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The structure of musical harmony as an ordered phase of sound: A statistical mechanics approach to music theory.

ABSTRACT: Music, while allowing nearly unlimited creative expression, almost always conforms to a set of rigid rules at a fundamental level. The description and study of these rules, and the ordered structures that arise from them, is the basis of the field of music theory. Here, I present a theoretical formalism that aims to explain why basic ordered patterns emerge in music, using the same statistical mechanics framework that describes emergent order across phase transitions in physical systems. I first apply the mean field approximation to demonstrate that phase transitions occur in this model from disordered sound to discrete sets of pitches, including the 12-fold octave division used in Western music. Beyond the mean field model, I use numerical simulation to uncover emergent structures of musical harmony. These results provide a new lens through which to view the fundamental structures of music and to discover new musical ideas to explore.

SUBMITTER: Berezovsky J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6524979 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The structure of musical harmony as an ordered phase of sound: A statistical mechanics approach to music theory.

Berezovsky Jesse J

Science advances 20190517 5

Music, while allowing nearly unlimited creative expression, almost always conforms to a set of rigid rules at a fundamental level. The description and study of these rules, and the ordered structures that arise from them, is the basis of the field of music theory. Here, I present a theoretical formalism that aims to explain why basic ordered patterns emerge in music, using the same statistical mechanics framework that describes emergent order across phase transitions in physical systems. I first ...[more]

PMID: 31114802

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