Computational Aesthetics and Music: The Ugly, the Small and the Boring

Abstract

Contemporary musical aesthetics, as a field in the humanities, does not typically argue for the existence of aesthetic universals. However, in the field of computational creativity, universals are actively sought, with a view to codification and implementation. This article critiques some statistical and information-based methods that have been used in computational creativity, in particular their application in assessing aesthetic value of musical works, rather than the more modest claim of stylistic characterization. Standard applications of Zipf’s Law and Information Rate are argued to be inadequate as computational measures of aesthetic value in musical styles where noise, repetition or stasis are valued features. We describe three of these musical expressions, each with its own aesthetic criteria, and examine several exemplary works for each. Lacking, to date, is a computational framework able to account for socio-political and historical implications of creative processes. Beyond quantitative evaluations of artistic phenomena, we argue for deeper intersections between computer science, philosophy, history and psychology of art.