Patterns are regular and recurring adjustments of a musical event or a piece of material.
Patterns don’t say anything about the material persé, but are the keystones in how the material forms a musical function within a composition. Patterns and the recognition of patterns are essential for humans. They are tools in an attempt to create order and to anticipate on future events.
Anticipation in music, whether the anticipation is correct or incorrect, is important for the listenability of music. Both outcomes can have a positive effect on the listeners attention, emotion and the amount of perceived tention. If you have knowledge in the patterns in your composition, then you have more control in confirming or violating the different anticipations. And more control in the outcomes means more control over the listeners emotion.
To test my research I adapted it to my soundtrack for ‘Als een Schaduw Bleef je mij Bewaard’ or ‘The Great Appeal of the Cherryblossom’.
About the music
Semi-algorithmic etude based on Iterations of musical (intuitively composed) patterns extracted from my soundtrack for the shortfilm 'Als een Schaduw Bleef je mij Bewaard/The Great Appeal of the Cherryblossom'.
This etude is the result of my thesis on pattern perception in music and how one can use it as a composition technique.