David Cope

David Cope (born May 17, 1941 in San Francisco, California) is an American author, composer, scientist, and former professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His primary area of research involves artificial intelligence and music; he writes programs and algorithms that can analyse existing music and create new compositions in the style of the original input music. He taught a summer Workshop in Algorithmic Computer Music that was open to the public (but not free) as well as a general education course entitled Artificial Intelligence and Music for enrolled UCSC students. Cope is also cofounder and CTO Emeritus of Recombinant Inc, a music technology company.

Cope is the inventor of US Patent #7696426 Recombinant Music Composition Algorithm and Method of Using the Same.

His EMI (Experiments in Musical Intelligence) software has produced works in the style of various composers, some of which have been commercially recorded (Cockrell 2001)—ranging from short pieces to full length operas.

His subsequent Emily Howell program models musical creativity based on the types of creativity outlined by Margaret Boden in her book The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms.

As a composer, Cope's own work has encompassed a variety of styles—from the traditional to the avant-garde—and techniques, such as unconventional manners of playing, experimental musical instrument, and microtonal scales, including a 33-note system of just intonation he developed himself (Cockrell 2001). Most recently, all of his original compositions have been written in collaboration with the computer—based on an input of his earlier works. He seeks a synergy between composer creativity and computer algorithm as his principal creative direction.

He has published a wide range of books, which are often used as textbooks. New Directions in Music is currently in its 7th Edition and is the standard text for contemporary music. In 2009 David Cope was interviewed by the media in anticipation of the release of a CD containing music composed collaboratively by Mr. Cope and Emily Howell, a computer program.

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