No New Noise
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No New Noise

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Tell us about no new noise? no new noise is the debut performance from ACME, the Australian Creative Music Ensemble. Three composers have been asked to respond to the question of how musicians and composers will react when artificial intelligence develops creativity, starts writing music and begins to replace them.

 

What makes music distinctly human? Music has been distinctly human as it’s rooted in creativity and imagination. But now we’re on the cusp of computers being creative and making aesthetic decisions, I’m not sure we’ll be able to claim that for much longer.

 

How does improvisation come into play throughout the performance? One of the pieces is electric sheep. It’s halfway between a musical composition and a video game, and involves a computer program creating instructions in real time and giving them to the players. Most of these instructions are open-ended, like a mood, a key centre, or a shape, and it’s up to the musicians to interpret and create new ways to respond to these commands.

 

Is the dichotomy between technology and creativity flawed? In the past technology and creativity have been intrinsically linked, with technology aiding creativity. But we’re about to enter a very interesting time where technology itself becomes creative and can solve problems and create new works. I’ve got no idea where that will lead, and I don’t know if it’s exciting or scary.

 

What will music sound like in 10,000 years? 10,000 years ago we had singing and small flutes made from bone. 1,000 years ago we had begun to write music down to share it, and had a few simple string and keyboard instruments. In the past 100 years we’ve had the birth of jazz, rock’n’roll, recording, amplification, electric guitars, synthesizers and computer music. I can’t even imagine what music will sound like in another ten years, let alone 10,000.