"Since I have always preferred making plans to executing them, I have gravitated towards situations and systems that, once set into operation, could create music with little or no intervention on my part. That is to say, I tend towards the roles of planner and programmer, and then become an audience to the results" -Brian Eno (Alpern, 1995).
Algorithmic composition, sometimes also referred to as "automated composition," basically refers to "the process of using some formal process to make music with minimal human intervention" (Alpern, 1995). Such "formal processes," as we will see, have been familiar to music since ancient times. The title itself, however, is relatively new—the term "algorithm" having been adopted from the fields of computer science and information science around the halfway mark of the 20th century (Burns, 1997). Computers have given composers new opportunities to automate the compositional process. Furthermore, as we will explore, several different methods of doing so have developed in the last forty years or so.
To begin with the title itself, Webster's dictionary defines an "algorithm" simply as "a predetermined set of instructions for solving a specific problem in a limited number of steps." The "problem" composers are faced with, of course, is creating music; the "instructions" for creating this music according to the definition are "predetermined," suggesting that intervention on the part of the human composer is superceded once the compositional process itself is set into motion, as hinted at as well in the above Brian Eno quote. Thus, "automated composition" also suitably describes this kind of music, since "automation" refers to "anything that can move or act of itself." (A Brief History of Algorithmic Composition)
"Two Towers" Joel Graham Algorithmic processional. Recorded 2001/2002 at T.E.C. Studios. Original piece: 32:00 minute. "Cloud" Joel Graham Algorithmic processional. Recorded 2001/2002 at T.E.C. Studios.
"Topography of Planes" Joel Graham Recorded 2001/2002 at T.E.C. Studios. A compilation of "Two Towers" and "Cloud" + 2 Algorithmic ambient collection. 1) Two Towers pt. 1-4 2) Spider's Web 3) Dusk 4) Cloud