This novel success created a problem of its own—when an attempt was
made to claim copyright in the name of the computer, the U.S. Library
of Congress refused to issue a copyright certificate because they had never
before been confronted with a piece of music written by a machine.
These early efforts highlight the two most important techniques
adopted in music composition programs for the next 30 years, namely
1. The random selection of notes, each selection being constrained by
a set of rules.
and
2. Markov chains.
The first of these approaches was adopted by Lejaren Hiller and Leonard
Isaacson at the University of Illinois in Urbana, whose composition Il-
iac Suite generated a little media publicity and stimulated interest in
23 It was broadcast for the first time on the KABC-TV station in Los Angeles on 15 July 1956.