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Oxford Music Online. (2001) - Stochastic. Grove Music Online

The document discusses the concept of 'stochastic' in music, which is derived from probability theory and refers to systems that produce sequences of symbols based on defined probabilities. It highlights the use of stochastic processes, particularly the Markov process, in musical composition, notably by Iannis Xenakis, who applies it to elements like durations and pitch. Additionally, it touches on the relevance of stochastic processes in information theory and aesthetic theories in music.

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7 views1 page

Oxford Music Online. (2001) - Stochastic. Grove Music Online

The document discusses the concept of 'stochastic' in music, which is derived from probability theory and refers to systems that produce sequences of symbols based on defined probabilities. It highlights the use of stochastic processes, particularly the Markov process, in musical composition, notably by Iannis Xenakis, who applies it to elements like durations and pitch. Additionally, it touches on the relevance of stochastic processes in information theory and aesthetic theories in music.

Uploaded by

yunusgedik
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Stochastic

Stochastic
https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.26799
Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001

A term used in music on the basis of its use in probability theory, where it applies to a system producing ‘a
sequence of symbols (which may… be letters or musical notes, say, rather than words) according to certain
probabilities’ (Weaver, p.267). The term (from Gk. stochos: ‘goal’) means in modern parlance ‘random’. A
stochastic process operates on a family of random variables which is indexed by another set of variables
with compatible probability of distribution. A stochastic process particularly appropriate to music is the
Markov process. In this the probabilities at any one point depend on the occurrences of events so far; the
process thus contains a high degree of uncertainty in its initial stages, an increasing certainty as events
unfold, and a high degree of determinacy in its closing stages.

The principal user of stochastic processes in musical composition has been Iannis Xenakis, who uses them
to determine such elements as durations, speeds and ‘intervals of intensity, pitch, etc.’ (1963, p.13),
particularly when he is composing with ‘clouds’ or ‘galaxies’ of sounds in which very large numbers of
events are present. The idea of the stochastic process also appears in the musical application of
Information theory, and forms an important part of the aesthetic theory of Leonard B. Meyer, who sees
music as a Markov process or chain.

Bibliography
W. Weaver: ‘Recent Contributions to the Mathematical Theory of Communication’, Etc.: a Review of General Semantics,
10 (1953), 261–81

I. Xenakis: Musiques formelles (Paris, 1963, 2/1981; Eng. trans., 1971, enlarged 2/1992)

L.B. Meyer: Music, the Arts, and Ideas: Patterns and Predictions in Twentieth-Century Culture (Chicago, 1967, 2/1994)

K. Jones: ‘Compositional Applications of Stochastic Processes’, Computer Music Journal, 5/2 (1981), 45–61; repr. in The
Music Machine, ed. C. Roads (Cambridge, MA, 1989), 381–98

I. Xenakis: ‘More through Stochastic Music’, Computer Music Conference: Montreal 1991, 517–18

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Subscriber: Anadolu University; date: 06 November 2023

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