Converting hundreds of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach into mathematical networks reveals that they store lots of information and convey it very effectively
One of the greatest composers of Western classical music is Johann Sebastian Bach. Researchers are currently attempting to determine why by using information theory to analyze his music.
Suman Kulkarni of the University of Pennsylvania and her associates sought to determine how a piece of music's structure affects one's capacity to remember or anticipate it. They decided to examine Bach's oeuvre since he composed a vast array of works with a wide range of structures, such as virtuoso toccatas and chorales, which are religious hymns.
Initially, the researchers converted each composition into an information network by visualizing every note as a node and every note change as an edge that connected the notes. They compared the amount of information in each composition using this network. Compared to chorales, which were written for more contemplative contexts like churches, toccatas, which were intended to surprise and amuse, featured more information.
Kulkarni and her associates also employed information networks to assess how listeners perceived Bach's compositions. They began with an already-built computer model that was based on studies where subjects responded to a series of images displayed on a screen. Next, the researchers calculated how unexpected each sequence element was. Based on this approach, they created information networks that were tailored to the music, with the links between nodes signifying the likelihood or degree of surprise that a listener would feel in the event that two related notes played consecutively. Networks displaying people's estimated note changes for a composition seldom fully match the network based only on that composition since humans are not great information learners. After then, researchers can quantify that mismatch.
In this instance, the mismatch was minimal, indicating that Bach's compositions do a good job of conveying information. Kulkarni intends to improve the computer simulation of human perception, nevertheless, so that it more closely resembles actual brain scans of listeners of the music.
Beyond merely understanding sound frequencies, neuroscience has failed to connect complex structures like music with the ways in which our brains react to them. According to Canadian academic Randy McIntosh of Simon Fraser University, "this work could provide some nice inroads into that." However, there are a lot more variables that influence how someone experiences music, such as the length of time spent listening to a song and the presence or absence of musical training. He thinks these still need to be taken into consideration.
Furthermore, information theory has not yet demonstrated whether Bach's compositional style was unique when compared to other genres of music. According to McIntosh, his previous research revealed some broad parallels between artists as dissimilar to Bach as the rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen, but further in-depth examinations are required.
Kulkarni says, "I would love to perform the same analysis for different composers and non-Western music."
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