A few more words about James Tenney: dissonant counterpoint and statistical feedback

This paper discusses a compositional algorithm, important in many of the works of James Tenney, which models a melodic principle known as dissonant counterpoint. The technique synthesizes two apparently disparate musical ideas – dissonant counterpoint and statistical feedback – and has a broad range of applications to music which employs non-deterministic (i.e. randomized) methods. First, we describe the historical context of Tenney's interest in dissonant counterpoint, noting its connection to composer/theorist Charles Ames’ ideas of statistical feedback in computer-aided composition. Next, we describe the algorithm in both intuitive and mathematical terms, and analyse its behaviour and limiting cases via numerical simulations and rigorous proof. Finally, we describe specific examples and generalizations used in Tenney's music, and provide simple computer code for further experimentation.

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