Mathematical Music Theory: Algebraic, Geometric, Combinatorial, Topological And Applied Approaches To Understanding Musical Phenomena

Book excerpt: Questions about variation, similarity, enumeration, and classification of musical structures have long intrigued both musicians and mathematicians. Mathematical models can be found from theoretical analysis to actual composition or sound production. Increasingly in the last few decades, musical scholarship has incorporated modern mathematical content. One example is the application of methods from Algebraic Combinatorics, or Topology and Graph Theory, to the classification of different musical objects. However, these applications of mathematics in the understanding of music have also led to interesting open problems in mathematics itself.The reach and depth of the contributions on mathematical music theory presented in this volume is significant. Each contribution is in a section within these subjects: (i) Algebraic and Combinatorial Approaches; (ii) Geometric, Topological, and Graph-Theoretical Approaches; and (iii) Distance and Similarity Measures in Music.