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Simple Deterministic Algorithms for Generating “Good” Musical Rhythms

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Emergent Computation

Part of the book series: Emergence, Complexity and Computation ((ECC,volume 24))

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Abstract

The most economical representation of a musical rhythm is as a binary sequence of symbols that represent sounds and silences, each of which have a duration of one unit of time. Such a representation is eminently suited to objective mathematical and computational analyses, while at the same time, and perhaps surprisingly, provides a rich enough structure to inform both music theory and music practice. A musical rhythm is considered to be “good” if it belongs to the repertoire of the musical tradition of some culture in the world, is used frequently as an ostinato or timeline, and has withstood the test of time. Here several simple deterministic algorithms for generating musical rhythms are reviewed and compared in terms of their computational complexity, applicability, and capability to capture “goodness.”

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the Provost’s Office of New York University Abu Dhabi, through the Faculty of Science, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

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  1. New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Godfried T. Toussaint

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  1. Godfried T. Toussaint
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Correspondence to Godfried T. Toussaint .

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  1. Unconventional Computing Centre, University of the West of England Unconventional Computing Centre, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Andrew Adamatzky

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Toussaint, G.T. (2017). Simple Deterministic Algorithms for Generating “Good” Musical Rhythms. In: Adamatzky, A. (eds) Emergent Computation . Emergence, Complexity and Computation, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46376-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46376-6_1

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