ISAMA The International Society of the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture BRIDGES Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science Classification and Phylogenetic Analysis of African Ternary Rhythm Timelines

Abstract A combinatorial classification and a phylogenetic analysis of the ten 12/8 time, seven-stroke bell rhythm timelines in African and Afro-American music are presented. New methods for rhythm classification are proposed based on measures of rhythmic oddity and off-beatness. These classifications reveal several new uniqueness properties of the Bembe bell pattern that may explain its widespread popularity. A new distance measure called the swap-distance is introduced to measure the non-similarity of two rhythms that have the same number of strokes (onsets). A swap in a sequence of notes and rests of equal duration is the location interchange of a note and a rest that are adjacent in the sequence. The swap distance between two rhythms is defined as the minimum number of swaps required to transform one rhythm to the other. A phylogenetic analysis using Splits Graphs with the swap distance shows that each of the ten bell patterns can be derived from one of two "canonical" patterns with at most four swap operations, or from one with at most five swap operations. Furthermore, the phylogenetic analysis suggests that for these ten bell patterns there are no "ancestral" rhythms not contained in this set

Play Among Books

How does coding change the way we think about architecture? Miro Roman and his AI Alice_ch3n81 develop a playful scenario in which they propose coding as the new literacy of information. They convey knowledge in the form of a project model that links the fields of architecture and information through two interwoven narrative strands in an “infinite flow” of real books

Composition with complex data : a contribution on the mapping problem through practice-based research

Composition with complex data is a field of computer music composition/interactive art that uses extra-musical data from various sources like stock exchange data, weather data or seismic data. Despite the fascination that one can have in his exciting field of composition, there is still a lack of data management applications for artistic use. Hence, one is generally forced to create one’s own applications, at the expense of the time that should be spent in the artistic side of the work. As the technology can be part of the work but never the sole constituent, we decided to develop a toolbox, DataScapR, which allows artists to work easily with data, helping them in focusing on the artistic side. This toolbox will help the user to quickly advance beyond the technical development and focus on the artistic side of the project. This project consists of four components: a theoretical framework for sonification art, a state of the art and discussion on mapping techniques, the development of a sonification toolbox for composers who wish to use complex data (more specifically stock market data) as the source material for their music and a series of works as case studies to show the capabilities of the toolbox. Bringing theory and practice, art and technology together, this project can be seen as a practice-based one embedded within a theoretical framework.Nesta dissertação, abordo o tema da sonificação em contexto artístico. Sonificação, a tradução de dados en sons, é um largo campo de investigação e existe todo o interesse na exploração deste domínio num contexto artístico. Esse projecto visa contribuir para a criação de um ramo teórico para a arte da sonificação e, em simultâneo, apresentar uma aplicação que facilite o uso de sonificação em contexto artístico. Com efeito, actualmente, existem poucas aplicações que permitam usar sonificação na composição musical de uma forma acessível. Por esta razão, um compositor pode ter que aplicar um tempo considerável no desenvolvimento de uma aplicação própria o que muitas vezes, pode ter um efeito prejudicial na criação da obra em si. Se o compositor tem que aplicar demasiado tempo no desenvolvimento tecnológico pode correr o risco de considerar a aplicação como sendo a obra em si, o que não é o caso: pode ser uma parte mas nunca a obra. Para combater o pequeno leque de aplicações acessíveis criei uma caixa de ferramentas, DataScapR, desenvolvido em Max, e disponibilizada para o público em geral. DataScapR é um projecto aberto: o utilizador pode estendê-lo livremente e adaptá-lo às suas necessidades. Todos os patches são comentados extensivamente para facilitar a sua edição e extensão. O uso prático de DataScapR é exemplificado através de Através de estudos de caso demonstrando que a sonificação pode ser uma prática interessante integrada num contexto artístico. Nesse projecto de doutoramento foco um tipo de dados especifico: dados da bolsa das acções. Isso vem dum interesse pessoal e no dinamismo inerente à bolsa. Sempre considerei a bolsa fascinante e penso que pode ser interessante para usar os dados para sonificação. A dissertação consiste em quatro partes. A primeira parte aborda questões teóricos: procuramos uma definição de arte de sonificação e integramos essa prática no contexto da composição. Tratamos da questão da natureza e definição de dados e como eles podem ser aplicados na música. Depois de construída uma base teórica, descrevemos o estado da arte. Nesse segundo capítulo descrevemos obras que usam sonificação como componente importante da própria existência e discutimos os diferentes métodos de mapping. Seguidamente, discuto o software existente bem como a necessidade duma nova aplicação. No terceiro capítulo apresento DataScapR, um dos componentes práticos do doutoramento. DataScapR é uma caixa de ferramentas para sonificação de dados da bolsa de acções. Assim, apresento os três módulos que permitem usar dados em tempo real e dados históricos. Os métodos de mapping são explicados e a estrutura interna dos patches é apresentada. Finalmente, no quarto capítulo apresento as obras realizadas usando DataScapR: For A Fistful Of Data (flauta de bisel), 4D Brokers (instalação), Vapourwaves (instalação), Mirage (obra sobre suporte). Para cada caso, apresento a obra, discuto a sua estrutura, os mappings utilizados e as questões técnicas e termino com uma avaliação da obra. No final do capítulo concluo com uma avaliação geral das peças. Na discussão final realizo uma avaliação do trabalho feito e aponto direcções para trabalho futuro. A dissertação é da caixa de ferramentas DataScapR, de quatro estudos de caso e dois blogs: datascapr.wordpress.com onde o DataScapR está disponível e sonifcationart.wordpress.com onde discuto vários projectos de sonificação. Esse projecto de doutoramento mostra apenas uma das posições possíveis em arte de sonificação e, por esta razão, deve ser considerado como uma abertura para novos caminhos a explorar

