L-Systems, Melodies and Musical Structure

Author(s): Stephanie Mason and Michael Saffle

Source: Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 4 (1994), pp. 31-38
Published by: The MIT Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1513178
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 ..
T E C H N I C A L A R T I C L E

ABSTRACT

L-Systems, Melodies and Musical

Among musical sy

Structure and self-similarities

can be produced using
Lindenmayer-system (L-system)
curves to generate melodies and
rhythmic patterns. In 1986,
Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz intro-
Stephanie Mason duced a simple method of pra
ducing relatively complex musical
and Michael Saffle scores that incorporate a legible
internal structure. Using a
scheme called edge-rewriting}
one of the authors} Stephanie Ma-
son, has extended Prusinkiewicz's
methods to generate melodies
and polyphonic structures that
Symmetries and self-similarities abound in the strated at 'CExpo 8S, held in conform to traditionai Western ex-
pectations. By stretching certain
world of geometry, and a great deal of music also shares these Tsukuba,Japan [7].
L-system curves, she has also du-
properties. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centu- Among musical symmetries
plicated melodic phrases associ-
ries, historians and theorists have discovered musical self- and self-similarities that can gen- ated with hundreds of pre-existing
similarities of various kinds. These include the micro- and erate muslc trom recurslon works by classical and popular

macrolevel "bar" forms that Alfred Lorenz discovered in schemes are those associated with Western composers. The authors
discuss the possible link between
Wagner's music dramas [1]; the recurrent melodic and har- Lindenmayer systems (L-sys-
the perception of musical beauty
monic background patterns in European art music of the tems): recursive, string-rewriting and the fractal or quasi-fractal
eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries discov- systems in which all symbols are character of music associated
ered by Heinrich Schenker [2] and other Schenkerian theo- rewritten in parallel and simulta- with L-system curves.

rists; rhythmic patterns discovered by Leonard Meyer and his neously (whereas Chomsky gram- - l - --

colleague Grosvener Cooper [3]; and generative organiza-
tional patterns in tonal music, discovered by Fred Lerdahl
and RayJackendoff [4]. With the exception of Lorenz, all of
these individuals also believe that anticipation/response
models of musical structure help us understand musical per-
ception. Several of the music theorists mentioned later in this
article also draw upon anticipation/response models of me-
lodic construction and analysis.
Mathematicians and composers have also attempted to
generate musical compositions using at least three kinds of
automated mathematical schema. Kevin Jones, for example,
has experimented with a stochastic generative scheme useful
(by his own admission) primarily within the realm of com-
puter rather than what he calls "artistics' musical composition
[5]. (Jones has also discussed Chomsky grammars. These or-
ganizational paradigms are related to L-systems; both are
string-rewriting systems, but Chomsky grammars have been
invoked to produce musical results different from those we
discuss in this article.) Charles Ames has written ;'Crystals"
and several other compositions with mathematical modeling
mars are rewritten sequentially).
Named after Aristid Linden-
mayer, L-systems were initially conceived to describe growth
patterns in biological organisms [8]. All of the L-systems dis-
cussed in the present arecle are DOL-systems (deterministics
context-free Lindenmayer systems) [9] .
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how Irsystem
curves can be used (1) to generate melodies that are "listen-
able" to Western ears i.e. melodies that conform to familiar
Western melodic expectations, a concept discussed at some
length below and (2) to study important aspects of self-simi-
lar musical structure. Of course, the application of L-systems to
the study of fundamental musical issues can only be discussed
below in highly abbreviated form. Many possible applicaiions
of our work have not yet been thoroughly explored. These in-
clude the use of L-systems to generate rhythmic as well as me-
Stephanie Mason (mathematician) 5340 Thayer Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304, U.S.A.
Michael Saffle < musicologist3, Department of Music, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0240, U.S.A.

schemes that he invented using ideas derived from Gestalt Received 29 February 1994.

psychology [6]. Finally, Lejaren Hiller, Ames and Robert Preliminary work on the present article appeared as S. Mason, "Lindenmayer Systems

Franki designed and installed an automated computer
scheme used to assemble complex musical structures ranging
in style from popular to avantsarde. This schema was demon-
and Space-Filling Musict Resevrsh Repor: (;C(;44 of the University of Minnesota Georn-
etry Center (September 1992) pp. 9s103. Portions of the research reported in this ar-
ticle were subvented by grant number NSF/DMS-8920161 of the National Science
Foundation.

