Prepositional Music: On Emergent Properties in Morphogenesis and the Evolution of Music, Part I: Essays, Propositions and Commentaries

This two-part article describes the author’s point of view about creative music-making, termed propositional music. According to this view, composing involves proposing models for whole musical realities, emphasizing the dynamic emergence of forms through evolution and transformation. In Part 1, the author discusses related areas of music, science and philosophy that influence this view, including morphogenesis; the emergence of global properties; the nature of forms; the natural emergence of networked interactivity; implications of the infosphere for art making; and potential sources of new mythology for our culture. Part 2 is forthcoming in Leonardo Music Journal Volume 7 (1997).