The New Hampshire, Vol. 69, No. 08 (Oct. 3, 1978)

The student publication of the University of New Hampshire

One Line, Many Views: Perspectives on Music Theory, Composition, and Improvisation through the Work of Muhal Richard Abrams

This dissertation examines aspects of the creative practice of Muhal Richard Abrams, composer, improviser, pianist, and cofounder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Abrams’s work intersects with various facets of creative music. I focus on free improvisation, both as a stand-alone performance and in conjunction with through-composed music, his engagement with writings by theorist Joseph Schillinger, and his work as a composer. This study provides an historical overview of Abrams’s life and output, supplies analytical accounts of his music and creative practice, contributes to critical issues in music theory and analysis through these examinations, and diversifies the music, musicians, and topics that comprise the discipline of music theory

Classification of sound textures

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-89).by Nicolas Saint-Arnaud.M.S

Brahms's Song Collections: Rethinking a Genre.

By theorizing the role of genre in Johannes Brahms’s song collections, this dissertation explores what the composer’s alluring description of these pieces as “Liedersträuβe” (“song bouquets”) might imply for their analysis and interpretation as music-textual wholes. Where other approaches to Brahms’s song collections have explored their historical formation, this study examines their theoretical implications and analytical challenges. Opp. 57, 85, and 70 are analyzed to demonstrate the variety of interconnecting textual and musical aspects found in Brahms’s collections. In each case, apparent unities are resisted by other elements of music and text, thereby suggesting an ironic concept of Brahms’s song bouquet and calling into question any stable generic identity of them as wholes. Brahms’s creative approach to the nineteenth-century song collection thus invites a renewed interest in musical genre. This dissertation studies concepts of genre developed in a variety of disciplines in order to articulate new modes of relating text and music in Brahms’s collections, not just within songs but also between them. Rather than propose a static model or rigid taxonomy that would be applicable to any particular song collection, I examine the underlying conceptual frameworks that enable us to take a variety of interpretive positions. This dissertation takes as its theoretical starting point different notions of what it means to be a composer, listener, or musical work and then develops a model of the constructive interaction between these roles. I later extend this model to provide a new terminology for discussing the relationship between words and music in Brahms’s bouquets. To explore alternative approaches to the issue of unity, I use the four figurative tropes to suggest how alternative constructions of particular bouquets reflect an underlying coordination of part and whole. Finally, Brahms’s ideas regarding the organization of cadences within individual songs are extended to suggest how multiple songs can achieve large-scale closure. By embracing the ambiguities and multiple identities offered by Brahms’s bouquets, this dissertation arrives at a notion of genre that allows us to account for their plurality of potential meanings and to rethink what it means to be a listener of these enigmatic works.Ph.D.Music: TheoryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60668/1/dbsteven_1.pd