coJIVE: COllaborative Jazz ImproVisation Environment
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Improvisation in music is a complex creative process and the most native way of musical performance. A musician playing an improvised solo has to constantly create melodies that fit the harmonic context of a tune. Playing freely under such constraints demands a great deal of technical ability and experience from the performer, especially in settings with more than one instrumentalist. Even advanced musicians with a classical education often refrain from improvising, out of fear of making mistakes.
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coJIVE offers various mechanisms to facilitate improvisation, making this type of performance accessible to anyone.
The system was developed in 2 main parts:
Back-End Framework
Goals and features:- Modeling of musical knowledge
- Harmony analysis based on chord patterns
- Classification and suggestion of notes in harmonic context
- Input-dependent calculation of note probabilities
- Extensible XML song file format for lead sheets
Front-End Application
Goals and features:- Creating an automatic accompanyment as a foundation for the performances
- Correcting the users' input based on data from the analytical framework
- Finding ways to enrich the users' input for satisfying experiences
- Adjusting the degree of support to each user’s level of expertise
- Supporting and coordinating collaborative performances featuring several players
Further Information
Links- A Pattern-based Framework for Computer-aided Jazz Improvisation - Jonathan Klein's thesis describing the development of the back-end
- A Software System for Computer-aided Jazz Improvisation - Jan Buchholz's thesis describing the development of the front-end
- Songs in coJIVE - List of songs currently available with links to midi files
- coJIVE received the Top Talent Award 2005 Quality Seal for innovative and creative multimedia projects, as one of the top 42 out of 411 submissions:
People
- Eric Lee - Supervisor
- Jan Buchholz - Front-End Application
- Jonathan Klein - Back-End Framework