Generative Music for Live Performance: Experiences with real-time notation

Notation is the traditional method for composers to specify detailed relationships between musical events. However, the conventions under which the tradition evolved – controlled relationships between two or more human performers – were intended for situations apart from those found in electroacoustic music. Many composers of electroacoustic music have adopted the tradition for mixed media works that use live performers, and new customs have appeared that address issues in coordinating performers with electroacoustic elements. The author presents generative music as one method of avoiding the fixedness of tape music: coupled with real-time notation for live performers, generative music is described as a continuation of research into expressive performance within electroacoustic music by incorporating instrumentalists rather than synthetic output. Real-time score generation is described as a final goal of a generative system, and two recent works are presented as examples of the difficulties of real-time notation.