Leonardo

Synthetic Harmonies: An Approach to Musical Semiosis by Means of Cellular Automata Author(s): Eleonora Bilotta and Pietro Pantano Reviewed work(s): Source: Leonardo, Vol. 35, No. 2 (2002), pp. 153-159 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1577196 . Accessed: 08/02/2012 08:48
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GENERAL

ARTICLE ABSTRACT

Synthetic

Harmonies:

An

by

Approach Means of

Musical Semiosis Cellular Automata

to

EleonoraBilottaand PietroPantano

Music is thearithmetic soul, that uses numbers withoutrealof ising it. Leibniz This article discusses music, mathematics and artificial-life (ALife) models, linking them together through a semiotic approach. Music and mathematics, as expressions of creative thought, can be studied through their reciprocal relationship (as has been previously noted by both ancient and modern philosophers). Music and mathematics can be analyzed using models of the auditory perception used by the human mind during listening. They can also be studied in relation to the emotions they evoke, creating that "arithmetic of the soul" to which Leibniz referred. They can be analyzed from the formal point of view as well, which entails investigating the structures of the models that artists use for musical composition. We have chosen to use cellular automata (CA) (dynamic structures in which space, time and states of the system are discrete; mathematical models able to simulate the complex behavior of some physical and/or biological systems) to study complexity and then to translate this complexity into music. The relative simplicity of CA and their extraordinary capacity to mimic both evolution and growth in biological life seem to have some basic peculiarities in common with natural human languages (and thus with music) and with semiotics. Like languages, CA exhibit dynamic behavior. An important aspect of most complex systems is that they are massively parallel in operation, with all their parts working simultaneously. This allows their features to change in many ways, exhibiting emergent and self-organizing qualities. In order to understand complexity, we need to identify the laws in this behavior, the properties that remain unchanged (invariant). The link between mathematics and music, combined with certain models taken from modern science, allows music to be reproduced, synthesized and made to evolve through many theoretical-conceptual instruments offered by the A-Life field. As Christopher Langton has said, "ArtificialLife is a field of
Eleonora Bilotta (researcher), Centro Interdipartimentale della Comunicazione, Universita della Calabria, Cosenza, Italy. E-mail:<bilotta@unical.it>. Pietro Pantano (researcher), Centro Interdipartimentale della Comunicazione, Universita della Calabria, Cosenza, Italy. E-mail: <piepa@unical.it>. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Seventh International Conference on Artificial Life (Alife VII), 1-6 August 2000, Portland, OR, U.S.A. First published in M.A. Bedau,J.S. McCaskill, N.H. Packard and St. Rasmussen, eds., ArtificialLife VII:Proceedings of the SeventhInternationalConference (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000). Reprinted by permission.

study devoted to understanding life by attempting to abstract the fundamental dynamical principles underlying biological phenomena, and recreating these dynamics in other physical media-such as computers-making them accessible to new kinds of experimental manipulation and testing" [1]. In fact, one of the most promising sectors of contemporary art is the application of A-Life models to art, design and entertainment [2] as well as music [3]. Some characteristics of such forms of art are related to the complexity of their production: startingfrom simple and repeatedly applied rules, and slightly modifying certain elements, the artist has the ability to generate everdiffering artifacts. The perspective provided by A-Life approaches raises the question of the ontological status of the artwork:the concept of the unique and immutable artifact is giving way to that of creations that can be replicated in everdiffering ways, applying the same fruitful rule. Nevertheless, the issue of what an artwork might be like, how it is possible to manage its overall organization and its detailed content, according to its deep structural models of production, is not well defined; there is no common grammar of creativityin art. Besides, the artwork evolves in time: a given structural configuration might receive many instantiations, each unique in its local details but all changing by means of evolutionary processes. This article reviewsthe works that we have produced to date, using A-Life models for musical production. Some recent results will also be presented. Beginning with the simplest onedimensional CA, we moved on to improving our musical compositions by means of genetic algorithms. We then advanced to analyzing multi-state CA, realizing new musification codes that reproduce the emergence of complexity. Finally,we report on a preliminary grammar of musical compositions, linked with certain ideas about complexity and emergence and the possibility of creating a conceptual framework for discussion of complexity and music.

