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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1991 Apr 15;88(8):3507–3509. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.8.3507

Self-similarity of the "1/f noise" called music.

K J Hsü 1, A Hsü 1
PMCID: PMC51477  PMID: 11607178

Abstract

Suggestions have been made that computer musicians should attempt to compose fractal music, and questions have been raised whether there is such a thing as fractal music. Voss and Clark observed that music is scaling, or 1/f noise, as analyzed on the basis of the amplitude (loudness) of the audio signals; they failed to find a fractal distribution of acoustic frequencies (music notes) in music. Analyzing Bach's and Mozart's compositions, we have shown that the incidence of the frequency intervals, or of the changes of acoustic frequency, has a fractal geometry. Fractal phenomena are characterized by scale-independency. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate the self-similarity of music and to explore its implications.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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