Can the evolution of music be analyzed in a quantitative manner?

We propose a methodology to study music development by applying multivariate statistics on composers characteristics. Seven representative composers were considered in terms of eight main musical features. Grades were assigned to each characteristic and their correlations were analyzed. A bootstrap method was applied to simulate hundreds of artificial composers influenced by the seven representatives chosen. Afterwards we quantify non-numeric relations like dialectics, opposition and innovation. Composers differences on style and technique were represented as geometrical distances in the feature space, making it possible to quantify, for example, how much Bach and Stockhausen differ from other composers or how much Beethoven influenced Brahms. In addition, we compared the results with a prior investigation on philosophy. Opposition, strong on philosophy, was not remarkable on music. Supporting an observation already considered by music theorists, strong influences were identified between composers by the quantification of dialectics, implying inheritance and suggesting a stronger master-disciple evolution when compared to the philosophy analysis.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, added references for sections 1 and 4.C, better mathematical description on section 2. New values and interpretation, now considering a bootstrap metho

A memória e o valor da síncope: da diferença do que ensinam os antigos e os modernos Memory and value of syncopation: on the difference between what the old and the modern teach

A síncope é um tema privilegiado nos estudos da música popular que reaparece aqui em um conjunto de considerações que, marcado pelo viés dos saberes das velhas disciplinas de Contraponto e Harmonia, sublinham a interação e, principalmente, a inseparabilidade entre métrica (divisão, ritmo, acentuação, prosódia, etc.) e altura (notas, intervalos, relação dissonância-consonância, acordes, notas auxiliares, etc.) na apreciação crítica das figurações sincopadas. Na primeira parte percorre-se uma mínima memória da arte e da teoria da síncope na tradição ocidental culta para, na segunda parte, observar-se que, em medida tácita e sutil, resíduos dessa tradição afetam juízos de valor em alguns dos sincopados cenários da música popular atual.<br>Syncopation is a privileged issue in popular music studies that reappears here in a number of considerations that, marked by the bias of knowledge of the old disciplines of Counterpoint and Harmony, underline the interaction and, especially, the inseparability between metric (division, rhythm, accentuation, prosody, etc.) and pitches (notes, intervals, dissonance-consonance relationship, chords, auxiliary notes, etc.) in a critical analysis of the figures of syncopation. The first part covers up a minimum memory of the art and theory of syncopation in the Western erudite tradition, so that, in the second part, it can be noted that, in tacit and subtle manner, residues of this tradition can affect the value judgment in some of the syncopated worlds of popular music today