Write me a song

Algorithms (not to be confused with Al Gore rhythms) are all over everything these days. Facebook sends me all those stories about 40 People Who Did Very Well In Life Despite Not Knowing Much, because I don't know very much. The big brains know more about us than we do, and the algorithms they use determine what we see in our social media.  It's called artificial intelligence, which is a pretty good substitute for the real thing.

AI (not to confused with A1 Steak Sauce) enables a computer to almost as creative as a real person, so imagine how much better it is when the person involved is no longer alive.

Computers are now being used to finish the unfinished works of great composers such as Gustav "Gus" Mahler and Franz "Franny" Schubert. And now, the works of Ludwig van Beethoven (not to be confused with Vans) are getting the once-over. At long last, his unfinished symphony will be finished.

LVB passed on in 1827, having finished nine symphonies, which is nine more than most of us have done.  He left behind some sketchy notes of the plans for the tenth, just short incomplete fragments. In fact, one of those little snippets of musical notes was found by a local organist, and he turned it into the melody we know as "Louie Louie." 

Beethovenfest was held last month, and the composition was played for the enjoyment of many. It was a way to mark Ludwig's 250th birthday without sending for a cake.

A company with the name of Telekom  - in LVB's hometown of Bonn - found some experts and wrote the Tenth, trying their best to learn and replicate his style. Modern listeners were surprised to find that Beethoven had begun writing lyrics for the piece that contained the phrase "Lemme hear ya say 'Yeah!'"  

 

I don't know how one "feeds" a computer, but that's what they say they did...they fed it Beethoven's musical notes, as well as some from his contemporaries.

"You have to think of it as Beethoven taking notes the moment he had new ideas. Sometimes as written words, sometimes as musical notes," says Matthias Röder, director of the Karajan Institute in Salzburg. 

And when the computer gets into the algorithms, you might say, it almost catches up to humans.

But not totally. 

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree. - Joyce Kilmer

It takes a human, and divine inspiration, to write great poems, great music, or create any great art.  Remember the old workplace maxim: Anyone can make mistakes. It takes a computer to really screw things up.