Music generation has generally been focused on either creating scores or interpreting them. We discuss differences between these two problems and propose that, in fact, it may be valuable to work in the space of direct performance generation: jointly predicting the notes and also their expressive timing and dynamics. We consider the significance and qualities of the dataset needed for this. Having identified both a problem domain and characteristics of an appropriate dataset, we show an LSTM-based recurrent network model that subjectively performs quite well on this task. Critically, we provide generated examples. We also include feedback from professional composers and musicians about some of these examples.
Perhaps it is precisely because music is so often perceived as a profoundly human endeavour that there has also been, in parallel, an ongoing fascination with automating its creation. This fascination long predates notions such as the Turing test (ostensibly for discriminating automation of the most human behaviour), and has spawned a range of efforts: from attempts at the formalization of unambiguously strict rules of composition to incorporation of complete random chance into scores and performances. The use of rules exemplifies the algorithmic (and largely deterministic) approach to music generation, one that is interesting and outside the scope of the current work; for background on this we refer the reader, for example, to the text by Nierhaus @cite_1 . Our present work, on the other hand, lies in a part of the spectrum that incorporates probability and sampling.
@cite_1
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Music is an expressive form of communication often used to convey emotion in scenarios where "words are not enough". Part of this information lies in the musical composition where well-defined language exists. However, a significant amount of information is added during a performance as the musician interprets the composition. The performer injects expressiveness into the written score through variations of different musical properties such as dynamics and tempo. In this paper, we describe a model that can learn to perform sheet music. Our research concludes that the generated performances are indistinguishable from a human performance, thereby passing a test in the spirit of a "musical Turing test".