Musical set theory provides concepts for categorizing musical objects and describing their

relationships. Many of the notions were first elaborated by Howard Hanson (1960) in connection
with tonal music, and then mostly developed in connection with atonal music by theorists such as
Allen Forte (1973), drawing on the work in twelve-tone theory of Milton Babbitt. The concepts
of set theory are very general and can be applied to tonal and atonal styles in any equallytempered tuning system, and to some extent more generally than that. One branch of musical set
theory deals with collections (sets and permutations) of pitches and pitch classes (pitch-class set
theory), which may be ordered or unordered, and which can be related by musical operations
such as transposition, inversion, and complementation. The methods of musical set theory are
sometimes applied to the analysis of rhythm as well.

Contents
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1 Mathematical set theory versus musical set theory

2 Set and set types
3 Basic operations
4 Equivalence relation
5 Transpositional and inversional set classes
6 Symmetry
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links

[edit] Mathematical set theory versus musical set theory

Although musical set theory is often thought to involve the application of mathematical set
theory to music, there are numerous differences between the methods and terminology of the
two. For example, musicians use the terms transposition and inversion where mathematicians
would use translation and reflection. Furthermore, where musical set theory refers to ordered
sets, mathematics would normally refer to tuples or sequences (though mathematics does speak
of ordered sets, and these can be seen to include the musical kind in some sense, they are far
more involved).
Moreover, musical set theory is more closely related to group theory and combinatorics than to
mathematical set theory, which concerns itself with such matters as, for example, various sizes of
infinitely large sets. In combinatorics, an unordered subset of n objects, such as pitch classes, is
called a combination, and an ordered subset a permutation. Musical set theory is best regarded as
a field that is not so much related to mathematical set theory, as an application of combinatorics
to music theory with its own vocabulary. The main connection to mathematical set theory is the
use of the vocabulary of set theory to talk about finite sets.

[edit] Set and set types

Main article: Set (music)
The fundamental concept of musical set theory is the (musical) set, which is an unordered
collection of pitch classes (Rahn 1980, 27). More exactly, a pitch-class set is a numerical
representation consisting of distinct integers (i.e., without duplicates) (Forte 1973, 3). The
elements of a set may be manifested in music as simultaneous chords, successive tones (as in a
melody), or both.[citation needed] Notational conventions vary from author to author, but sets are
typically enclosed in curly braces: {} (Rahn 1980, 28), or square brackets:[] (Forte 1973, 3).
Some theorists use angle brackets to denote ordered sequences (Rahn 1980, 21 & 134), while
others distinguish ordered sets by separating the numbers with spaces (Forte 1973, 6061). Thus
one might notate the unordered set of pitch classes 0, 1, and 2 (corresponding in this case to C,
C, and D) as {0,1,2}. The ordered sequence C-C-D would be notated
or (0,1,2).
Although C is considered to be zero in this example, this is not always the case. For example, a
piece (whether tonal or atonal) with a clear pitch center of F might be most usefully analyzed
with F set to zero (in which case {0,1,2} would represent F, F and G. (For the use of numbers to
represent notes, see pitch class.)
Though set theorists usually consider sets of equal-tempered pitch classes, it is possible to
consider sets of pitches, non-equal-tempered pitch classes,[citation needed] rhythmic onsets, or "beat
classes" (Warburton 1988, 148; Cohn 1992, 149).
Two-element sets are called dyads, three-element sets trichords (occasionally "triads", though
this is easily confused with the traditional meaning of the word triad). Sets of higher cardinalities
are called tetrachords (or tetrads), pentachords (or pentads), hexachords (or hexads), heptachords
(heptads or, sometimes, mixing Latin and Greek roots, "septachords"e.g., Rahn 1980, 140),
octachords (octads), nonachords (nonads), decachords (decads), undecachords, and, finally, the
dodecachord.

[edit] Basic operations

The basic operations that may be performed on a set are transposition and inversion. Sets related
by transposition or inversion are said to be transpositionally related or inversionally related, and
to belong to the same set class. Since transposition and inversion are isometries of pitch-class
space, they preserve the intervallic structure of a set, and hence its musical character. This can be
considered the central postulate of musical set theory. In practice, set-theoretic musical analysis
often consists in the identification of non-obvious transpositional or inversional relationships
between sets found in a piece.
Some authors consider the operations of complementation and multiplication as well. (The
complement of set X is the set consisting of all the pitch classes not contained in X (Forte 1973,
7374).) However, since complementation and multiplication are not isometries of pitch-class
space, they do not necessarily preserve the musical character of the objects they transform. Other

writers, such as Allen Forte, have emphasized the Z-relation which obtains between two sets
sharing the same total interval content, or interval vector, but which are not transpositionally or
inversionally equivalent (Forte 1973, 21). Another name for this relationship, used by Howard
Hanson (1960), is "isomeric" (Cohen 2004, 33).
Operations on ordered sequences of pitch classes also include transposition and inversion, as
well as retrograde and rotation. Retrograding an ordered sequence reverses the order of its
elements. Rotation of an ordered sequence is equivalent to cyclic permutation.
Transposition and inversion can be represented as elementary arithmetic operations. If x is a
number representing a pitch class, its transposition by n semitones is written Tn = x + n (mod12).
Inversion corresponds to reflection around some fixed point in pitch class space. If "x" is a pitch
class, the inversion with index number n is written In = n - x (mod12).