Fig. 1. Geometrical
renditions of Peano
curve Lrsystem
strings. The irst (a)
iteration is sel-simi-
lar with the second
(b) and third (c) it-
erations.

(a) (b)
)c(

t 1995 ISAST LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL, No. 4, pp. 31-38,1994 31

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 18 I: (S4)j ; T
lodic patterns and the use of L-systems to
rules to draw a figure a curve, in the cates the number of degrees the turtle
generate and study nontraditionalcase ofand
our discussion [10]. The turtle turns
is [12]. Consider the so-called Peano
non-Western melodies and musical struc-from Logo@, a language devel-
borrowed curve, named for the Italian mathemati-
tures. We hope to be able to discuss
opedL-sys-
at Massachusetts Institute of Tech-cian Giuseppe Peano (18M-1932). The
tems and music at greater length in subo
nology (MIT). The turtle can be L-system that generates the Peano curve
sequent publications. thought of as a pen that can be turned may be described as follows:
on and off [11]. An L-system consists of
Axiom: X
an initial rule or axiom, additional rules
LrSYSTEMS a=90
that are substituted for the axiom when
To assist in visualizing the geometrical the L-system is iterated, an alpha valueRules: XeXFYFX+F+YFXFY-F-XFY
realization of L-system strings, we make (a) that denotes the direction the turtle Yo YFXFY-F-XFYFX+F+YFXFY
use of an imaginary turtle that follows is facing and a delta value (6) that indi-
The first iteration of the L-system s
stitutes the axiom Xfor the rule fo
yielding
Fig. 2. The first iteration of the quadratic Gosper curve can be read in terms the
of four string XTYFX+F+YFXF
rotations
to produce eight different musical motifs. The rotations pictured here (a)XFYFX For from
are derived the second iteration, th
the 0.0 turtle heading (1). Readings 1, 3, 5 and 7 proceed in a forward direction; 2, 4, 6 in
string created andthe
8 first iteration is
are backward readings. (b) The original and seven variant musical readings based on these for-
stituted; thus each Xis replaced by th
ward and backward readings of the original curve. In each case the initial note is read as C and
rhythmic moves are transcribed as eighth and sisteenth notes. rule and each Yby the Yrule, produ
the string

XFYFX+F+ YFXFY-F-XFYFXFYFXFY-
(2)
X F Y F X + F + Y F X F Y F X F ; Y F X + F + . . .

Finally, each iter

scribed into a ge
the following rule
X (;) moves forward o
(1) for all curves in t
the turtle changes
x + d cos a and y'=
m
draws a line betw
_ _ L For each plus sign,
(8) + wise by the angle
turtle is (x, y, a-
- (5) counterclockwise
the state of the tu
+ 6). For our purp
(7) [ ters are ignored b
LrL Y in the example)
(a)
The strict mathe
an L-system can b
(6)
Przemyslaw Prusin
(1) Original
(2) Original

CREATING M
ARw F3221 L=SYSTEMS
Prusinkiewicz ha
(3) 90 degree clockwise mtation for creating music
(4) 90 degree clockwise rotation
[15]. This method

418-i a J z
horizontal lines of

e f n : J 7 -r;L notes and the verti

vals between note
tal F (or move for
(5) 180 degree rotation (6) 180 degree rotation read as a single u
sixteenth note, eig
fw
A

duration desired.
9 EJ J , move
terval
up
between
or down)
n
whole-step or any
(7) 270 degree clockwise rotation
(8) 270 degree clockwise
within a given mo
^
tion is made betw

f? ? W and right (0.0 direction) in Prusin-

kiewicz's reading of curves, so the melo-
(b)
dies generated always travel forward in

