Fractal Music

Pitch Scaling

Another place to look for scaling characteristics in music is in the set of pitch values for a given composition. If examination reveals a power law relationship between a note's pitch and the total number of such pitches, then we can, in a similar fashion to durations, establish that a scaling phenomenon exists.

Here is an example.

Our first log-log plot does not suggest a scaling relation.

Appropriately binning the data gives a better indication of a scaling relation.

Here is a color map of the pitch distribution.

Here is another example.

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© 2004 Harlan Brothers