The authors the explore of creation artificial universes that expressible are through music internally and comprehensible complex as The systems. semiotic this approach paper the could presents alsoallow ofnew development toolsof into investigation thecomplexity ofartificial-life Through systems. codification using systems it musical language,is possible to understand patterns the that theglobal of dynamicscellular automata and produce to usethe in In results themusical domain. theauthors' music approach, can beconsidered semantics the of The identify complexity. authors between elements of analogies cellular automata elements and ofmusical creating a form, narrative musical framework that hasallowed to develop them a and productive, computational semantic Music methodology. fosters increased an capability foranalyzing reconstructing and unexpected complexity, providing into insight itsorganization.

SEMIOTICS, ARTIFICIALLIFE AND MUSIC

It is possible to create artificialuniversesthat are comprehensible through music. The relationship between music and A-Life models can be realized as a semiotictriangleof significa-

? MIT Press

LEONARDO,

Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 153-159,

2002

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tion or musification(musical expression). In this triangle, our mathematical structures, our codification system and our various methods of representation helped us to obtain various artifacts according to the codification systems we have chosen [4]. Therefore, A-Lifemusic can be created with the following characteristics: a. variable rules for its production; b. an infinite number of possible productions; c. a common and abstract character of production; d. arbitrary codification and representation; e. multiple semantics of representation; f. multiple possible readings of its mathematical configuration spaces; g. multiple patterns, both local and global, with relations to other patterns; h. multiple forms of evolutionary behavior [5]. The CA configurations can be represented by graphicalconfigurations, which can be interpreted by means of appropriate codes. The codes implement many processes of musical translation or musi-

calrendering, thus composing synthetic harthat generates the concrete occurmonies. rence of musical signs; d. normally, both continua (expresAccording to Umberto Eco [6], a code can express four different phenomena: sion and content) represent the ela. a series of signals linked according ements that precede and follow a to internal laws; semiotic relationship, but the b. a series of states of a system; spatial-temporal patterns of CA may c. a series of possible behavioral rebe considered intrinsically semiotic material. The same can be said for sponses by a receiver; d. a rule associating some elements of the digital continuum that realizes the music physically. This general (a) with elements of either system formulation of a code is displayed system (b) or (c). The code that we have developed falls in Fig. 1. We have elaborated many under case (d), since our system has as musification codes in order to oban initial state the configuration of a CA tain musical compositions at different levels of complexity, thus governed by a rule table, which determines a series of states of the system, realizing a great variety of music. which are then interpreted by another system (a listener). FORMALASPECTS OF CA It can be said that: a. a code establishes the correlation AND GENETIC ALGORITHMS between the formal and systematic Cellular automata are a very important aspects of a planned expression and subjectin A-Lifescience. They are capable a planned content; of generating complexity, with attributes b. a semiotic function establishes the of auto-organization and emergence, correlationbetween an element taken which might also model spontaneous forfrom the expression systemand an el- mation and the growth in complexity of ement takenfrom the content system. natural languages and of music. c. in this way, a code establishes genFollowing Stephen Wolfram [7], let eral types,thus producing the rule one-dimensional CA be defined as a dis-

154

Bilotta and Pantano, Synthetic Harmonies

crete dynamic system consisting of a finite lattice of identical cells, whose values are updated simultaneously according to a local rule. The value of the site i at time t is indicated by at). This value will depend on the values of the neighborhood of the site at the time before t - 1. So the rule of evolution can be expressed as:
1, a(t) =Fa-_,.+i . . . a, = F [a-l) r a(-l) at-1) . ] (1)

tablefor a CAk = 4, r = 1. Table1. Look-up

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where r represents the radiusof the neighborhood and 2r + 1 is the number of sites (around the site i), determining the value of the site itself. The value of the site is a whole number between 0 and k - 1. Local rules can be listed in a look-up table, univocally identified by the following string:

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For example, if k = 4 and r = 1, the look-

up table can be writtenas shown in Table 1, and (2) will be:

G= (2,0,1,3,2,...,0,3,1,2)
The string (2) can be considered the "genome" of the CA. Starting from this genome, one can activate an evolutionary process through the application of a genetic algorithm (GA). For generic k and r the number of rules will be kk . The number of rules will increase enormously as the values of k and rincrease.

