05/27/2026
"If you want to get lAId, go to college. If you want to learn something, go to the library." ~ Frank Zappa [inappropriate capitalization mine]
Had I followed a different path in life, I may have pursued a music degree. I resuscitated that dream some years ago when I tried to enroll in private guitar instruction at North Shore Community College, the only option for a person of my budget, but NSCC had ceased instrumental study and forgot to purge it from the catalog.
I continued musical pursuits on my own. With the advent of DAW, I shifted from performing to composing, learning orchestration and alternative composing methods through books easily procured through libraries and bookstores for less than the markup charged to Berklee students.
Most of my catalog is computer music but is most certainly not AI. The computer plays the music but I compose it by hand, sometimes using algorithms of my own design. I handwrite ideas on blank sheet music and input the notes manually into notation software to produce recordings or MIDI files for programs with better sound banks.
I recently attended two of three seminars on AI art at the Boston Library. I can appreciate absurdity for the right reasons but this was wrong. AI does not impress me. The AI programs being promoted by music distributors and colleges are for cheaters and poseurs. To paraphrase Keith Richards, wipe off your screen and go home.