32 Mason and Saffle, L-Systems, Melodies and Musical Structure

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 25 ^
20 -
15 -
S.
O o historical periods [ 18] . Horizontal
-
o 5 1 0 15 28 25
(a)
is rln.C; s;;17>
i(&
(c)
Fig. 3. Producing counterpoint with the quadratic Gosper curve. Two iterations of the
curve, starting in 0.0 (a) and z/2 (b) directions, can be read simultaneously starting at
their respective (0,0) coordinates to produce a two-part canon (c). Again, the initial notf e in D=log25/log(1/(1/S)) =log25/logS=2. (b)
both cases is C and rhythmic moves are transcribed as eighth and sixteenth notes.
time, even when the turtle is moving left.
Each forward move up (z/2 direction)
shifts the note being created up one in-
terval from its predecessor. Similarly,
each forward move down (3X/2 direc-
tion) shifts the note being created down
one interval from its predecessor.
If a curve begins with a horizontal
line, the pitch of the first note is as-
sumed to be the first note of the chosen
scale or mode; only the duration for the
first note is taken from the curve. The
pitches and durations of the rest of the
notes are read from the curve. If a curve
begins with a vertical line, the first note
can be read as the number of forward
moves up or down from the first note of
a given scale or mode. Similarly, the
number of forward moves used to create
the horizontal line determines the
note's duration. (Prusinkiewicz does not
mention curves beginning with vertical
lines, but this application of his prin-
ciples seems to be consistent with his
method as a whole.)
FASS curves (space-fwllling, self-avoid-
ing, simple and self-similar curves) [16],
fractal curves, and other curves contain-
ing 90 angles can be used to generate
melodies of unlimited length. A curve
with 90 angles can be drawn in four
unique directions in the Cartesian coor-
dinate plane: 0.0, ?mv/2, ?mv, and 3?TV/2
(sometimes called "turtle headings").
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z * tion is played forwards and backwards si-
multaneously.
2:0 r Other modifications to L-system melo-
dies are also possible. Individual curves,
15 . for instance, may be read in terms of un-
usual or possibly non-Western musical
scales and modes, as Prusinkiewicz has
tt- suggested [17]. Thus, one can use the
curves to produce melodies or contra-
5 puntal passages that replicate musical
styles particular to certain cultures or
moves forward can also be assigned pro-
-= -20 -15 -t 0 _5
portional durations of various kinds,
(b) producing striking rhythmic patterns or
even an absence of rhythm (achieved by
assigning the same duration to all hori-
zontal moves).
Fig. 4. L^system curves and self-similarit,v.
(a) The first iteration of the quadratic
Gosper curve (0.0 direction) is not fractal,
because there are N=b2=52=25squares in
the grid, and each square is r= 1/D = 1/5 the
length of the side of the grid. Thus,
Bounded and unbounded curves. Notice
that the curves begin and end on the same
level, as indicated by the arrows. Each edge
representing a forward move by the turtle
is denoted by a tick mark. The quadratic
Each of the curves beginning with c Dne Gosper curve on the left is bounded be-
of these turtle headings can also be cause every square in the grid is marked.
played forwards and backwards, t} hus Ovals indicate the areas where two of the
yielding a total of eight melodies, unl less squares cannot be marked for the curve on
the original curve is a palindron me the right; thus, the right-hand curve is un-
(Other variations are also possible, in bounded. (c) The second iteration is com-
prised of copies of the first iteration in the
cluding mirror images. We have not cl
*on- direction of marks as indicated in (b).
sidered such variations in our work.) > In Thus, the second iteration is self-similar
this paper we will refer to the four rc ota- with regard to the first.
tions traversed forwards and backwa lrds /I r
as the eight rotations of the curve. Ma ath- / LA
ematically, all eight curves are rotatiz ons 5 <
of each other. Musically, all eight mc elo- \ :X)r=1/5
dies generated by these rotations . are \ X
transformations of each other (Fig. 2 * /
). (a)
Musical counterpoint can also be g ,en-
erated by reading two or more rotati( ons
of the same curve simultaneously to c cre-
ate canons, or by reading two or m ore
different curves simultaneously to cre ate
multi-melodic structures. For examy ple, :
if the second iteration of the quadrb atic
Gosper curve is drawn with two differ ent > o ^
turtle headings say, the 0.0 and s/2 ' di-
(b)
rections and the melodies general ted
from these iterations are played simu lta-
neously, a "right-angle canon" is p ro-
duced (Fig. 3). All musical readings c of a
curve (i.e. all of its rotations) are s elf-
similar, and certain curves produce es-
pecially striking self-similarities. The l Hil-
bert curve (named after David Hilb ert
[1862-1943]), for example, produl Lces
5 10 IS 2e 5
palindromic pieces when the same rc ata-
(c)
Mason and Saffle L-Systems, Melodies and Musical Structure 33
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i>( t715
(a)
i; J. DJ. DIJ DJ bIJ D;. j12
(b)
Fig. 5. Two structurally similar melodies: (a) the subject of Bach's Fugue in G minor, BWV
542, showing the sawtooth shape related to the Peano curve illustrated in Fig. 1, and (b)
the opening of the melody of "Tea for Two," which shows the same shape.
SACTAL MELODIC
STRUCTURES
Each subsequent iteration of an L-system
curve is a fractal production (i.e. the sec-
ond iteration of a given curve is a combi-
nation of the eight rotations of the first
iteration, which in turn can be read mu-
sically in eight different ways; the third
iteration is a combination of the eight
rotations of the second iteration, and so
on). Some of the curves derived from L-
systems are fractals, since they have a di-