By means of these codes, we have translated into music the complex rules of a great varietyof one-dimensional CA present in literature [9], showing how the presence of auto-organization and strange creatures can be translated into music [10]. Using as a fitness criterion a measure of complexity-the inputentropy function-we have constructed a GA to search for complex rules for multi-state CA [11]. We have done this in order to exploit more fully the great diversity and beauty that complex rules can manifest and to obtain more significant musical compositions. How, then, does one decide on the quality of musical compositions? Musical fitness, like visual fitness [12], is generally assessed intuitively by human evaluators. But this method is not very efficient (we need many generations to produce acceptable results) and is very costly in terms of time and resources [ 13]. Instead of using fitness criteria derived from human aesthetic judgments, we have realized a GA to detect the best musical compositions by means of an automatic mechanism of selection that uses a fitness criterion based on consonance. We have generated a sample set of musical compositions. The CA rules, which give birth to these groups of com-

positions, have been codified into a genetic code, and we have selected those families most capable of adapting to the environment and reproducing themselves [14]. The procedure we have used is the following: a. start from CA genomes such as the string (2); b. generate various individuals (sequences of sounds) associated with these genomes; c. select the genome sequences most suitable for evaluating the capabilities of the individuals (in this case the most consonant sound sequences); d. make these genomes evolve from one generation to the other, casually modifying their features and using combination rules based on sexual pairing; e. continue the process for many generations. We computed the consonance and dissonance values between two notes in a melody. The succeeding generations, created by random genetic mutation, were selected according to their fitness, and the process was repeated many times. After many generations, we observed a strengthening and improvement in some populations' fitness (see Fig. 2) and

GENERATING AND EVOLVING MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS To this point we have developed different types of musification codes, among which the most important seem to be: a. local musification codes, through which it is possible; to read the grid of a CA site by site; b. global codes, through the functions of input-entropy and the progress of the populations by CA; c. mixed codes, reading portions of CA configurations. These codes may be indirect,in which case algorithms are used that in someway transform and/or manipulate the numeric structure of the CA configuration, before the CA are translated into music [8].

Fig. 2. Fitness growth given various mutation probabilities. The best musical melodies correspond to the fitness curve with 1% of mutation percentage.

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Bilottaand Pantano, Synthetic Harmonies

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emergent properties in improving melodic organizations. The results show that the evolutionary process can be useful in defining consonance/dissonance when applied automatically to musical compositions. Using an algorithm based on consonance, we searched for the repetition and recombination of recognizable melodic motifs and fragments, as well as the clear interpretation of patterns (generated from different processes of evolution) that could help to create unity and coherence while also ensuring variety in the musical pieces. We also found that in the musical pieces generated by a genetic algorithm based on consonance, consonant harmonies are those that sound stable; dissonant harmonies sound unstable or seem to clash or to have low fitness values. They tend to be resolved into consonant harmonies [15]. Given the broad applicability of evolutionary concepts and tools to music, the question arises of how they may be used in relation to music theory. We find that such concepts can be useful in understanding both local issues of music structure and organization and global issues of configuration and diachronic change in musical style. A second issue (which is still potential in fieri) concerns the realization of computer-based programs (or modified computational tools) that pro-

duce music automatically by means of other kinds of evolutionary processes, without human intervention.

