Composing by musical analog: a look at planetary orbits

Generating musical compositions using models from probability statistics, fractal geometry, and other nonlinear and chaotic systems, referred to by some composers as a mapping technique or mapping, is discussed. Composition based on celestial coordinates made audible through an interactive Pascal computer program that generates such coordinates for all the planets and the Earth's Moon as seen from any point on Earth for any given time frame is reported. The compositional environment is examined, the durational schemes used are described, and the composer's options are discussed.<<ETX>>