mension D not equal to an integer, ac-
cording to Mandelbrot's formula
D=log N/log ( l /r),
where a "straight interval of unit length
may be divided into N=b subintervals of
length r=l/b" or "a unit square can be
divided into N=(b2) squares of side r=l/
b" [19]. A snowflake curve [20], for ex-
ample, has a dimension of 1.63. FASS
curves, on the other hand, have a di-
mension of 2, since at time infinit,v they
fill the plane (Fig. 4a). But even though
FASS curves are not fractal according to
Mandelbrot's formula, L-systems and
the curves that are produced by them
exhibit many fractal properties, such as
self-similarity at different scales [21]. In
order to use L-systems to produce plau-
sible fractal music tunes and contra-
puntal passages that can be sung by hu-
man beings or performed on
conventional instruments and that ex-
hibit fractal properties such as self-simi-
larity other conditions must also be
met. It is vital, for instance, that each it-
eration of a curve be bounded. If it is
not, notes will be generated that are be-
yond the range of conventional instru-
ments and the human voice even be-
yond human hearing. Because of the
way Prusinkiewicz chooses to read L-sys-
tems as music, all reiterated curves will
eventually generate unsingable and
unplayable melodies. However, the ques-
tion of whether curves intersect is not
significant from a musical point of view.
34 Mason and Saffle, L-Systems, Melodies and Musical Structure
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turning. After traversing the curve, the
Whether the turtle moves left or right,
the melody produced will always move
forward in time. Curves that remain
bounded but intersect themselves (as
many fractals do) are, therefore, consis-
tent with Prusinkiewicz's method.
EDGE REWRITING
TECHNIQUES AND SACTAL
MELODIES
Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer created
a process called edge-rewriting to con-
struct L-systems for FASS curves [22].
For our purposes, curves can intersect
themselves; therefore, an adapted edge-
rewriting technique was chosen for use
in our own work in generating and
studying melodies and related musical
structures [23] (Fig. 4b). To employ this
method,
1. Decide on the size of the grid that
the first iteration, or original melody, is
to stay bounded in. A smaller grid allows
for more iterations, but the original
tune will of necessity be shorter and less
musically variegated. A larger grid
makes possible a tune of greater length
and diversity, but the tune will grow out
of range with fewer iterations.
2. Draw the curve in the grid. It is im-
portant that the curve begin and end on
the same level. To guarantee that the
curve will be bounded, every square of
the grid must be filled when the curve is
iterated. To see if the curve satisfies this
condition, draw a left or right tick mark
on each "edge" of the curve; each for-
ward move of the turtle is considered an
edge. There must be one and only one
mark per box of the grid for the curve to
be bounded.
3. Next, write the "left" and "right"
rules that will be substituted when the L-
system is iterated. To design the left
rule, start at the left end of the curve. If
the curve does not start in the z/2 direc-
tion, turn the turtle with the appropri-
ate + and - symbols so that it will begin
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moving in either the 0.0, X or 3X/2 di-
rection. Now trace the curve as if the
turtle were drawing it. If the edge the
turtle is drawing has a left mark, record
an L; if the edge is marked on the right,
record an R. Indicate + and - when
turtle should then be turned to face the
z/2 direction. To design the right rule,
follow the same procedure but enter the
curve at the other end.
4. The axiom is L, since the left rule
originates from the traversal of the
curve. The system thus constructed may
be iterated as many times as desired. Af-
ter all the iterations have been com-
pleted, convert the L and R symbols to E
The curve can now be drawn by the
turtle and read as music in terms of any
rhythm or scale desired.
The fractal process can be illustrated
with the edge-rewriting process. A copy
of iteration n-l is placed on each edge
(in the direction of the tick mark) of it-
eration n (Fig. 4c).
LSYSTEMS AND LODIC
IMPLICATIONS
Any melody can be modeled with an L-
system, including the songs of aboriginal
hunters, the plainchants of the Medieval
Christian liturgy, the themes of
Beethoven's symphonies and popular
song tunes. A given melody can be mod-
eled with an L-system by simply drawing
a curve that depicts the notes of the
melody and deriving the rules for L-sys-
tems explained above. But drawing a
curve to depict an existing melody
merely rewrites that melody in math-
ematical terms. More interesting, we be-
lieve, are the melodies and contrapuntal
structures generated directly by reading
L-system curves in musical terms. Not all
of these tunes and polyphonic pieces are
equally successful but they are often at-
tractive and always more or less musical.
In order to listen to music produced
by L-systems, Stephanie Mason wrote
computer programs in which at least two
curves or two turtle headings of the
same curve were read simultaneously as
music and recorded on magnetic tape
[24]. In most cases the curves were read
in terms of a C-major scale and "long/
short" rhythmic patterns, in which one
horizontal F was read as a sixteenth
note, two Fs as an eighth note, and so
on. The results were generally effective,
although not entirely conventional. In
Fig. 3, the opening measures of one
such recording are presented in conven-
tional notation. Some of the sound re-
cordings made by Mason were used in a sic is, in some essential sense, fractal in important theoretical piece by Charles
videotape program about the activities its melodic material and internal self- Adams [33]. Brief reviews of melodic
.

