An Approach to an Integrated Formal Description
2014
Paper, 5 pages
published in Proceedings of ICMC/SMC, Athens, 2014
Meter implies a hierarchically structured temporal context for rhythmic interpretation. Some formal implications of metrical grouping are defined here as a line-up of principles. The resulting sets of possible metric structures are generated algorithmically. The discussion and analysis of these sets constitute different types of meters. Multiplicative and additive meters can be described with the same generic parameters. Another class containing both multiplicative and additive groupings is characterised as hybrid meters. Additionally some specific properties of certain meters like different types of symmetries are revealed and analysed.
Possible applications can be conceived in the field of algorithmic composition and in other disciplines dealing with structured time. The generation of complete sets of metric structures with predefined properties can provide a source for algorithmic selection processes or to explore possible metric interpretations of a series of inter-onset intervals.