[Marcia Karp]

Dear Tim,
How does the algorithm handle words that do not have a fixed number of syllables: child, fire, ........... ? Or words that change pronunciation based on context: the for a quick instance? And then, the big ones, pause and accent?

Best,
Marcia

------------------

[Tim Love]

How does the algorithm handle words that do not have a fixed number of syllables: child, fire, ........... ?
It's a bit chicken-and-egg. The plan is that a first-pass will check to see if the poem is close to a form. If it is, a second-pass will adjust the syllables to see if a closer match can be obtained.


Or words that change pronunciation based on context: the for a quick instance? And then, the big ones, pause and accent? - The text-to-sound convertor can be replaced by the user, but even so, it'll get things wrong. Users will be able to tweak the output. The stress-detection is also prone to error.

[Janet Kenny]

I think most serious "classical" musicians have always accepted this, including the primeval aspect.

Does any of this aid creativity? I doubt it.
Janet

[Richard Wakefield]

Janet:

Does any of this aid creativity? I doubt it.

You're probably right, although it could help in the understanding of the part that patterns and forms play in the creative process. Richard Moore has a fine essay called "The Form that Liberates" in which he claims, more or less (and among other things), that form can be a heuristic. We already knew it can be a mnemonic. Maybe such a program could reveal forms of which the writer isn't altogether aware.
Richard

[Janet Kenny]

Originally posted by Richard Wakefield:

You're probably right, although it could help in the understanding of the part that patterns and forms play in the creative process. Richard Moore has a fine essay called "The Form that Liberates" in which he claims, more or less (and among other things), that form can be a heuristic. We already knew it can be a mnemonic. Maybe such a program could reveal forms of which the writer isn't altogether aware.

Richard,
There may be some writers who operate on that conscious cerebral level but I suspect that most gifted writers are too busy experiencing these patterns in an instinctive way. It's true a writer may analyse his/her own experiences during writing, as Richard Moore appears to have done. Because it's Richard Moore I would love to read that essay. Because of the "primeval" element I tend to believe that such form is experienced rather than consciously learned. Of course, having experienced it a writer may then consciously repeat it. I doubt if it's possible to write well on such a conscious level without having had the experience first.
I may very well be wrong about this.
Janet