Emily Howell is due to release her first CD of classical compositions on the Centaur label. Surely that’s not worthy of SOS news? Ordinarily you’d be right, except that Emily is a computer programme. Written by David Cope, a composer and music professor from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Emily uses a unique method of analysing databases of works of great composers and re-synthesising them into unique compositions. Input from David guides Emily on her path to musical perfection.
Emily Howell evolved form EMI, a previous incarnation of the composition software, which took Dr. Cope 22-years to write. While EMI was designed to compose in the style of dead composers, creating brand new Bachs and Beethovens, Emily (it is claimed) has a style all of her own. Opinion is divided: is Emily a threat to human creativity or an incredible tool? Is she the start of AI? Most interestingly, how different is her learning and creating process to that of a human composer? Emily has been featured on BBC Radio 4 and Newsnight on BBC 2, and some disgruntled composers have even issued death threats to the programme.
David Cope’s web site contains more details, and a quick search will yield much discussion, or you can head on over to
our forum and talk about Emily there.