of the Geometry Center of the Univer-
sity of Minnesota. Others are available
electronically through an MIT Press file
server [25].
Even more interesting than new L-sys-
tem melodies and contrapuntal pieces,
at least to students of music history and
theory, are correspondences that seem
to exist between musical compositions
and L-system curves. The second itera-
tion of the quadratic Gosper curve with
turtle heading 0.0, for example, gener-
ates interval patterns strikingly similar to
Bach's Invention No. 1 [26] (Table 1).
Other L-system curves generate tunes
that are similar or even identical to hun-
dreds of existing melodies by classical
and popular composers. Aspects of cer-
tain theories about the origins and fun-
damental structures of melodies suggest
that much perhaps all beautiful mu-
similarlty.
THEORIES OF MELODIC
ORIGINS, SHAPE AND
STRUCTURE
Music theorists who have examined the
melodies of various cultures and eras
have generally been interested either in
determining the origins of certain kinds
of tunes or in devising systems for classi-
fying tunes according to fundamental
shapes. Published studies of melodic ori-
gins include books and articles by Lach
[27], Herzog [28], Szabolcsi [29] and
Nettl [30]. Published studies of funda-
mental melodic shapes include Eugene
Narmour's work on "basic melodic struc-
tures" [31] and several articles, includ-
ing "how-to-compose" advice pieces by
William Fowler [32] and an especially
theories by these and other researchers
may be found in reference works such as
The New Harvard Dictionary of Mtbsic [34]
and The New Grove Dictionary of Mtbsic and
Muszcians [35].
The earliest known melodies are
widely believed to have originated from
speech patterns, and the risings and
fallings of many tunes are fundamen-
tally speechlike. But the origin of such
tunes does not account entirely for their
appeal. Gregorian chants, for example,
may have begun as inflected recitations
of liturgical texts, but the chant tunes
themselves are admired and enjoyed by
many individuals who are not Catholics,
and even by some individuals who are
neither European nor American and/or
who cannot understand the Latin texts
from which the tunes seem to have been
derived. Whole families of melodies are
believed to have evolved, sometimes
over centuries, from fundamental musi-
cal figures such as the pentatonic scale.

