Improvisation and Learning

This article presents a 2-phase computational learning model and application. As a demonstration, a system has been built, called CHIME for Computer Human Interacting Musical Entity. In phase 1 of training, recurrentback-propagationtrains the machine to reproduce3 jazz melodies. The recurrent network is expanded and is further trained in phase 2 with a reinforcementlearning algorithm and a critique producedby a set of basic rules for jazz improvisation. After each phase CHIME can interactively improvise with a human in real time. 1 Foundations Jazz improvisation is the creation of a jazz melody in real time. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, and Sonny Rollins et al. were the founders of bebop and post bop jazz [9] where drummers, bassists, and pianists keep the beat and maintain harmonic structure. Other players improvise over this structure and even take turns improvising for 4 bars at a time. This is called trading fours. M...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2001
• Where: NIPS
• Authors: Judy A. Franklin
• Keywords: Jazz, Jazz Improvisation, Jazz Melodies, NIPS 2001, NIPS 2007