Cybernetic systems of music creation

Abstract

Simplicity of thought and operation can help to define complex end results, with cybernetic systems being a useful means of defining this within songwriting practices. This study outlines utilization of cybernetic practices by key popular music composers, including David Byrne and Brian Eno, who benefited from an art school education which supported these practices. As postmodern creation became more evident within art colleges, systemized processes of creation, where hierarchies were delineated, supported freedom and experimentation within the creative process. The non-musician was able to express their musical creativity due to the rise of new technologies and the reduction of hierarchies, as exposed from interviews with Eno, his art school tutor Roy Ascott, and experimental composer Gavin Bryars. These elements of art school education that they discussed, helped a new generation of musicians to develop original and dynamic work in the 1970s; the results of this research suggest that these are practices that should be introduced and acknowledged within HPME.