A sound idea

After a team of people used AI to complete Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony, three indie musicians weigh in what they feel about this tech meeting art

Recently, a group of music experts, scientists and tech wizards came together to complete something that Ludwig Van Beethoven couldn’t in his lifetime. They added the final bits to his 10th Symphony — which the great western classical composer left unfinished when he passed away in 1827 — using the help of Artificial Intelligence, or AI. It was a complicated and long-drawn process. The team first introduced the AI software to western classical music, before feeding it with specific musical notes deciphered from Beethoven’s scribbles. Then — based on the argument that music is a structured and mathematical art form — they let the software complete the piece. The idea was to celebrate the musician’s 250th birth anniversary. But purists were aghast. Others felt that it was fair dos, though, saying it’s time music embraces such technology. We quizzed three indie musicians to weigh in with their views on the subject. Read on for what they had to say.

Human, after all

When I first read [about AI being used to complete Beethoven’s 10th Symphony], I thought it was really cool. Some might have a problem with it because people are usually protective about stupid stuff. But to me, it’s a unique idea that’s forward-thinking. And there is also a human element to it as much as it’s about AI, since there was a composer who was guiding the whole process. At the end of the day, the piece is an assumption of what a dead musician would have created — it’s a fun experiment on the team’s part to predict where it would go. There are also softwares these days that help you put a song together in minutes; you can drag and drop sounds to complete a composition without any formal training. Music purists might scoff at it. But I think it’s more inclusive this way because a kid who has no money to buy a guitar can now make songs on his mobile phone. Also, my band doesn’t have a keyboardist right now and I am limited in my knowledge of the instrument. Today, I can hire a sessions [freelance] musician. But who knows, tomorrow I might use AI to fill that void. 

Sahil Makhija, 39, metal musician

Tweak factor

Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised and quite intrigued about this news, though we will never actually know if Beethoven would have made those exact decisions to conclude his 10th Symphony because the AI technology was simply mimicking certain patterns on the basis of the unfinished piece of music. I feel that AI has a long way to go and a large spectrum of musicians are already incorporating it in some way or the other. I have come across platforms, software and tools in the recent past that can help you write and generate original pieces of music by dialing in a few parameters like tempo, genre, mood and energy. I am not a conventionally trained musician and technology plays a major role in my prowess as an artiste. Every musician faces a ‘creator’s block’ at some point. Now, with the help of tools that are integrated with AI, they can to some extent clear out this block and probably produce results that are unconventional. Sometimes, these results are good to go just the way they are. On other occasions, you can get to your desired goal after tweaking the right amount of parameters and attenuations, with a level of efficiency that is way easier than it was before the birth of AI. 

Faraz Ehsan aka 8-Bit Culprit, 34, electronic music producer

Tech it as it comes

I think this was a fairly appropriate way to celebrate his 250th birthday, by completing something that he never got to. People have always been opposed to technology in some way or the other, and not just in music. You have these cafés with posters in them that say, “We have no Wi-fi, pretend that it’s 1980.” That’s the mentality I am talking about. People feel that technology corrupts the sanctity of art. But I think that as AI gets better, a lot more people will start using it in creative ways. And in the case of Beethoven’s symphony, there was human involvement where people choose from a list of options to create the sound they wanted.  

Kabir Bhattacharya, 19, metal musician

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