Topological Structures in Computer-Aided Music Analysis

Louis Bigo (1) , Moreno Andreatta (1)

1 Repmus - Représentations musicales

We propose a spatial approach to musical analysis based on the notion of a chord complex. A chord complex is a labelled simplicial complex which represents a set of chords. The dimension of the elements of the complex and their neighbourhood relationships highlight the size of the chords and their intersections. Following a well-established tradition in set-theoretical and neo-Riemannian music analysis, we present the family of T /I complexes which represent classes of chords which are transpositionally and inversionally equivalent and which relate to the notion of Generalized Tonnetze. A musical piece is represented by a trajectory within a given chord complex. We propose a method to compute the compactness of a trajectory in any chord complex. Calculating the trajectory compactness of a piece in T /I complexes provides valuable information for music analysis and classification. We introduce different geometrical transformations on trajectories that correspond to different musical transformations. Finally, we present HexaChord, a software package dedicated to computer-aided music analysis with chord complexes, which implements most of the concepts discussed in this chapter.

Mots clés: Music; Topology; Computational Musicology; Music

Domaines: Musique, musicologie et arts de la scène

Louis Bigo, Moreno Andreatta. Topological Structures in Computer-Aided Music Analysis. David Meredith. Computational Music Analysis, Springer, pp.57-80, 2015, 978-3-319-25931-4. ⟨10.1007/978-3-319-25931-4_3⟩. ⟨hal-01263349⟩