James Maxwell

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JamesB. Maxwell

James B. Maxwell

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Biography

Simon Fraser University Music


Experience

  • Simon Fraser University

    Sessional Instructor

    Music Since 1900

  • Spliqs.com

    Co-Founder/System Architect/Developer

    At spliqs.com we are developing a platform for interactive music creation, collaboration, and sharing, grounded in research on music perception and cognition, music theory and composition, artificial intelligence, and computational creativity.

  • Restless Productions

    Co-Artistic Director

    James worked at Restless Productions as a Co-Artistic Director

  • rubato-music.com

    Freelance Composer

    My music has been commissioned by chamber ensembles, contemporary dance companies and/or solo choreographers, directors, and film makers. I have composed music for the Standing Wave ensemble, Vancouver New Music Ensemble, the Ad Mare Wind Quintet, Helen Walkley (dance artist), motorist dance, director Mallory Catlett, film makers Allison Beda and Alex Williams, and have been commissioned through the British Columbia Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, Red Shift Music Society, the Scotiabank Dance Centre, and the Society for Disability Arts and Culture, among others.

  • Booked With Casa

    Co-Founder/iOS Developer

    James worked at Booked With Casa as a Co-Founder/iOS Developer

Education

  • Simon Fraser University

    Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

    Cognitive Modelling for Computer-Assisted Music Composition
    My research looks at the computational modelling of music as a holistic phenomenon, arising from the integration of perceptual and cognitive capacities. The central contribution of this research is an integrated cognitive architecture (ICA) for music learning and generation called MusiCog. Inspired by previous ICAs, MusiCog features a modular design, implementing functions for perception, working memory, long-term memory, and production/composition. MusiCog’s perception and memory modules draw on established experimental research in the field of music psychology, integrating both existing and novel approaches to modelling perceptual phenomena like melodic segmentation, as well as higher-level cognitive phenomena like “chunking” and hierarchical sequence learning. Through the integrated approach, MusiCog constructs a representation of music informed specifically by its perceptual and cognitive limitations.

  • Simon Fraser University

    Sessional Instructor


    Music Since 1900

Publications

  • A Music Database Query System for Recombinant Composition

    Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Music Information Retrieval

    We propose a design and implementation for a music information database and query system, the MusicDB, which can be used for Music Information Retrieval (MIR). The MusicDB is implemented as a Java package, and is loaded in MaxMSP using the mxj external. The MusicDB contains a music analysis module, capable of extracting musical information from standard MIDI files, and a search engine. The search engine accepts queries in the form of a simple six-part syntax, and can return a variety of different types of musical information, drawing on the encoded knowledge of musical form stored in the database.

  • A Music Database Query System for Recombinant Composition

    Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Music Information Retrieval

    We propose a design and implementation for a music information database and query system, the MusicDB, which can be used for Music Information Retrieval (MIR). The MusicDB is implemented as a Java package, and is loaded in MaxMSP using the mxj external. The MusicDB contains a music analysis module, capable of extracting musical information from standard MIDI files, and a search engine. The search engine accepts queries in the form of a simple six-part syntax, and can return a variety of different types of musical information, drawing on the encoded knowledge of musical form stored in the database.

  • ManuScore: Music Notation-Based Computer-Assisted Composition

    Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2012

    ManuScore is a music notation-based, interactive music composition application, backed by a cognitively-inspired music learning and generation system. In this paper we outline its various functions, describe an applied compo- sition study using the software, and give results from a study of listener evaluation of the music composed during the composition study. The listener study was conducted at a chamber music concert featuring a mixed programme of human-composed, machine-composed, and computer- assisted works.

  • A Music Database Query System for Recombinant Composition

    Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Music Information Retrieval

    We propose a design and implementation for a music information database and query system, the MusicDB, which can be used for Music Information Retrieval (MIR). The MusicDB is implemented as a Java package, and is loaded in MaxMSP using the mxj external. The MusicDB contains a music analysis module, capable of extracting musical information from standard MIDI files, and a search engine. The search engine accepts queries in the form of a simple six-part syntax, and can return a variety of different types of musical information, drawing on the encoded knowledge of musical form stored in the database.

  • ManuScore: Music Notation-Based Computer-Assisted Composition

    Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2012

    ManuScore is a music notation-based, interactive music composition application, backed by a cognitively-inspired music learning and generation system. In this paper we outline its various functions, describe an applied compo- sition study using the software, and give results from a study of listener evaluation of the music composed during the composition study. The listener study was conducted at a chamber music concert featuring a mixed programme of human-composed, machine-composed, and computer- assisted works.

  • MusiCOG: A Cognitive Architecture for Music Learning and Generation

    Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference

    Music composition is an intellectually demanding human activity that engages a wide range of cognitive faculties. Although several domain-general integrated cognitive ar- chitectures (ICAs) exist—ACT-R, Soar, Icarus, etc.—the use of integrated models for solving musical problems re- mains virtually unexplored. In designing MusiCOG, we wanted to bring forward ideas from our previous work, combine these with principles from the fields of music per- ception and cognition and ICA design, and combine these elements an initial attempt at an integrated model. Here we provide an introduction to MusiCOG, outline the oper- ation of its various modules, and share some initial musical results.

  • A Music Database Query System for Recombinant Composition

    Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Music Information Retrieval

    We propose a design and implementation for a music information database and query system, the MusicDB, which can be used for Music Information Retrieval (MIR). The MusicDB is implemented as a Java package, and is loaded in MaxMSP using the mxj external. The MusicDB contains a music analysis module, capable of extracting musical information from standard MIDI files, and a search engine. The search engine accepts queries in the form of a simple six-part syntax, and can return a variety of different types of musical information, drawing on the encoded knowledge of musical form stored in the database.

  • ManuScore: Music Notation-Based Computer-Assisted Composition

    Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2012

    ManuScore is a music notation-based, interactive music composition application, backed by a cognitively-inspired music learning and generation system. In this paper we outline its various functions, describe an applied compo- sition study using the software, and give results from a study of listener evaluation of the music composed during the composition study. The listener study was conducted at a chamber music concert featuring a mixed programme of human-composed, machine-composed, and computer- assisted works.

  • MusiCOG: A Cognitive Architecture for Music Learning and Generation

    Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference

    Music composition is an intellectually demanding human activity that engages a wide range of cognitive faculties. Although several domain-general integrated cognitive ar- chitectures (ICAs) exist—ACT-R, Soar, Icarus, etc.—the use of integrated models for solving musical problems re- mains virtually unexplored. In designing MusiCOG, we wanted to bring forward ideas from our previous work, combine these with principles from the fields of music per- ception and cognition and ICA design, and combine these elements an initial attempt at an integrated model. Here we provide an introduction to MusiCOG, outline the oper- ation of its various modules, and share some initial musical results.

  • The Hierarchical Sequential Memory for Music: A Cognitively-Inspired Model for Music Learning and Composition

    Proceedings of the International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition

    In this paper we present a refinement of our Hierarchical Sequential Memory for Music (HSMM) and discuss preliminary results. The HSMM is an extension of the Hierarchical Temporal Memory framework (HTM) of Dileep George and Jeff Hawkins, intended to make that model better suited to musical applications. The HSMM is a machine-learning framework, designed to learn hierarchies of sequences, and to make inferences on those hierarchies in a cognitively-inspired process of “bottom-up” and “top-down” information propagation.

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