The winning piece in the folkrnn composition competition is Gwyl Werin for mixed quartet by Derri Joseph Lewis. He used a tune generated by folkrnn as a basis for both melodic fragments and harmonic construction in his piece. The judges found the piece well balanced using nice contrasts and a variety of textures and motives in its construction. The occasional solo moments in the piece echo aspects of the generated material, though it does not imitate it directly. This piece illustrates a further approach to utilising folkrnn as part of the creative process. (For a recent survey, see Sturm, Ben-Tal, et al., "Machine learning research that matters for music creation: A case study", J. New Music Research 2018.) We look forward to hearing the piece played by the New Music Players in our upcoming concert in October at the O’Reilly AI conference

The aim of this competition is to explore an application of machine learning to music – in particular the online tool at folkrnn.org. This model is an example of artificial intelligence trained on traditional tunes mainly Irish and English. The web interface allows users to generate new melodies using a few parameters (There's a video on the website that explains how it works). We are seeking works that make creative use of this tool to compose new pieces, which do not need to adhere to the idiom of the training material.

Submissions will be judged on their musical quality and their utilisation of outputs from folkrnn.org. The panel consists of three leading experts in the field of music and artificial intelligence:

1. Elaine Chew, Professor of Digital Media, Centre for Digital Music, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London
2. Sageev Oore, Visiting research scientist at Google Brain
3. Oded Ben-Tal, Composer/Researcher

The winning piece will be performed by a professional ensemble at a public concert in London, UK, in early October 2018. Professional recordings of the performance will be provided to composers, and with the permission of musicians and composers, made available on the project youtube channel

We welcome submissions from any composer without restriction of age or nationality. Attendance at the concert is not mandatory. There is no cost for submitting a work.

Submitted works should:

1. scored for any combination of the following instruments: flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (only 1 each); no use of amplification or electronic instruments is allowed;
2. no longer than 10 minutes in duration;
3. must be derived in some way from material generated by the application at folkrnn.org;
4. must be accompanied by a written explanation of how the work comes about from the use artificial intelligence through the folkrnn.org website. Composers can also accompany the text with illustrations (e.g. staff notation).
5. no restrictions on style, or the way the outputs from folkrnn.org are used;

Important dates:

• August 31 2018: Submission of PDF score and required accompanying material by email to competition@folkrnn.org
• September 15 2018: Notification
• September 25 2018: Performance materials due
• October 9 2018: Concert (London UK)

See the following:

• ‘Machine folk’ music composed by AI shows technology’s creative side – The Conversation, March 2017
• An A.I. in London is Writing Its Own Music and It Sounds Heavenly – Inverse, June 2017

If you have questions or comments, contact Dr. Oded Ben-Tal:
o.ben-tal@kingston.ac.uk