Chess-Based Composition and Improvisation for Non-Musicians

Dale E. Parson

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

''Music for 32 Chess Pieces'' is a software system that supports composing, performing and improvising music by playing a chess game. A game server stores a representation of the state of a game, validates proposed moves by players, updates game state, and extracts a graph of piece-to-piece relationships. It also loads a plugin code module that acts as a composition. A plugin maps pieces and relationships on the board, such as support or attack relationships, to a timed sequence of notes and accents. The server transmits notes in a sequence to an audio renderer process via network datagrams. Two players can perform a composition by playing chess, and a player can improvise by adjusting a plugin's music mapping parameters via a graphical user interface. A composer can create a new composition by writing a new plugin that uses a distinct algorithm for mapping game rules and states to music. A composer can also write a new note-to-sound mapping program in the audio renderer language. This software is available at http://faculty.kutztown.edu/parson/music/ParsonMusic.html.

Citation

Dale E. Parson. 2009. Chess-Based Composition and Improvisation for Non-Musicians. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1177653

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{Parson2009,
 abstract = {''Music for 32 Chess Pieces'' is a software system that supports composing, performing and improvising music by playing a chess game. A game server stores a representation of the state of a game, validates proposed moves by players, updates game state, and extracts a graph of piece-to-piece relationships. It also loads a plugin code module that acts as a composition. A plugin maps pieces and relationships on the board, such as support or attack relationships, to a timed sequence of notes and accents. The server transmits notes in a sequence to an audio renderer process via network datagrams. Two players can perform a composition by playing chess, and a player can improvise by adjusting a plugin's music mapping parameters via a graphical user interface. A composer can create a new composition by writing a new plugin that uses a distinct algorithm for mapping game rules and states to music. A composer can also write a new note-to-sound mapping program in the audio renderer language. This software is available at http://faculty.kutztown.edu/parson/music/ParsonMusic.html. },
 address = {Pittsburgh, PA, United States},
 author = {Parson, Dale E.},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1177653},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 keywords = {algorithmic composition, chess, ChucK, improvisation, Max/MSP, SuperCollider. },
 pages = {157--158},
 title = {Chess-Based Composition and Improvisation for Non-Musicians},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2009/nime2009_157.pdf},
 year = {2009}
}