Modelling Musical Behaviour in a Cultural-Evolutionary System

The computational study of musical behaviour, as with creativity, is traditionally couched in psychological terms, but in both cases a social perspective has also taken root. We present an approach to studying musical behaviour through the simulation of cultural evolutionary systems. We discuss the need for this approach and some of the issues involved in constructing such a simulation, and present observations from our first trials, which suggest ways in which evolving systems of musical normativity can be examined. These initial observations will form the basis for future models.