Music
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2026
1 article2025
3 articles- A Gas at Temperature T: Xenakis and the Physics of Stochastic Music Iannis Xenakis used probability distributions, Markov processes, and game structures as compositional tools. Pithoprakta maps a Gaussian law derived from kinetic theory to glissando slopes; the orchestra is an analogy to a gas, not a thermodynamic system with measured temperature.
- Star Polygons and Drum Machines The {7/2} heptagram is not only a symbol. It is a traversal algorithm over seven beat positions. Because 7 is prime, that traversal never gets trapped in a sub-orbit.
- The Oldest Algorithm in the World Plays the Clave Euclid’s algorithm for computing greatest common divisors, applied to the problem of distributing k drum beats as evenly as possible among n time slots, produces patterns that can be compared with timelines documented in several musical traditions. The mathematical similarity does not establish a shared origin, cultural equivalence or historical transmission.
2024
2 articles- When Musicians Lock In: Coupled Oscillators and the Physics of Ensemble Synchronisation The Kuramoto model explains how heterogeneous phase oscillators can develop collective synchrony. It is a useful analogy for ensemble timing, applause, and delayed feedback, but it does not by itself predict a universal networked- music latency limit or prove neural coupling between musicians.
- The Impossible Heptagon A regular heptagon is not constructible by classical compass and straightedge. That theorem can illuminate seven-fold imagery, but it does not document Danny Carey’s compositional or symbolic intent.
2023
2 articles- Twelve Is Not an Accident: The Group Theory of Musical Tuning Why has twelve-tone equal temperament become so useful? Continued fractions explain its unusually good fifth; cyclic-group structure explains some pitch-class symmetries. Neither fact makes it the only musical possibility.
- The Charm of Impossibilities: Group Theory and Messiaen’s Modes of Limited Transposition Messiaen’s seven modes of limited transposition cannot be fully transposed through all twelve keys — not by convention, but because of group theory. The modes are pitch-class sets whose stabiliser subgroups in ℤ₁₂ are non-trivial. The orbit–stabiliser theorem gives the exact count of distinct transpositions for each mode. The subgroup lattice constrains the possible symmetry types; it does not select Messiaen’s seven scales.