This had a low level of chance because although we did not know exactly what songs each of us were going to choose, there was a good chance that they would be influenced markedly by our shared culture. However, we were all able to individually and randomly choose any song or piece of sound. There could also potentially be a large variation in how long each of us chose to wait before muting/unmuting a song.

This had a medium/high level of indeterminacy for each of us and for the audience too. However, we did not know the exact choice of songs, and we also did not know how the final piece would sound because of the inherent randomness in the process that we were using.

The end result had a medium level of entropy. At points, only one or two songs played and sounded like they fit well together. Also, after listening to the composition for a while, the general flow and rhythm of songs interleaving becomes familiar. However, switching songs periodically and randomly overlaying them made musical elements clash (especially tempo, rhythm, and tone), greatly increased the entropy.

Second Process (Computed Chance):

For this composition we wanted to see how computer-generated randomness and control would affect the chance, indeterminacy and entropy of the composition.

Using Javascript, Ivan wrote a program that:

Started playing the songs at the same time. Play all songs for 5 minutes.

Every five seconds,

        For each song:

                Use an RNG to determine whether to mute or unmute that song (0.5 chance of muting/unmuting).

Code Sample: