Rudolf Růžička - Creative, Pedagogical and Social Perspectives of Electroacoustic and Computer Music Art Abstract: Difficulties with social recognition of electroacoustic and computer music in Czechoslovakia during the period of totalitarianism are described in the paper, contrasted with new possibilities provided by the democratic society. The paper further deals with computer applications in the process of musical creation, especially musical composition, questions of musical education - that were omitted in the past - and electroacoustic music composers' competitions. Composition techniques from the sphere of computer music are described and the electroacoustic composition Crucifixion I. - written with CCOMP computer program and presented in the IFEM concert - is analyzed. Text: On the strength of critical attitudes of leading cultural executives of the past regime to non-conformous creative processes, presented by means of slogans on preservation of the socialist realism, the whole society - by its reticence - committed liquidation of those tendencies in musical creation, that had been struggling for independence, originality and worldwide appreciation of Czech and Slovak music. First of all, contemporary musical compositional streams (e.g., electroacoustic and computer music) were concerned, but completely different musical branches (e.g., jazz), as well. Not only concert presentations had been prohibited, but also publishing of records and broadcasting on the radio and TV had been restricted by the cultural leaders of the past regime in order to stamp out the electroacoustic and computer music. The Czechoslovak creation of this kind had gained appreciation abroad. In Czechoslovakia, it had propagated especially by means of musical samizdat. At present, this kind of artistic creation is officially recognized in the Association of Musical Artists and Scientists. Congresses, conferences, festivals, seminars, public concerts, etc., take place frequently. Popularizing programmes are broadcasted on the radio and TV and expert materials are published.3 In the same way as the computers are penetrating into the spheres of science and production, they start to apply in the contemporary creative art. After initial - more or less successful - experiments in the spheres of music and graphic art, this avantgarde artistic stream expanded in a way that - with regard for the global meaning of computers in human activities - we cannot disregard it any more. The computers are used in musical creation for the purposes of synthesizer control, automatic notation, analyses of musical pieces and creation of new compositions according to composer's instructions. Today, it is nearly impossible to compose and produce electroacoustic music without computers. Similarly, the computer music is permanently connected with electroacoustic music especially because of the connection and subsequent realization by means of synthesizers. Recently, these both kinds of artistic creation overlap in a manner that they almost merge. Therefore, Centre for Electroacoustic and Computer Music was A time has come to set the mistakes of the last twenty years of cultural development right. Not only in the pedagogical sphere, but also as regards the support to the origination of electroacoustic and computer music pieces. Creative composers' competitions increase the interest of young composers in this kind of music, unjustly suppressed in the past. Electroacoustic Music Society - in cooperation with Czech Music Fund and Czech Radio - organizes an electroacoustic music composer's competition on the occasion of 25th anniversary of Experimental music studio of Czechoslovak Radio foundation in Pilsen. Our first electronic and concrete music competition named MUSICA NOVA took place there in 1969. Another aim of this year's competition is to pay honour to the memory of music composer, electroacoustic music propagator and chairman of the competition jury of 1969 - professor Miloslav Kabelac. A special category with age limitation was established in order to provide space for the young generation of electroacoustic music composers. Fortuity in the form of pseudo-random numbers generated with preset limitations is often used as fundamental compositional principle in computer music 4. Random numbers simulate incidental phenomena in the nature as well as in human thought. An autonomous structural style can be created in this way. In the sphere of artificial intelligence, compositional programs can be very useful especially for the research of thinking, first of all in simulation of the processes in human brain by means of incidental progressions, their limited utilization by the composer and the computer and their transformation into the sphere of creative artistic work. Computer music programs are useful for both professional composers and laymen interested in computer aided composing, as well as for composition students who are familiar with the fundaments of traditional composition. Universal computer program named CCOMP (Computer COMPosition) 5,6 is determined for composing of contemporary artificial music pieces. Subroutines of the program provide automatic notation with print out of traditional notation documents and sound realization by means of a synthesizer. The program was purposely designed to meet different demands of composers of various styles and thus prove the possibilities of computer utilization in as specific sphere of creative work as composing. Input data set corresponds with classical experience of a professional composer. However, even a computer composing beginner would be able to work with the program and achieve good results. The main goal of the program is that it retains the characteristic features of composer's artistic creative work. The program enables immediate realization of author's creative purposes and overtakes the routine work. Electroacoustic computer composition Crucifixion I. was inspired by the painting by Salvador Dali. The original picture - painted in the 50's - can be seen in Metropolitan museum in New York. The atmosphere of the painting - thanks to anomalous dimensional proportions and surrealistic conception - works rather as an unreal vision, a mystic dreamy scene than realistic featuring of the famous crucifixion scene. The process of composing was perceived as meditative musical act enabled by the characteristics of alternative art, i.e., electroacoustic music. The sixteen-minute composition was realized in the Audiostudio of Czech Radio in Prague in 1992. Computer parameters of the composition Crucifixion I. are shown as an example of detailed analysis of a musical composition. All input (suppl. 1) and output (suppl. 2) parameters of the composition for the CCOMP program are listed. The program was originally written in FORTRAN language on a PDP 11/34 computer and later transformed for other computer types (ADT, IBM-PC, ATARI). The output data were by means of notation (suppl. 3) and MIDI output of the NOTATOR program converted to music blocks on an ATARI computer and realized on synthesizers. Formally perfect whole of compact sound, fully corresponding with composer's intentions, was created, thanks to proper selection, adjustment, chaining and layering of music blocks, utilizing all advantages of a well equipped electroacoustic music studio. References: 1 Jiri Kopriva: Samocinny pocitac jako pomocnik skladatele experimentalni hudby"; catalogue: Deset let prace Laboratore pocitacich stroju VUT; Brno 1972, pp. 116 - 117 2 Rudolf Ruzicka: "Vyuziti samocinnich pocitacu pri vzniku umeleckych del se zvlastnim zamerenim na hudbu a soudobou hudebni kompozici"; JAMU Publishing Centre; Brno 1980 3 Miroslav Kaduch: "Soudoba hudebni tvorba s vyuzitim pocitacu"; published by: Mestske kulturni stredisko; Ostrava 1989 4 Josef Gerbrich, Rudolf Ruzicka: "Pocitacovy programpro vznik elektroakustickich skladeb"; magazine: Matematicke obzory; 1990, No. 34, pp. 75 - 82. Published by: ALFA Bratislava 5 Josef Gerbrich, Petr Randula, Rudolf Ruzicka: "Pocitacove programy pro vytvareni hudebnich skladeb"; magazine: Opus musicum; 1990, No. 7, pp. I - XVIII 6 Josef Gerbrich, Petr Randula, Rudolf Ruzicka: "Computer program for composition and automatic notation of contemporary instrumental and vocal music"; magazine: Computers and Artificial Intelligence; Vol 10, 1991, No. 5, pp. 487 - 503, published by: Slovenska akademia vied - Veda, Bratislava