Today’s Google Doodle offers to harmonize two bars of music in Bach’s “signature style.” I tried “Surfer Girl” and “Take the ‘A’ Train” — the results were underwhelming. But as Anne Midgette writes in The Washington Post,
It may only add to the doodle’s charm that what it actually proves is the opposite of what it sets out to do. Nobody can compose like Bach. Especially not a machine.
A couple of related links:
ReplyDeleteKircher’s Mechanical Composer: A Software Implementation: https://jbum.com/papers/kircher_paper.pdf
Scott Tresham and Ben Didier's C.P.E. Bach machine: http://scottonwriting.net/BachMachine/
Despite their “interesting-ness”, years after discovering them I’ve never felt the need to try them.
Steven
Thanks for sharing the links.
ReplyDeleteI know something of Athanasius Kircher from the Museum of Jurassic Technology.
The C.P.E. Bach machine made six good measures for me. But it’s working with a finite set of materials, which means a more plausible result.