John Kao's "Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity" is a new book about improvisational music (jazz) as training for business management. [Sherri Eng, SJM, 6/23/96, 1E.]

Several recent studies have confirmed that practicing or listening to music produce short-term and permanent improvement in pattern recognition, "spatial-temporal IQ," and classroom learning. A 1993 report in Nature documented an increase in IQ scores from listening to Mozart for 10 minutes rather than a relaxation tape or meditating. [Bill Hendrick, Cox. SJM, 6/25/96, 12E.]

Koan Music is randomly generated (or "improvised") from downloaded constraint scripts and user-supplied inputs. A 1-7KB file can play for up to eight hours. Koan Music players and samples are free from or and mirrors, but you do need a MIDI soundcard for your PC. A SSEVO Koan Pro authoring system lets you control over 150 musical and sonic parameters, for any effect from wind chimes and ambient music to rhythmic Techo pieces. [, c.i.www.authoring.misc, 6/24/96.]

"Music is the sound of math." -- Bart Kosko. [Louis Leon , 5/96.]

Pianos are usually tuned to an "equal temperament" that is nearly in tune for any key, but not quite. Justonic Tuning Inc. (Vancouver) builds electronic keyboards that solve the problem: pitches are retuned dynamically to produce perfect harmonies. The company is joining with Virtual DSP Corp. (Everett, WA) to similarly retune electric guitars, for availability this fall. [Paul Raeburn, BW, 6/24/96, p. 158.]

brit-comp-music is a list for the computer music research community in Britain. Send a "join brit-comp-music your name" message to . [, new-list, 3/1/96.]

-- Ken