Fractal patterns in music

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• Andrzej Herczyński (Boston College)
• Tuesday 02 April 2024, 14:20-15:10
• Seminar Room 1, Newton Institute.

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OOEW05 - Space, Scale and Scaling in Art

If aesthetic preferences are influenced by the fractal geometry of nature, scaling regularities would be expected in all art forms, including music. While a variety of statistical tools have been proposed to analyze time series in sound, there is no consensus on how to measure complexity or discern fractal patterns in music. This talk offers a distinct new approach based on the self-similarity of recuring melodic lines, performed simultaneously at different temporal scales (tempi). In contrast to the statistical analyses advanced in recent literature, the proposed method is manifestly local. The corresponding definition of the fractal dimension is based on the temporal scaling hierarchy and depends on the tonal contours of musical motifs. The new concepts are tested on musical “renditions” of the Cantor Set and the Koch Curve, and then illustrated with a number of carefully selected masterful compositions spanning five centuries of music making.

This talk is part of the Isaac Newton Institute Seminar Series series.

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