Different amplitude and time distribution of the sound of light and classical music

Abstract:

Several pieces of different musical kinds were studied measuring A(t), the output amplitude of a peak detector driven by the electric signal arriving to the loudspeaker. Fixed a suitable threshold Ā , we considered N(A), the number of times that A(t)> Ā, each of them we named event and N(t), the distribution of times t between two consecutive events. Some N(A) and N(t) distributions are displayed in the reported logarithmic plots, showing that jazz, pop, rock and other popular rhythms have noise-distribution, while classical pieces of music are characterized by more complex statistics. We pointed out the extraordinary case of the aria “La calunnia è un venticello”, where the words describe an avalanche or seismic process, calumny, and the rossinian music shows N(A) and N(t)distribution typical of earthquakes.