Table l.The right-hand part of Bach's No. 1 and the second iteration of the These families include both Western
quadratic Gosper curve contain almost the same number of notes. The percentages and non-Western melodic repertories,
of intervals occurring in both are almost identical (with one notable exception: the
among them traditional Asian and Indo-
Gosper curve cannot be read in terms of large intervals or repeated notes).
nesian tunes. This last theory helps us
Right Hand of Bach's No. 1
understand how such families have de-
Interval Length Number Percentage veloped historically, but it fails to ex-
in Half-Steps of Occurrences of Occurrences plain why individual tunes are admired
o 1.69 and enjoyed by so many individuals with
4
1 20.76 various cultural backgrounds.
49
2 42.37 Adams's work on melodic contour
100
3 16.95 typologies explains how melodies can be
40
4 7.63
18 understood according to classifications
5 2.97
7 suggested by several theorists. One of
6 0.85
2 these classification systems deals with
7 2.12
5 "narrative" melodies: i.e. melodies that
8 1.69
4 tell stories by rising to climaxes before
9 0.85
2 descending to denouements. Figure 5 il-
10 1.27
3
11 0.00 lustrates two themes both of which can
o
12 0.85 be approximated by a musical reading of
2
the third iteration of the Peano curve
Total 100.00
236
z/2 heading that rise and fall in this
Quadratic Gosper Curve {Turtle Heading O.O) manner. These are the subject of Bach's
Fugue in G minor for organ, BWV 542
Interval Length Number Percentage
(Fig. 5a) and "Tea for Two," composed
in Half-Steps of Occurrences of Occurrences
for the 1 92aI musical comedy No, No,
O O 0.00 Nannette (Fig. 5b). (The rise and fall of
1 56 25.34
the Bach theme can be seen in the illus-
2 94 42.53
tration. This pattern is not evident in the
3 28 12.67
4 26 excerpt from the "Tea for Two" theme,
11.76
5 7 3.17 however, as only the first few notes are
6 2.71 reproduced here.) Another classification
7 4 1.81 system deals with fundamental melodic
0.00 shapes, some of them small-scale, some
0.00 large-scale. By mixing and matching
10 0 0.00 these shapes, various kinds of melodies
11 0 0.00
can be described and classified. Both the
12 0 0.00
subject of the Bach fugue and the open-
Total 221 100.00 ing measures of "Tea for Two,"for ex-

Maso77 and Saffle, L-Systems, Melodies and Musical Structure 35

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 1
ample, are sawtooth in shape. Both the one or more models of perce ption in principles in the perception of art-
work.... [Yet] the fact remains: hu-
fugue and "Tea for Two" as complete order to determine whether ^ a given
man beings cannot escape being part
works also contain sawtooth self-similari- melody or musical structure i .s ugly or
of nature. More important, neither can
ties, which we will discuss below. beautiful. Narmour's research [ into the their music [37].
There are fundamental differences as ways that melodies are perceive d has re-
The "part of nature" Narmour seems
well as similarities between the Bach sulted in the refinement of a universal
to be talking about is an invariant of per-
fugue subject and the ;'Tea for Two? "implicationXrealizations' mod el of mu-
ception, not a Platonic ideal against
tune. Fugue subjects are generally short, sical experience [36]. Accordir ng to this
which individual artworks can be some-
while popular songs like "Tea for Two" model, the opening of every fr nelody or
how measured. Nevertheless, the notion
are generally periodic in structure they motif implies an appropriate > kind of
consist of balanced pairs or sets of full
of such an invariant would seem to have
conclusion. Sometimes, of cour se, a con-
something to do with universal notions
melodic phrases. Furthermore, the "Tea clusion may be denied or sid estepped
of ugliness and beauty, algorithmic or
for Twof' melody implies a kind of har- before an initial implication is s atisfacto-
otherwise.
monic accompaniment that is out of rily resolved. Narmour has bee n able to
keeping with the melodies of Bach's era. explain convincingly how hun dreds of
All musical compositions demonstrate different melodies work in tern ns of this FAMILL^R TVNES AND
cultural or historical characteristics. This model, but he has not dealt ei ther with L^SySTEM CURVES
does not mean, however that they con- fractal properties of musical sl tructures . .
Are slmllarltles between muslc and L^sys-
sist eocclustzoely of cultural or historical ges-
or with the similarities that seer n to exlst
tem curves colnadental, then, or 1S there
tures. Only recently have scientists and between individual tunes and
L-system something about the melodies associated
aestheticians realized that plants possess curves. Some of his statements
I with these curves that is inherently beau-
algorithmic beauty, yet that beauty has of a theory of transcultural mu
h .Pht tiful? Indirect evidence suggests that
been present in the plants themselves for ception, however, suggest that
d many Western and non-Western melo-
scores of millions of years. be interested in these prope
dies are both fractal or quasi-fractal (at
Is there something universally appeal- similarities:
least in their motivic components) and
ing about music-something that tran-
Most humanists, including m ost his- beautiful to creators and listeners alike.
scends individual cultures and tastes? torical musicologists, have a dee p, abid- Consider the similarities between many
We believe the human mind may use ing distrust in the assertion of u] niversal melodies generated by L-systems and the

