Weird Science? Loyola Researcher Showcases How Man and Machine Make Music

Jeffrey Albert '93, Ph.D., assistant professor of music industry technology at Loyola University New Orleans, is uncovering the music that results when you pair a musician-not with another human or instrument-but with a machine. This fall he will highlight that research in a series of national and international presentations.

Albert's research focuses on his computer software, Interactive Musical Partner, that makes these high-tech musical duos possible. The software, designed for these human-machine duo improvisations, focuses on a freely improvised duo aesthetic. Albert's first presentation was this month at the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium in Guelph, located in Ontario, Canada.

In October, Albert will present at an international workshop on musical metacreation during the annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Publications will publish all proceedings of the conference. He will then head overseas to Marseille, France to present at the International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research. Springer Verlag will publish those proceedings in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series.

In November, Albert will present a performance demonstration at the Electroacoustic Barn Dance at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. The three-day festival showcases electronic music and art.