Today's guest blog is written by Dileep Gangolli, Clarinetist with the Chicago Sinfonietta

While playing with my wife’s new computer, I stumbled on a desktop prompt for Pandora Radio which connected me to a world of streaming Classical music organized in a highly logical mathematical manner. 

I was immediately taken by the way the music is presented and delivered (at no cost to the listener).  I am anxious to get the thoughts of others on this method of classical music distribution.

After signing up for Pandora Radio, listeners are invited to create their “own radio stations” that feature their favorite composers.  I have stations that feature Mozart, Bach, Schubert, Mahler, and Coldplay among others. 

But what is so interesting is that the musical selections are not just of the selected composers but of those that compose in a similar manner either by being of the same time period or by being similar in aesthetic.  So Mozart could precede a neo-classical work by Stravinsky that would then be followed by a composition by Varese or Satie. This type of musical organization is a by-product of the Musical Genome Project. 

I “Googled” the MGP and this is what surfaced on Wikipedia:

The Music Genome Project, created in January 2000, is an effort founded by Will Glaser, Jon Kraft, and Tim Westergren to "capture the essence of music at the fundamental level" using over 400 attributes to describe songs and a complex mathematical algorithm to organize them.

A given song is represented by a vector containing approximately 150 genes. Each gene corresponds to a characteristic of the music, for example, gender of lead vocalist, level of distortion on the electric guitar, type of background vocals, etc. Rock and pop songs have 150 genes, rap songs have 350, and jazz songs have approximately 400. Other genres of music, such as world and classical, have 300-500 genes.

The system depends on a sufficient number of genes to render useful results. Each gene is assigned a number between 1 and 5, and fractional values are allowed but are limited to half integers.  (The term genome is borrowed from genetics.)
Given the vector of one or more songs, a list of other similar songs is constructed using a distance function.

To create a song's genome, it is analyzed by a musician in a process that takes 20 to 30 minutes per song. Ten percent of songs are analyzed by more than one technician to ensure conformity with the standards, i.e., reliability. The technology is currently used by Pandora to play music for Internet users based on their preferences.

I am thoroughly enjoying the fact that the music comes in a continuous stream without any commercial interruptions.  The quality of musicianship is very high and one has the option of purchasing the works through Amazon or iTunes. Sure there are drawbacks.  The music comes in one movement segments rather than complete works.  And there are no quality announcers, like those on WFMT, who can often add to my appreciation of what I listen to.

But the fact remains that my listening experience is enhanced by this unique mathematical formula that takes me down paths I would never have taken on my own.  And I there are no annoying commercial distractions interrupting the musical selections. 

So I am really curious. Does this have any practical application in the concert hall? Is this how Classical music in recorded form will be consumed in the future?

I would enjoy hearing from others about Pandora Radio and their experience using it and what it could mean for our industry.