NARRATIVE MUSIC
AND COMPILEXITY

The graphical configurations in which CA evolve can describe the way in which complexity is manifested or codified. Complexity can be seen as a process of encoding, and it is possible to read the representations complexity produces only if one possesses the code. In our approach, music can be considered the semanticsof complexity. We have translated into musical compositions domains and gliders of complex multi-state CA [16] and have observed that complexity has some organizational laws, which could be similar to those of musical composition [17]. On the one hand, music builds elaborate structures of sounds, but, as Gestalt

musical concepts or schemes in listening to music. Traditionally,music is thought of as having a horizontal and a vertical dimension. This derives from musical notation, in which the horizontal axis stands for the temporal succession of sounds that forms the melody, and the vertical axis depicts pitch relations, or the simultaneous sounds that form harmonies. Translating a sequence of sounds through physical parameters does not amount to generating music. That is a more complex human expression, with its own grammar and aesthetic: melody, harmony, consonance, canons, fugues and rhythm transform a sequence of sounds into music. Unlike physical facts whose lawsare unchangeable, musical expression depends on rules that evolve with time and are strongly bound to their historical period; this makes the generation of music a difficult and very complex
process.

psychologists have pointed out, its aesthetic and perceptual comprehension does not rely merely upon the raw properties of the individual sounds. Music also builds upon structural concepts such as scales, modes and key relations, and a variety of transformations, which include transpositionand repetition. Experienced listeners make use of a large number of

Cellular automata also display rich and complex patterns, whose organization is completely unpredictable. Wolfram classified CA qualitatively according to their
aperiodic behavior: class 1 (homogene-

ity); class 2 (periodicity); class 3 (chaos); and class 4 (complexity) [18]. The first class consists of automata that evolve to a unique, homogeneous state, after a limited transient. The second class

Fig. 3. Analogies between CA and musical composition: many elements of complex systems correspond to elements of musical systems.

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of producesa musicalcompositionin whichwe can hearthe alternation graphical Fig. Musical form: repetition. The C1A configuration produces a musical composition in which we can hear the alternation of Fig-.4. Musicalform:repetition.The CAgraphical configuration groupsof notes. groups notes.

the CA can have. When we activate a code, we realize the "tokens"of that CA as musical compositions. Given the diversity of systems falling into the classes of CA and of musical compositions, the discovery of any commonalities or universal laws (see Fig. 3) structures can be observed emerging underlying such systems will require a from a homogeneous, periodic or regu- theoretical framework. Narrative music lar background. These structures change might be such a framework. The orderly arrangement of musical continuously over a long period before or propagating themselves pe- elements in time is called musical form. vanishing riodically in space-time. These last peri- We have realized musical forms of difodic structures are identified as "gliders" ferent types using a composite way of [19,20] or "particles"[21]. reading the complexity that CA produce. at our disposal entire families As music takes place in time, its form deHaving of complex rules [22], we conceived the velops in time. Every musical system has idea of creating catalogs, thus realizing a conventions that are explicitly or implichigher-level description of these dynam- itly understood by listeners, and these ical systems [23]. Creating a CA catalog conventions have an effect on the listening process and on interpretation. signifies success in discovering: * the regular domains of a CA The common formal patterns to be * the quiescence state found in a musical composition can be * particles or gliders described in terms of the major sections * interaction between particles. within a piece. Two strings of CA doA CA's regular domain is represented mains or gliders or their various combia set of spatial lattice configurations, nations can produce this form of musical by with the properties of temporal invari- composition, using either the same or ance (or periodicity) and spatial homo- different CA rules. In the first case, we used the elements geneity. When domain violations form a spa- of the CA catalog to obtain compositially localized, temporally periodic tions [24]. Such compositions can be realized boundary between two adjacent domains, using data from the same domains, or they are called particles or gliders. These particles emerge as deformations of a reg- from different domains of the same rule ular domain. In many CA, when two or (producing summation domains). The more particlescollide, they create another same happens if we link together data set of particles or annihilate one another. that produce gliders and/or different A CA's whole catalog has mathemati- gliders that can be joined together. We cal properties and represents a knowl- also demonstrated that various kinds of edge base with which it is possible to compositions can be realized by linking discover music. The catalog includes a different types of compatible CA data. The two fundamental characteristicsof number of the musical instantiations we can realize, the container of several gen- musical form are repetition and contrast. of eral and abstract "types" musical forms These relationships provide the basis for consists of automata whose evolution leads to a set of separated, simple and periodic structures. The third class is composed of automata whose evolution leads to chaotic space-time patterns. The fourth class deals with automata that evolve to complex patterns. In this class,

