SELF-SIMILARITY OF CLASSICAL MUSIC NETWORKS

Abstract

We present an in-depth analysis of the fractal nature of 21 classical music pieces previously shown to have scale-free properties. The musical pieces are represented as networks where the nodes are musical notes and respective durations, and the edges are its chronological sequence. The node degree distribution of these networks is analyzed, looking for self-similarity. This analysis is done in the full network, in its fractal dimensions, and its skeletons. The assortativeness of the pieces is also studied as a fractal property. We show that two-thirds of these networks are scale-invariant, i.e. scale-free in some dimension or their skeleton. In particular, two pieces were given attention because of their exceptional tendency for fractality.