Music composition as hypothesis formation: a blackboard concept of musical creativity

摘要

A theoretical sketch of music composition as hypothesis formation in a blackboard environment in presented; it is detailed both with regard to the nature of knowledge residing in the knowledge base (competence), and to the activation of that knowledge through a scheduling mechanism (performance) in the pursuit of specific goals. Both the competence and the performance model are kept completely general (unspecific with regard to particular tasks). The intent of the sketch is to clarify the notion of ‘music composition’. Emphasis is placed on two points: first, to conceive of music knowledge without an inclusion of world knowledge is unsatisfactory. Second, to explicate music knowledge without simultaneous attention to its use is insufficient. The sketch outlines a pragmatic approach to studying musical creativity.