Notes and note pairs in Nørgård's infinity series

DOI10.1080/17459737.2017.1299807MaRDI QIDQ4608191zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Christopher Drexler-Lemire, Yu Hin Au, Jeffrey Shallit

Publication date 16 March 2018

Published in Journal of Mathematics and Music (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1402.3091

zbMATH Keywords

intervalbinomial coefficientself-similaritycontext-free languagePascal's trianglerepetitionhierarchical musicNørgård's infinity seriesnote pairrunning sum

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Exact enumeration problems, generating functions (05A15) Factorials, binomial coefficients, combinatorial functions (05A10) Recurrences (11B37) Binomial coefficients; factorials; (q)-identities (11B65) Automata sequences (11B85) Mathematics and music (00A65)

Abstract: The Danish composer Per Noergaard defined the "infinity series" s = (s(n))_n>=0 by the rules s(0) = 0, s(2n) = -s(n) for n >= 1, and s(2n + 1) = s(n) + 1 for n >= 0; it figures prominently in many of his compositions. Here we give several new results about this sequence: first, the set of binary representations of the positions of each note forms a context-free language that is not regular; second, a complete characterization of exactly which note-pairs appear; third, that consecutive occurrences of identical phrases are widely separated. We also consider to what extent the infinity series is unique.

Recommendations

• The infinite sequence of the composer Per Nørgård
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2228552
• Generalized choral sequences
• Combinatorics of words and morphisms in some pieces of Tom Johnson
• On infinite permutations

Cites work

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3664335 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2024859 (Why is no real title available?)
• Three models for the description of language

Cited in

(2)

• The infinite sequence of the composer Per Nørgård
• Symbolic structures in music theory and composition, binary keyboards, and the Thue-Morse shift

Describes a project that uses

Uses Software

• OEIS

This page was built for publication: Notes and note pairs in Nørgård's infinity series

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4608191)