A Boolean theory of signatures for tonal scales

  • Authors:
  • B. Simeone;G. Nouno;M. Mezzadri;I. Lari

  • Affiliations:
  • -;-;-;-

  • Venue:
  • Discrete Applied Mathematics
  • Year:
  • 2014

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Abstract

We explore the concept of tonal signatures developed and put into musical practice by one of us (Mezzadri). A tonal signature of a scale S is a minimal subset of notes within S that is not contained in any scale S^' different from S. We present a set covering model to find a smallest signature. We also show that the signatures of a scale are the prime implicants of a suitable monotone Boolean function represented by a Conjunctive Normal Form. On this ground, we introduce a more general notion of Boolean signature, depending on a Boolean operator. The computational machinery for generating Boolean signatures remains essentially the same. The richness and variety of Boolean signatures has a great potential for the development of new paradigms in polytonal harmony.