[edit] Equivalence relation

"For a relation in set S to be an equivalence relation [in algebra], it has to satisfy three
conditions: it has to be reflexive [...], symmetrical [...], and transitive [...]."(Schuijer 2008, p.2930) "Indeed, an informal notion of equivalence has always been part of music theory and
analysis. PC set theory, however, has adhered to formal definitions of equivalence" (Schuijer
2008, 85).

[edit] Transpositional and inversional set classes

Two transpositionally related sets are said to belong to the same transpositional set class (Tn).
Two sets related by transposition or inversion are said to belong to the same
transpositional/inversional set class (inversion being written T nI or In). Sets belonging to the
same transpositional set class are very similar-sounding; while sets belonging to the same
transpositional/inversional set class are fairly similar sounding. Because of this, music theorists
often consider set classes to be basic objects of musical interest.
There are two main conventions for naming equal-tempered set classes. One, known as the Forte
number, derives from Allen Forte, whose The Structure of Atonal Music (1973), is one of the
first works in musical set theory. Forte provided each set class with a number of the form c-d,
where c indicates the cardinality of the set and d is the ordinal number (Forte 1973, 12). Thus the
chromatic trichord {0, 1, 2} belongs to set-class 3-1, indicating that it is the first three-note set
class in Forte's list (Forte 1973, 17981). The augmented trichord {0, 4, 8}, receives the label 312, which happens to be the last trichord in Forte's list.
The primary criticisms of Forte's nomenclature are: (1) Forte's labels are arbitrary and difficult to
memorize, and it is in practice often easier simply to list an element of the set class; (2) Forte's
system assumes equal temperament and cannot easily be extended to include diatonic sets, pitch
sets (as opposed to pitch-class sets), multisets or sets in other tuning systems; (3) Forte's original
system considers inversionally related sets to belong to the same set-class.This means that, for
example a major triad and a minor triad are considered the same set. Western tonal music for

centuries has regarded major and minor as significantly different. Therefore there is a limitation
in Forte's theory.[citation needed] However, the theory was not created to fill a vacuum in which
existing theories inadequately explained tonal music. Rather, Forte's theory is used to explain
atonal music, where the composer has invented a system where the distinction between {0, 4, 7}
(called 'major' in tonal theory) and its inversion {0, 8, 5} (called 'minor' in tonal theory) may not
be relevant.
The second notational system labels sets in terms of their normal form, which depends on the
concept of normal order. To put a set in normal order, order it as an ascending scale in pitchclass space that spans less than an octave. Then permute it cyclically until its first and last notes
are as close together as possible. In the case of ties, minimize the distance between the first and
next-to-last note. (In case of ties here, minimize the distance between the first and next-to-nextto-last note, and so on.) Thus {0, 7, 4} in normal order is {0, 4, 7}, while {0, 2, 10} in normal
order is {10, 0, 2}. To put a set in normal form, begin by putting it in normal order, and then
transpose it so that its first pitch class is 0 (Rahn 1980, 3338). Mathematicians and computer
scientists most often order combinations using either alphabetical ordering, binary (base two)
ordering, or Gray coding, each of which lead to differing but logical normal forms. [citation needed]
Since transpositionally related sets share the same normal form, normal forms can be used to
label the Tn set classes.
To identify a set's Tn/In set class:

Identify the set's Tn set class.

Invert the set and find the inversion's Tn set class.
Compare these two normal forms to see which is most "left packed."

The resulting set labels the initial set's T n/In set class.

[edit] Symmetry
The number of distinct operations in a system that map a set into itself is the set's degree of
symmetry (Rahn 1980, 90). Every set has at least one symmetry, as it maps onto itself under the
identity operation T0 (Rahn 1980, 91). Transpositionally symmetric sets map onto themselves for
Tn where n does not equal 0. Inversionally symmetric sets map onto themselves under T nI. For
any given Tn/TnI type all sets will have the same degree of symmetry. The number of distinct sets
in a type is 24 (the total number of operations, transposition and inversion, for n = 0 through 11)
divided by the degree of symmetry of T n/TnI type.
Transpositionally symmetrical sets either divide the octave evenly, or can be written as the union
of equally-sized sets that themselves divide the octave evenly. Inversionally-symmetrical chords
are invariant under reflections in pitch class space. This means that the chords can be ordered
cyclically so that the series of intervals between successive notes is the same read forward or
backward. For instance, in the cyclical ordering (0, 1, 2, 7), the interval between the first and
second note is 1, the interval between the second and third note is 1, the interval between the
third and fourth note is 5, and the interval between the fourth note and the first note is 5. One

obtains the same sequence if one starts with the third element of the series and moves backward:
the interval between the third element of the series and the second is 1; the interval between the
second element of the series and the first is 1; the interval between the first element of the series
and the fourth is 5; and the interval between the last element of the series and the third element is
5. Symmetry is therefore found between T 0 and T2I, and there are 12 sets in the Tn/TnI
equivalence class (Rahn 1980, 148).

[edit] See also

Identity (music)
Pitch interval
Tonnetz
Transformational music theory