Abstract:

Algorithmic Composition (AC) methods often depend on evaluation methods in order to define the probabilities that change operators have to be applied. However, the evaluation of music material involves the codification of aesthetic features, which is a very complex process if we want to outline automatic procedures that are able to compute the suitability of melodies. In this context, we offer in this paper a comprehensive investigation on numerous ideas to examine and evaluate melodies, some of them based on music theory. These ideas have been used in music analysis but have been usually neglected in many AC procedures. Those features are partitioned into ten categories. While there is still much research to do in this field, we intend to help computer-aided composers define more sophisticated and useful methods for evaluating music.