Towards a Taxonomy of Musical Metacreation: Reflections on the First Musical Metacreation Weekend

Abstract

The Musical Metacreation Weekend (MuMeWe), a series of four concerts presenting works of metacreation, was held in June 2013. These concerts offered an opportunity to review how different composers and system designers are approaching generative practices. We propose a taxonomy of musical metacreation, with specific reference to works and systems presented at MuMeWe, in an effort to begin a discussion of methods of measuring metacreative musical works. The seven stages of this taxonomy are loosely based upon the autonomy of the system, specifically in its ability to make high-level musical decisions during the course of the composition and/or performance. We conclude with a discussion of how these levels could be interpreted, and the potential difficulties involved in their specification and terminology.