Author: Joe Pascual

Music: The Only Thing Artificial Intelligence Can’t Do Better Than Humans

Joe PascualLeave a comment

PICTURE THIS

Imagine a world where music fills the room based on the weather of the day, the time, and whatever the current mood that the social media feeds from the smartphone. Surprisingly, this jazz version of Tupac Shakkur’s “Hit Em’ Up” fits the victorious, yet classy air about the Facebook status update about the new job promotion.

The heart rate feed on the smartphone device picks up the increased beats per minute from the dancing couple in the room and the song swings a bit more and the volume increases. The sensors in the couch cushions trigger from the panting, giddy couples and the music app to switch to “relax mode”, causing the song to into a sobering Chopin Nocturne.

Yet, this isn’t a Chopin Nocturne; it’s a freshly created tune made by artificial intelligence (AI).

While this is mere speculation of AI, the emerging technology is the smoldering ember in our world that is predicted to disrupt many business industries: transportation, finance, shipping and logistics to name a few.

WHAT’S TO FEAR?

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Artificial Intelligence (AI), is the capability of a computer to leverage its ability to process data and learn. IBM’s supercomputer, Deep Blue, was able to calculate thousands of outcomes and win against the chess master, Garry Kasparov in chess.

Elon Musk says, “There certainly will be job disruption. Because what’s going to happen is robots will be able to do everything better than us. … I mean all of us,”.

With that bold statement, jobs requiring rote repetition, precise calculations, and ample dexterity are skills that robots can do without human error–and are skills you can easily find in any musician’s practice room.

IT CAN DO WHAT?

With no doubt, AI and robots can certainly perfect the technical side of music: rhythm, accuracy, and pitch. Heck, AI can even compose songs!

Anything a monkey musician can do, AI and robots will be programmed for flawless performance. But before you throw out your instruments into a flaming pit, note that the mentioned composition was actually curated by a human.

Yes, technology did most of the heavy lifting of finding chords and melodies. The human helped by refining the fine nuances of the song to make it musically appealing to our ears. So far, the AI we currently have can only vaguely replicate similar songs without human interaction.

Otherwise put, AI can make the house, but humans are still here to make it a home.

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CHOCOLATE MILK INFUSED CLAM LINGUINE

You’ve might’ve heard about the robot A.I. chef by IBM named Watson. Watson has the ability to scan its memory for thousands of ingredients, analyze the flavors and relationships of those ingredients, then use that knowledge to compose while unique, sometimes not always delicious recipes.

It seems that Watson could be the program to take on the music world if it could break down songs into “ingredients” and “flavors”, then use that knowledge to whip some “tasty” tunes; but, much like cooking for all the different taste in the world, music has its variety as well.

artificial-banana-banting-208450.jpgBy today’s standards, Watson gastronomy prowess can often suggest radically different things such as adding milk chocolate to a clam linguine or mayonnaise to a Bloody Mary. It doesn’t take an Iron Chef to know those won’t taste good or perfect pitch to know that Frank Sinatra remixed with K-Pop probably won’t be a hit anytime soon.

HAKUNA MATATA!

But maybe you’d like mayo in your bloody mary! Someday K-Pop infused Frank Sinatra remixes will be all the rage! That’s the beauty of subjectivity and music lends its appeal to preferences of listeners.

These preferences are subjective to cultural influences, emotional moods, and downright whatever affects the way you feel about certain song due to how you feel about that person who composed it.

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Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde is a musical masterpiece in my opinion, but knowing his antisemitic tendencies does hamper my capacity to fully enjoy his music.

So take into account that even if robots do get the perfect musical facility and compose with the knowledge of all the greatest musicians who ever lived, that the enjoyment from listeners relies on factors that are totally human.

Musicians, keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t worry, because in the end, robots can drive better, play sharper chess, and think of some hilarious recipes, but they can’t control how people will react to their music.

Hakuna Matata.

 

Using Improv to Boost Student Creativity

Joe PascualLeave a comment

Music is a wonderful tool to express thoughts, feelings, and emotions in ways that can only be felt. During lessons, away from the meticulous scales and breaking down of rhythmic values, the student truly yearns to simply play! For isn’t that the reason why students want to learn music in the first place?

You can just see the pure joy in Avrianna’s expressions during our creation of her Unicorn Song. 

So if you see a drop in your student’s motivation to learn, perhaps trying something out of the box. If you don’t know where to start, here are some steps to using the power of spontaneity to encourage your student to keep going.

1. Pick a Simple Harmonic Progression

In the video, I played the famous Canon by Pachelbel (but in C). It’s a predictable and repeatable progression that allows the student to improvise in one easy key for the whole song.

Even if your student is more advanced and can handle more complex changes, I still recommend simplifying it so that your student can focus more on expression than the technicalities.

Some examples of other progressions are Heart and Soul, Boogie-Woogie, and even a floaty IV Major 7 to I Major 7 rolling back and forth.

2. Have Your Student Try a Different Instrument

If your student is an instrumentalist, have them sing. How many of us have had teachers who will sing maniacally during our lessons to get us to bring out even MORE character in our playing?

It’s true that instruments share the common goal of trying to replicate the voice, yet nothing will ever trump the feeling of resonating your own voice to the music.

Let your student feel comfortable singing if they aren’t by just being open and expressive with your own singing. Shout, wee, holler, gobble, buzz your lips, do whatever to get a chuckle and sing as ridiculous as you can with your student to break any hesitations they may feel.

 3. Send It

Akin to action-sports athletes risking their body and life during a risky stunt, they simply jump into the fray with all their gut and follow through or end up paying the price of injury or death. Luckily, for us musicians, it only means playing the wrong note or rhythm!

So you have your chord progression and you’re both ready to SEND IT–So now just go for! Start playing. Focus on having fun and making something that feels good.

You’ll notice in our video, sometimes she comes in with a simple melodic lick and spends most of her time just feeling her singing. Even during times when the sound doesn’t click, we just keep going. 

4. Reflect

Although this exercise is all fun–it’s still a lesson. So make sure you’re paying attention to what your student is doing well and something that they can improve on. After the improvisational exercise, end with a high-five and tell them with great detail about what you liked about their singing and playing.

Say you liked their phrasing and how it swelled smoothly in volume. Tell them you enjoyed the clarity of their melodic lines. Make sure you are DESCRIPTIVE in the compliments. “That was a really catchy melody!” or “I love how you kept a super even tempo” will do. Then while their spirits are up, use whatever aspect you want to help them with to segue into your lesson plan for the rest of the lesson.