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Featuring chapters by emerging and established scholars as well as by leading practitioners in the field, this Handbook both describes the state of algorithmic composition and also set the agenda for critical research on and analysis of algorithmic music.

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With the ongoing development of algorithmic composition programs and communities of practice expanding, algorithmic music faces a turning point. Joining dozens of emerging and established scholars alongside leading practitioners in the field, chapters in this Handbook both describe the state of algorithmic composition and also set the agenda for critical research on and analysis of algorithmic music. Organized into four sections, chapters explore the music´s
history, utility, community, politics, and potential for mass consumption. Contributors address such issues as the role of algorithms as co-performers, live coding practices, and discussions of the algorithmic culture as it currently exists and what it can potentially contribute society, education, and
ecommerce. Chapters engage particularly with post-human perspectives - what new musics are now being found through algorithmic means which humans could not otherwise have made - and, in reciprocation, how algorithmic music is being assimilated back into human culture and what meanings it subsequently takes. Blending technical, artistic, cultural, and scientific viewpoints, this Handbook positions algorithmic music making as an essentially human activity.

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it is undoubtedly an important didactic resource for students of algorithmic composition, including beginners, who want to get a wide and up-to-date overview of the various applications of algorithms in music scenarios. Alessandro Anatrini, Musicae Scientiae

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Alex McLean is Post-Doctoral Researcher in Deutsches Museum on the PENELOPE project, co-founder of the TOPLAP live coding and Algorave algorithmic dance music movements, and co-initator of the International Conference on Live Coding, International Conference on Live Interfaces, and the Festival of Algorithmic and Mechanical Movement.
Roger T. Dean is Professor of Sonic Communication at the MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney, and is also a composer, improvisor, and researcher. He founded and directs the ensemble austraLYSIS and is the author of several books on computer and algorithmic music.

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