I'm moving the page over to Geocities, because it is just getting too large. I'm not quite certain how much space it will take, so I'm omitting the graphics until a later date. I would like to hear from any visitors. Just click on the graphic below:
What is fractal music?
Very briefly, fractal music is an audible picture. The same mathematical equations used to create fractals can be used to create sounds. In the same way some fractals can be ugly or interesting, a pleasing fractal composition depends on the equations and the values of constants specified by the creator.How are fractal compositions created?
There are a number of programs that create fractal music. The one
I'm most familiar with is called FractMus, which you can pick up
here.
MusiNum
is another program I have on my computer, but it still remains unused.
You can download it here.
Samples of my experiments with fractal music
The pieces are still brief, primarily because I really haven't mastered
all the techniques available to FractMus. To hear a piece, click
title. To turn it off click the square.
| Piano Pieces | I selected this format thinking that this would be an easier format than 8 to 10 channels. Not so! |
| Deb2.mid | This piece is based on a favorite scale of Debussy. It attempts to keep the impression of a piano piece, but the thematic development and rhythms are much more modern. |
| Skriab1.mid | This is inspired by the mystically- inclined, Russian composer, Skriabin. I borrowed a musical scale he favored and subjected it to fractal treatment. |
| Garden.mid | Using the pentatonic scale, this piece relies on thirds and fifths for harmony, which I hadn't done before. The 16th notes in the middle and end were added for more tonal texture. |
| debu1.mid | This the first piece which uses a scale favored by Debussy. |
| Study.mid | A short piece with variations. |
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The source for the scale used in this piece says that it is Hungarian, but the piece does sound like Poulenc to me. A gulyash prepared in a French kitchen? It contains another attempt at arpeggios. |
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This is composed with the new FractMus2000, which provides new fractal algorithms, among many new features. I am using here a new one, called Wolfram Cellular Automata. To me it suggested the rocking motion of a horse on the plains. |
| Vocal/Oriental |
I think my favorite form of music is vocal, anything from opera to Lieder. Added to that is my fascination with the East. Put these two interests together and you have these works. |
| Aum.mid | This is a recent piece where I tried to copy the sonorities of a contemporary minimalist composer, Phil Glass, who evidently wrote music for a French documentary on Tibet. He imitated the sounds of Tibetan Buddhist chanting and I tried to do something similar. |
| Chant.mid | This didn't do what I wanted it to, so I let it go its own way. The choice of pitch and timbre created moire sounds, which I wanted to explore. The imitation of voice syllables just happened, as did the intrusion of the diatonic scale. From near chaos in the middle portion, the piece returned to tonality in the closing seconds. |
| Nihon.mid | This is one of the first experiments in using a preset scale for a composition. The choice of Koto, a Japanese stringed instrument, instead of voices, reinforces the mood created by the Japanese scale. In the second section the Shakuhachi (a Japanese flute) picks up the melody and later a second flute is added for occidental harmony. The taiko drum, added to reinforce the rhythm, suggested a documentary I saw on Japanese drummers. The closing drumming was inescapable. |
| Bali.mid | The scale is from Java in this incomplete work. I want to do more work with the fractal equation used to create the unexpected rests. |
| BalPercus.mid | The fractal equation in Bali.mid gave such an interesting beat that I reworked it for percussion only with such infectious rhythms that I almost called it Infection. |
| Limpid.mid | For voices and piano. This piece contains the first effort at an arpreggio. |
| PleniSunt.mid | The title is taken from the the Sanctus of the Catholic Mass: Pleni sunt coeli... The heavens and the earth are full of Thy glory. The piece may be the tiniest bit corny. |
| Other Pieces | These are works that don't fall in the other two categories. |
