Scottish Fantasy’ and AIVA: Machine Learning in Classical Music
by Hoh Xi Ting
Introduction
Before anything else, I would like to invite you, dear reader, to listen to these two excerpts for two minutes each. Whether you are a classical connoisseur, or completely inexperienced in the world of classical music, I would like for you to try to listen and make a mental note of any differences or characteristics that you notice. Pause for a moment here if you would like to try it out for yourself.
Analysis
The two excerpts started out the same way: a slow, mellow, low brass melody, later joined by a violin solo. However, that’s where the similarities end. The first piece is Symphonic Fantasy in a minor, Op.21, “Genesis”, composed in 2016 by AIVA, and Artificial Intelligence that creates music. The second piece is Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy, composed around the year 1880. Now, what could these two pieces, born more than a century apart, even composed by different species, have to do with each other? Well, let us begin with artificial intelligence.
AI and Art
Artificial intelligence is a term that is tossed around rather freely in online discourse. However, these discussions tend to focus on the practical and logical, and less on the creative and artistic. AI in art is as interesting as it is controversial, as we will see later in this article.
Recently, and for the first time, an AI-generated artwork was awarded the blue ribbon along with a $300 cash prize at the prestigious Colorado State Fair 2022.
Théâtre D’opéra Spatial was made using the discord bot Midjourney.
Midjourney AI is a revolutionary artificial intelligence algorithm that produces original artwork based on a line of text you enter, giving us 4 different renderings each with 4 variations, and we can pick which one we like best. The visual novel Star Maker, which started selling just recently, is an impressive 706-page-long comic book based on the book with the same title. Every panel in that book was generated using Midjourney AI too.
AI and Music
Apart from visual art, AI can now compose music. AIVA, or Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistant, is currently at the forefront of music creation. AIVA was developed in Luxembourg to specialise in creating music in the style of classical. Since its creation in February of 2016, AIVA was fed sheet music composed by different human composers, notably Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach. From just that, the algorithm uses deep learning to observe the music theory, composition, and harmony to create its pieces, such as the one you listened to before.
AIVA
If you have learned music theory, you would know how painful it is to remember the obscene number of rules: the intervals, the progressions, the sevenths… the list goes on. And yet, AIVA is saved from knowing these rules, giving it speed and versatility, but at the cost of depth and richness, qualities possessed by many classical pieces. These qualities are brought to life by the composer’s personal take on tone colours, interval ranges, instruments’ tonal qualities, and most importantly, the composer’s own emotions. All of these and more are present in Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy.
The connection between Bruch and AI
The way Bruch composed Scottish Fantasy can be compared to deep learning and the way AIVA works. During the years of its composition, Bruch was land bound, not having the opportunity to visit Scotland. Fortunately, he was not completely devoid of resources. Referencing traditional Scottish folk music, “Through the Wood Laddie”, “The Dusty Miller”, “I’m A’ Doun for Lack O’ Johnnie”, and “Scots Wha Hae”, Bruch was able to very accurately depict the atmosphere of Scotland with just the help of these scores. Sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?
Back to the Pieces
The key difference between Genesis and Scottish Fantasy is their composers. One was a human, and another was an algorithm. This is a world of a difference. Humans can feel, and their emotions are reflected in the composition as themes, harmonies, and the occasional, but well-placed discordant chord. There is direction, tension building up to a climax, and a satisfying finale.
However, this is from my perspective as a classically trained, avid listener of classical music. To the layman majority, the differences between the two pieces may be indistinguishable. This is the exact reason why AIVA has proven to be successful and very much useful in today’s music industry. Using AI to compose music reduces the workload for music producers, especially in areas where the richness or the quality is not the focus but instead the atmosphere and emotion it evokes, like game music.
Furthermore, many of us have developed a bias against AI-produced art and tend to prefer art produced by humans. If you were to be given a choice between AI art and human art, without looking at the piece itself, which would you be more inclined to pick? Some people believe that AI-creating art will lead to breakthroughs and the popularisation of modern art, while others think that AI-produced art totally and wholly defeats the purpose of art creation, which includes the expression of emotions and thoughts. How can AI express anything if it has no emotions, to begin with?
At this point in time, AI-produced classical music has not yet reached the level of complexity and taste that human composers in the centuries past have harnessed within their creations. However, in the future, it is very possible that AI will inherit the ingenuity of human artists, and even surpass us.
References
- Basic background information about AIVA
Wikipedia Contributors. (2022, August 7). AIVA. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIVA - Basic background information about the Scottish Fantasy piece
Wikipedia Contributors. (2022, September 30). Scottish Fantasy. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Fantasy - Details about Théâtre D’opéra Spatial, creator, news, method, concept behind it etc.
3.1
Kuta, S. (2022, September 6). Art Made With Artificial Intelligence Wins at State Fair. Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/artificial-intelligence-art-wins-colorado-state-fair-180980703/
3.2
AI Wins a Prize at an Art Show. So Are Human Artists Finished? (2022, September 6). Mind Matters. https://mindmatters.ai/2022/09/ai-wins-a-prize-at-an-art-show-so-are-human-artists-finished/ - Details about Star Maker visual novel
Bastian, M. (2022, September 14). IT worker uses AI to create stunning 706-page sci-fi graphic novel. THE DECODER. https://the-decoder.com/it-worker-uses-ai-to-create-stunning-706-page-sci-fi-graphic-novel/ - Inspiration for my descriptions of Scottish Fantasy (subjective)
Weddle, R. (2017, February 20). Living in Light of Fantasy: On Max Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy.” CiRCE Institute. https://circeinstitute.org/blog/blog-living-light-fantasy/
