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Quite some years ago in school, a teacher told us about a music construction kit.

  • The kit is a set of cards.
  • If you put some cards together, something musically / esthetically sound is the result.
  • Quite likely, there are some rules, which cards may and which cards may not be put aside.

I'm quite sure, that some great mind was the inventor of the music construction kit. Goethe, Mozart? I'can't remember this fact.

I searched the web, but didn't find anything.

  • Do you know, who invented the kit?
  • Where may I find details, which cards the set contained?
  • And which rules need to be applied.

I'd probably write a software that mimics the kit. But for that, I need details about the kit.

SteAp
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  • You might find some helpful ideas here: https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/71804/recognizing-intervals-without-interval-songs/110911#110911. It describes an ear-training exercise using a standard deck of playing cards. It may or may not be what your teacher introduced you to, but it could trivially be adapted as a music construction kit. Who invented the game I don't know. I learned it from a choir director. – Aaron Mar 04 '21 at 22:51
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    Also there's this product, created by Philip Sheppard, which sounds closer to what you're describing: http://www.daddoes.com/12134/review-compose-yourself/ – Aaron Mar 04 '21 at 22:53

4 Answers4

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You may be looking for the concept of the Musikalisches Würfelspiel ("musical dice game"). The idea has been realized by several musicians throughout history, but it's often created by having a set of pre-composed musical excerpts that are then strung together randomly as decided by the rolls of the dice.

It also looks like there are some apps and browser plug-ins currently available, so your software may already exist.

Richard
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Maybe you're thinking of Mozart's 'dice music'?

"One of the most often cited examples of algorithmic music in the Classical Period (1750-1827) is Musikalisches Würfelspiel by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). In this composition, Mozart composed discrete musical excerpts that could be combined to form a waltz. The order of musical excerpts was determined by rolling two six-sided dice. The person assembling the waltz would refer to a table created by Mozart that showed which music should be used for the values of 2-12 on the dice."

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/spobooks/bbv9810.0001.001/1:5/--algorithmic-composition-a-gentle-introduction-to-music?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

Laurence
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You might find some inspiration in the Generative Music wikipedia page - the term now means different things to different people, but there's pointers to bunch of different algorithmic music generation approaches, especially relevant if you're looking from an electronic perspective.

Jamie
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I'm sure Brian Eno had something like this. A set of cards with options like "throw away everything you did and start again". It's a bit risky picking a card because you have to do what it says…

Brian THOMAS
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    That's the Oblique Strategies method for breaking creative blocks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies) - Brian Eno is also the coiner of the term Generative Music in my answer, and probably counts as 'some great mind'. – Jamie Mar 09 '21 at 22:24
  • Method does not relate to music composition. Despite that, thank you. – SteAp Mar 12 '21 at 21:15