Stephen W. Smoliar – Communications of the ACM

Research and Advances Mar 1 1974

I had hoped that Moorer's rebuttal to my short communication in the November 1972 Communications would close the debate on a topic which, like the computer itself, has provoked an inordinately large quantity of unqualified argument. Unfortunately, the short communications by McMorrow and Wexelblat in the May 1973 Communications lead me to believe that my position is still grossly misunderstood. Therefore, allow me to clarify these matters.

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Research and Advances Nov 1 1972

Comments on Moorer’s music and computer composition

J.A. Moorer's “Music and Computer Composition” [1] was a distressing communication. While I realize that musical expertise is probably beyond the realm of the editorial staff, I must object to both the naiveté and faulty reasoning on the musical side of this article. In a nutshell, Moorer presents us with many paragraphs of philosophical meanderings to back up a few results which are, by his own admission, inadequate. From this he concludes, “It is also hoped that this experiment may help dispel doubts that musical composition is ‘sacred’ and unreachable by mechanical methods.” From any serious musical point of view, such a conclusion is almost vacuous.

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