musical forms found both universallyand within particular cultures and historical periods. In music, repetition instills in the listener both memories of what was heard and expectations of what is to come. This is true both of recognizable details and of patterns that are only recognized unconsciously.Sections of a composition can be related to one another in four ways: 1. Exact repetition. To create examples of this kind of repetition we used the CA domains. This form of repetition is very simple to obtain, and the resulting compositions resemble Gregorian or tribal chants or baby talk (see Fig. 4). 2. Variation (repetition in which some aspect is changed-movements added to the melody or alterations of the harmony or rhythm). For this case, we used different initial data for one CA rule to produce compositions, varying the melody or altering the harmony or the rhythms of the compositions. To produce this class of variations in CA compositions, we need not change the rule. Often a series of very subtly different initial data for the same CA provides a unifying element, as in most jazz improvisations, which are variations created to fit the harmonies of a given melody (see Fig. 5). Such variation can be compared with that in sentences with slightly differing meanings or with synonyms. A special kind of variation is counterpoint (the interlacing of melodies), especially in the form of melodic imitation. Imitation was the means for creating unity in forms such as the motet and the fugue. 3. Contrast (in which the new section is markedly different from the previous one). Many musical composi-

Bilotta and Pantano, Svnthetic Harmonies

157

Fig. 5. Musical form: variation using different CA patterns. The three patterns produce different melodies, according to the differences in the visual configurations.

tions are based on contrast as well as repetition of sections. If we use two forms, the resulting composition will consist of two contrasting sections that function as statement and counter-statement. The pattern may be, for example, XY, or it may be complicated by repetition (XXY) or variation (XXk'YYk',where Xk' means a variation of X). For this type of composition, we used different CA rules or domains (see Fig. 6). In order to identify consonant compositions, we used as an evaluation scale the fitness of the rules compared with the consonance scale that uses very small proportions. 4. Development (in which components of the original section, such as a melodic fragment or a rhythm, are taken apart and recombined in new ways to create a new section). For producing this category of compositions, we used, as before, different initial data from one CA, inserting data from the domains and changing them in a creative manner. In this case, we are developing a sort of narrativeof producing musical compositions in which, as in other models of thought, creativity plays an

important role. We are planning to build up a system for describing CA complexity in which, by means of a musical language, it is possible to realise sentences and then composites of sentences in order to obtain higher-level compositions. Such a musical narrative also provides an example of hierarchical levels of form. The alteration of contrasting sections can be expanded in forms
as in the concerto.

CONCLUSIONS The scenario A-Life science reveals to musicians is completely unexpected. New methods, paradigms and tools for studying, producing, managing and creating music are actually available. Unfortunately, this great range of approaches and possibilities is not fully known and exploited. New keys of reading the complexity of A-Lifesystemscould be realized using the semiotic approach this paper presents. Through various codification systems using musical language, it is possible to give meaning to many characteristics of the patterns that CA global dynamics produce and to use the results in the musical domain. In our approach,

music can be considered the semantics of complexity. We identified analogies with some elements of CA and elements of musical form. Musical form goes beyond sectional patterns and is created by the composer's organization of melody, rhythm and harmony, elements that involve creative thought. But the organizational structure we identify in analogy with elements of CA complexity can exist on several levels, and it is possible to identify basic formal patterns having unity, variety and symmetry. It seems that there is a correspondence between the catalog elements and the musical features, the rules of complexity and the rules of musical composition. So we can build up a mathematical model for musical composition. This model helps us in interpreting complexity (or music in general) as well as in producing musical compositions as narrative pieces. This mathematical model allows us to realize an engineering process for musical compositions. This narrative musical framework helps us to develop a productive methodology. In fact, we can produce musical pieces with some pre-defined characteristics. It is computational; as we can create a computer program to perform the process of

