Research Forum - Oded Ben-Tal and David Dolan - 20 November 2024

Описание: ‘ConcerTalk: Real-time improvisation between a human pianist and an AI-driven system’

Oded Ben-Tal (Kingston University) and David Dolan (Guildhall School of Music and Drama)

Since 2022, Dr. O. Ben-Tal and Prof. D. Dolan have been developing a practice-led creative-research project on the capacity of generative AI to become a performing partner to a human player in real-time improvisation. Generative AI is a much-hyped, transformative technology, capable of producing artefacts that resemble human creations in some ways. Improvisation melds together most aspects of music – listening, performing, creating, evaluating – live and in real-time. Dolan’s improvisations are based on an expanded tonal-modal idiom but do not conform to a specific musical style nor adhere to a preplanned scheme such as a chord progression. A system of the kind Ben-Tal developed would, therefore, need to maintain dialogue with Dolan in an unknowable context – a significant challenge for current AI technology. The computer ‘listens’ to the pianist (extracting musical data from microphone input) and generates responses in real-time during the performance, based on this data on the one hand and generative compositional processes programmed by Ben-Tal. The result is a new form of musical dialogue, created by the possibilities of new technology and drawing on the wealth of 300 years of music making. However, the system is not an autonomous, fully automated improvisor. Ben-Tal is operating the system by adjusting parameters affecting the system’s behaviour during the performance. This project emerged out of an AHRC funded research network Datasounds, datasets and datasense: Unboxing the hidden layers between musical data, knowledge and creativity. Currently, this research is supported by a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation Creative musical dialogues between human and machine: a novel approach to studying improvisation and joint action in collaboration with Dr. O. De Manzano from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics.
In the research forum Dolan and Ben-Tal will perform their improvisations and also explain how this duo works. They will answer questions about this work and hope that the music and ideas presented will provide stimulation for interesting conversations.

Oded Ben-Tal is a composer and researcher working at the intersection of music, computing, and cognition. His compositions range from traditionally notated pieces, to interactive pieces for performers and real-time electronics and multimedia work. In recent years he is particularly interested in applying cutting edge computational tools in music including machine learning and machine listening. Since 2016 he has been researching music Artificial 'Intelligence' and using different AI tools for making music. This work was enabled by by several AHRC grants  and involved  collaborations with scientists, musicologists, engineers and musicians.  He is currently working with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt on human+AI improvisation supported by funding from the Volkswagen Foundation. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Performing Arts, Kingston University, London.

Professor David Dolan, an international concert pianist, researcher and educator has devoted a part of his career to the revival of the art of classical improvisation and its applications in performance. In his world-wide solo and chamber music performances, he returns to the tradition of incorporating extemporisations within repertoire in embellished repeats, eingangs & cadenzas, as well as improvised preludes, interludes and fantasies. 
His research focuses on searching for and applying expressive narrative and creativity to repertoire and improvised performance in solo and ensemble situations. 
Yehudi Menuhin’s response to this CD, “When Interpretation and Improvisation Get Together”, was: “David Dolan is giving new life to classical music.” 
David is a professor of classical improvisation and its application on solo and chamber music performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he is the head of the Centre for Creative Performance and Classical Improvisation. He also teaches at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and has been conducting masterclasses and workshops in major music centres and festivals worldwide.