openings of many familiar tunes. In his

F;g. 6. Stretching the quadratic Gosper curve. (a) Levels of the first iteration of tl he curve Dtrectory of Tunes and Musical Themes,
can be stretched up to five times their original lengths to produce a host of variati ions. One Denys Parsons identiEles thousands of
level is one vertical uIiit or forward move by the turtle. Only five variations are sh own classical and popular melodies by as
here. (The numbers in parentheses indicate how much each level has been stretch led.) The many as the first 16 notes of each melody
left-hand figure matches the second theme from the second movement of Respig] hi's An- [38]. (He ignores rhythmic patterns.) We
cient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 1. The right-hand figure matches one of the theme vs fromd compared entries in Parsons's Directory
Debussyss "IberiaX (Images, No. 2). (b) Many stretched iterations of the curve cor]
with the beginnings of well-known classical melodies. Three matches are shown hz
ereP(The with melodies produced by L-system
top melody corresponds to the left-hand stretched curve, the middle melody to th e middle curves, in which vertical moves were read
stretched curve, and so on. ) in terms of intervals between notes in a
major scale. (Like Parsons, we also ig-
nored rhythmic patterns.) Some L-system
-
curves produced few or no matches with
melodies identified in Parsons's work.

,
Others, however, such as the third itera-
j:
[
v r tion of the Peano curve (X/2 rotation),
s
g Ln produced matches with two dozen com-
o
A Jl
f
l t positions, ranging from the melody of a
- .]

* I * X z 2
a J s k s s * 1 X X 4 S 1 2 3 4 X waltz by Brahms and themes from two of
] l s j 4 X

(11111) (11112) (1 1 1 14)

(11115) Richard Strauss's tone poems to popular
(11113)
tunes like Robert Allen 2 s '4Everybody
(a)
Loves a Lover" and Walter Donaldson's
"Carolina in the Morning." (L-system
-

J J curves also produce matches with rhyth-

ll
! mic patterns c,ommon to many European
and American melodies, but we cannot
J discuss those matches here.)
J Modifications in first iterations of in-
l - -
dividual L-system curves turned up more
n-J matches. (Modifying curves and their it-
erations may seem to violate the purity

4 X 2 3 4 5
of the edge-rewriting technique. Our
O 1 2 a 4 5 3 1 2 3 4 5
object, though, is to study musical appli-
(11151)
(11152) (11153)
cations and not fundamental math-
Nin Musorgsky Canteloube
(b) ematical issues.) The first iteration of