158

Bilottaand Pantano, Synthetic Harmonies

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8. E. Bilotta and P. Pantano, "Artificial Life Music Tells of Complexity," in Workshop [3]. Proceedings 9. Wolfram [7]. 10. E. Bilotta, P. Pantano and V. Talarico, "Music Generation through Cellular Automata: How to Give Life to Strange Creatures," Proceedings Generative of Art (Milan, Italy:AleaDesign, 2000). 11. E. Bilotta, A. Lafusa and P. Pantano, "Searching for Cellular Automata Complex Rules by Means of Genetic Algorithms," submitted for publication. Mathematical Plays,Vol. 2 (New York:Academic Press, 1982) Chap. 25. Cellular Automata Au20. A. Wuensche, "Classifying tomatically: Finding Gliders, Filtering and Relating Space-Time Patterns, Attractors Basins and the Z Parameter," Complexity 4, No. 3, 47-66 (1999).

Fig. 6. Musical form: contrast. Using different CA patterns, we obtain different melodic lines.

analysis by detecting the CA elements, creating the corresponding musical forms and then recombining them in a productive manner (synthesis). It is semantic because we produce musical compositions, which demonstrate complexity, expressing the laws of emergence and auto-organization. References

21. W. Hordijk, C.R. Shalizi and J.P. Crutchfield, "Upper Bound on the Products of Particle Interactions in Cellular Automata," Physica 154D (2001) pp. 240-258. 22. These families are derived from the process described in Bilotta et al. [11]. 23. Hordijk et al. [20]. 24. Bilotta and Pantano [8].

12. K. Sims, "Interactive Evolution of Equations for 9, 1. C.G. Langton, ed., Aitificial Life: An Overviezw Procedural Models," The Visual Computer No. 8, 466-476 (1993). (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 1995). 13. Bilotta et al. [4]. 14. M. Mitchell, An Introduction Genetic to Algorithms (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996). 15. E. Bilotta, P. Pantano and V. Talarico, "Evolutionary Music and Fitness Functions," in A.M. Anile, V. Capasso and A. Greco, eds., Progress Industrial in Mathematics ECMI 2000 (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, at 2002), in press. 16. Bilotta and Pantano [8]. 17. E. Bilotta and P. Pantano, "Observations on Complex Multi-State CAs," in J. Kelemen and P. Sosik, eds., Advancesin ArtificialLife (Proceedings of theSixthEuropeanConference ArtificialLife,Prague, on September2001) (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2001) pp. 226-235. 18. Wolfram [7]. 19. J.H. Conway, "What Is Life?" in E. Berlekamp, J.H. Conway and R. Guy, eds., Winning Ways Your for

2. C.C. Maley and E. Boudreau, eds., Artificial Life VII

Workshop Proceedings(Portland, OR: Reed College, 2000). 3. E. Bilotta, E.R. Miranda, P. Pantano and P. Todd, "ArtificialLife Models for Musical Application," European Conference on Artificial Life VI, Workshop Proceedings, Prague, 8-14 September 2001 (Cosenza, Italy: Editoriale Bios, 2001). 4. E. Bilotta, P. Pantano and V. Talarico, "Synthetic Harmonies: An Approach to Musical Semiosis by Means of Cellular Automata,"in M.A. Bedau,J.S. McCaskill,N.H. Packardand S. Rasmussen,eds., Artificial International LifeVII: Procedingsof theSeventh Conference (Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2000) pp. 537-546. 5. Bilotta et al. [4]. 6. U. Eco, Trattatodi semiotica(Milan, Italy: Bompiani, 1975). 7. S. Wolfram, "Universalityand Complexity in Cellular Automata," PhysicaD 10 (1984) pp. 1-35.

Eleonora Bilotta is professor of General Psychology at the Arts and Humanities Faculty, University of Calabria, Italy. Her current research interests include intelligent systems in education, psychology of programming, psychologyof music, and artificial life and music. Pietro Pantano is professor of Classical Mechanics and Applied Mathematics at the Engineering Faculty, University of Calabria, Italy. His current research interests include non-linearphenomena and wave propagation theory, complexity,self-organized criticity and artificial life, and generative and evolutive music.

Bilottaand Pantano, Synthetic Harmonies

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