PAPIs Europe 2018

Machine learning has been making headlines with its sometimes alarming progress in skills previously thought to be the preserve of the human. What will become of music now that machines are capable of composing it? In our engineering and creative research, we are applying deep learning methods to model transcriptions of traditional music of Ireland and the UK. These models, trained on over 23,000 tunes, can then become creative partners in making new music. Several composers have worked with our models to compose dozens of new pieces, both within and outside the conventions of the traditional music on which the models were trained. This shows the exciting potential for such machines for augmenting human creativity, and opening new avenues for music practice.