Mory Brenner
Artificial Intelligence - Classical Music Composition - 1978-1981
How I Started Working With Herbert Simon
One day in 1978 I completed a homework assignment for a statistics class given by Professor Patrick Larkey that started a chain of events that changed my life. The task took some manipulation of the programming system to accomplish, so it seemed tricky, but I finished it without too much trouble. The next day Professor Larkey started the day by announcing "Don’t worry about that homework assignment from yesterday, it was obviously impossible so don’t worry that none of you did it." I raised my hand to let him know I had completed it and he invited me to show on the blackboard how I solved the problem. When I finished he asked if I would stay late. After the class Patrick Larkey offered me a job in the Social Sciences Department evaluating the computer languages Fortran and Pascal to help determine the best language for the department to use in the future. Arrangements were made for my work for Carnegie Mellon to continue over the summer of 1978 at the computer center at Yale University, near my home, were I was hired to also do some programming for the Yale Graduate School of Management. I wrapped up my work for the Social Sciences Department and the end of the summer suggesting that they choose Pascal over Fortran for future programming. For the start of the fall 1978 semester at Carnegie Mellon I was scheduled to take an introductory Pascal class with Ellis Cohen. After the introductory lecture I approached Dr. Cohen and explained my project for the Social Sciences department. We both agreed that my Pascal skills already surpassed those he had in mind for the entire class. As an alternative we decided I would follow up on a program I did for a cognitive psychology class and work with Ellis Cohen on an independent project. As a classical guitar player and student in a music theory class in high school I took on the task of writing a computer program to compose classical music using artificial intelligence based on music theory. I spent 2 semesters working with Dr. Cohen developing the computer program with a rudimentary graphical output. Near the end of the spring term Dr. Cohen informed me he planned to take a position at Brandeis. I took the news with great disappointment as I thought at the time it meant the end of my music project. Ellis Cohen suggested I ask Herbert Simon to take over as my faculty advisor. I knew of Herbert Simon since he had recently won the Nobel Prize for his work in the field of Economics and Artificial Intelligence. Despite the suggestion I felt a man who won the Nobel Prize would not want to get involved with an underclassman, especially one not seeking a degree involving computers. Dr. Cohen persisted and claimed Herbert Simon would very much enjoy hearing about my music program. Still I remained doubtful. Knowing Patrick Larkey worked with Dr. Simon I asked for his thoughts and he concurred that Herbert Simon would want to speak with me. Indeed, as they told me I got an appointment with Herbert Simon. We met for an hour or so as I explained everything I had done in the past year with my music composition program. Near the end of our time that day he asked
"What do you need to continue your project?" I replied "I need a faculty sponsor."
Excitedly he inquired "Could I do it?"
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