Formalizing the concept of sound.
Hans G. Kaper, Sever Tipei · University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) · 1999
The notion of formalized music implies that a musical composition can be described in mathematical terms. In this article we explore some formal aspects of music and propose a framework for an abstract approach. 1 Introduction Sounds and their attributes are traditionally defined at a relatively low level of abstraction. The terminology and basic concepts underlying the notion of a sound are tailored to Western music of the past three centuries and lack the level of abstraction needed, for example, for a significant body of recent works and some non-Western music. In this article we explore some formal aspects of music and propose a framework for a more abstract approach. As Western musicians, we are trained to think in terms of the notated score. Accordingly, we view a piece of music as a collection of individual sounds represented by dots and ovals and characterized mainly by start time, duration, and pitch. The music notation system we use today is indeed precise in defining time a...