Abstract
This paper presents a summary of my keynote address discussing the differences between real-time composition (RTC) and improvisation. A definition of real-time composition is presented, as well as a summary discussion of its theoretical framework. Finally, a comparison between RTC and improvisation is done taking into account Richard Ashley’s discussion of improvisation from a psychological perspective [1], which provides an interesting insight in this distinction. RTC is then redefined as improvised composition with computers, and the possibilities of RTC existing outside of computer music are also briefly addressed.
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Acknowledgments
To Rui Penha and Matthew Davies for the kind invitation to deliver this keynote address. To George Sioros, Rui Dias, Gilberto Bernardes, Konstantinos Trochidis, and Akshay Anantapadmanabhan for the brainstorms and their commitment on the projects that led to the refinement of these ideas. Some of this work was done in the realm of project “Cross-disciplinary and multicultural perspectives on musical rhythm” funded through NYU Abu Dhabi Institute’s Research Enhancement Fund grant. Earlier work of mine on RTC was part of project “Kinetic controller, driven, adaptive and dynamic music composition systems” funded by the ERDF through the Program COMPETE, by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Project ref. FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-011414, UTAustin/CD/0052/2008.
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Guedes, C. (2018). Composing and Improvising. In Real Time. In: Aramaki, M., Davies , M., Kronland-Martinet, R., Ystad, S. (eds) Music Technology with Swing. CMMR 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11265. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01692-0_29
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