The fractal dimension of music : melodic contours and time series of pitch

• We analyze the fractal dimension of melodic contours and pitch time series of classical music and folk music tunes. The fractal dimensions obtained from box counting and detrended fluctuation analysis show significant differences. They are ascribed to the low accuracy of box counting for dimensions close to two as well as to a possible bias because the pitches in the time series are connected by lines to obtain the melodic contour used in the box counting analysis. We observe a tendency that folk music exhibits lower fractal dimensions than classical music, but further studies are needed in order to assess cutoff effects in the comparatively short folk music tunes. We conclude that detrended fluctuation analysis is the preferable method for fractal analysis of music, and this verifies previous studies of analysis of short time series.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Annan fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Other Physics Topics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Engineering Science with specialization in Solid State Physics

Teknisk fysik med inriktning mot fasta tillståndets fysik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)