A Computer Model for the Analysis of Diversity and Coordination in Orchestration
Charles de Päivä Santana, Didier Guigue · Electronic workshops in computing · 2020
We introduce a method for computer-assisted analysis of musical texture and orchestration. Our aim is to establish a formal understanding of these symbolic dimensions that could be on par with existing computational approaches to rhythm and pitch. We also propose to investigate the role that texture and orchestration control has in structuring musical form. Our research is based on the theoretical considerations made by Wallace Berry in the classic Structural Functions in Music and the subsequent numerical representation and combinatorial manipulation, grounded on the mathematical theory of integer partitions proposed by Pauxy Gentil-Nunes. To do this, we assumed that each local sonic configuration (an orchestral configuration in the case of symphonic music), or Local Sonic Setup , delineate a sound unit. The qualification of these setups according to the number of sonic resources used and the way in which they are distributed to create more or less polyphonic complexity is information that is added to the other dimensions that contribute to the development of a dynamic of the form through sound.