MUSICAL ALGORITHMS AND FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURES

Abstract

Composition & Musicology By writing algorithms to complete counterpoint exercises in the style of Johann Joseph Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum, a hierarchy of preferences between the given rules can be determined by testing different prioritizations of those rules. While conducting the study, it was found that strict adherence to any prioritization of rules led to deterministic or near-deterministic results, indicating the possibility of a ‘fundamental structure of counterpoint’ similar to the fundamental structures described by Heinrich Schenker. The study was conducted using four iterations of an algorithm capable of completing counterpoint exercises in the first species. Subsequently, implications of the findings are discussed along with recommendations for future iterations of algorithmic design.