A New Music Composition Technique Using Natural Science Data

Abstract

The relationship of music and mathematics are well documented since the time of ancient Greece, and this relationship is evidenced in the mathematical or quasi-mathematical nature of compositional approaches by composers such as Xenakis, Schoenberg, Charles Dodge, and composers who employ computer-assisted-composition techniques in their work. This study is an attempt to create a composition with data collected over the course 32 years from melting glaciers in seven areas in Greenland, and at the same time produce a work that is expressive and expands my compositional palette. To begin with, numeric values from data were rounded to four-digits and converted into frequencies in Hz. Moreover, the other data are rounded to two-digit values that determine note durations. Using these transformations, a prototype composition was developed, with data from each of the seven Greenland-glacier areas used to compose individual instrument parts in a septet. The composition <i>Contrast and Conflict</i> is a pilot study based on 20 data sets. Serves as a practical example of the methods the author used to develop and transform data. One of the author’s significant findings is that data analysis, albeit sometimes painful and time-consuming, reduced his overall composing time. The variety and richness of data that exists from all academic areas and disciplines conceivably provide a rich reservoir of material from which to fashion compositions. As more composers explore this avenue of work, different methodologies will develop, and the value of works produced by this method will be evaluated.