36 Mason and Saffle, L-Systems, Melodies and Musical Structure

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 p$ 7 -$7/.X
i t S o;ro@,- , tjf7 ,.4
the quadratic Gosper curve, for ex-
ample, is bounded by a 5-x-5 grid; thus,
it contains five levels. To generate more
melodies from the same basic shape, the
curve can be stretched. To do this, indi-
vidual segments of the basic curve can
be doubled or even redoubled as they
pass through individual levels. For each
of the five levels, curve segments were
stretched up to five times their original
length (Fig. 6a).
Of 3,125 variations produced by
means of this stretching" process, 219
matched- pitch-for-pitch familiar
tunes identified in the Dictionary of Musi-
cal Themes [39] and the Dictionary of Vocal
Themes [40], both compiled by Harold
Barlow and Sam Morgenstern. The origi-
nal quadratic Gosper curve (without any
stretching) matches the second theme of
the second movement of Respighi's An-
cient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 1 (Fig.
6a). Various stretchings match themes by
Beethoven, Liszt, Handel, Palestrina,
Mozart, Debussy, Copland, Hindemith,
Korngold, Purcell, Rachmaninoff,
Glinka, Galuppi, Billings, Verdi, Faure,
Scarlatti, Virgil Thomson, and a host of
other classical figures. (The Barlow-
Morgenstern dictionaries do not include
popular or traditional themes.) Three
stretchings and their matching melo-
dies in these cases, tunes by Nin,
Musorgsky, andJoseph Canteloube are
illustrated in Fig. 6b.
Other iterations and rotations of the
quadratic Gosper curve were less suc-
cessful in producing melodic matches.
Rotating the Gosper curve to start at the
311/2 turtle heading, for instance, pro-
duced only 30 matches with tunes iden-
tified in the Barlow-Morgenstern dictio-
naries. It is important to remember that
matching curves and tunes is a matter of
reading curves in terms of scales and/or
rhythmic intervals. All of the matches
identified above were based on transpos-
ing dictionary entries into the key of C
major. Although rhythmic readings were
ignored for purposes of this study, they
could certainly be used to generate mu-
sical structures of their own. (We limited
ourselves to the Barlow-Morgenstern
dictionaries to identify matches with ex-
isting melodies, and these dictionaries
did not identify rhythmic patterns.)
Reading the same curves in terms of
other musical patterns the "Gypsy"
scale, for example, or the Dorian
mode- might produce matches with
other tunes such as Gregorian melodies,
a repertory ignored by Parson and
Morgenstern altogether.
SELF SIMIL&R AND
MUSICAL STRUCTURES
We have already seen that the sawtooth
shape common to both the subject of a
Bach fugue and the opening measures
of a popular song (see Fig. 5) can be
generated by an L-system in the form of
the Peano curve. (This curve, with its
sawtooth shape, is illustrated in Fig. 1.)
The same shape also reappears at sev-
eral structural levels of both works. In
Fig. 7, for example, boxes drawn around
several areas in a passage from the Bach
fugue indicate several structural levels:
foreground (motifs), represented by the
smallest boxes (shaded); middle-ground
(melodic statements and counter-state-
ments), represented by the larger box;
and background (sections and modula-
tions), represented by the largest box.
Within the largest box, important
sawtooth shapes that establish keys are
circled to make their identification
easier. It is clear that Bach used a variety
of sawtooth patterns in this work, even
as he built to a climax around measure
95 of the fugue, then allowed the musi-
cal tension to relax into the subsequent
denouement. The replication of me-
lodic and rhythmic patterns on various
levels of classical compositions is a well-
documented phenomenon [41], al-
though previous publications have not
considered possible associations with L-
system curves.
Sawtooth patterns function somewhat
differently in "Tea for Two." The Bach
fugue is a "through-composed" struc-
ture, meaning that the subject itself
only a few measures long reappears
frequently throughout the work as a
whole. "Tea for Two," on the other
hand, is a periodic structure, composed

H ' rl: ' ,=!;6'" =': it: r,L;r =,! = =,

Fig. 7. A few mea-

8 77;t<ifz';l-r=+$> 1 tn .- 2 JJ l $; S
sures from Bach's
Fugue in G minor,
BWV 542. Several
levels of self-simi-
larity related to the
sawtooth shape of X _ -X ;/t ;> ? e' ' ' . > t tz rt
the Fugue's subject
(illustrated in Fig. ir Wt ,F , S !*--f-|+i++/- 4 < 1 - z x 1
5a) are boxed. Har-
monically signifi-
i):W1. 1_ - ' 'v-,' J ' a1',' '- ' > I ^ F i ,' ^ @r =r,&S, ,,1. . t1
cant "sawtooth"
patterns are circled
and connected to il- a ''-ar jetwt e<=ffi_1 te, I
lustrate overall self-
similarity. (Not all
sawtooth" patterns
are marked in this
example. )
: k ' ' ' t' _ 1 - t _ 4

)&'s e4#SizSS1 ' e -S 1sX

')@ frt**>4; =S>i#ti0#< r p t r7

to:> - I - :t - f 1

Mason and Saffle, L-Systems, Melodies and Musical Structure 37

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(as mentioned above) of more or less
symmetrical phrases. The first and third
of these phrases are virtually identical to
each other, and the second resembles
the first and third. Only the opening
measures of the fourth phrase are differ-
ent, but the closing measures of that
phrase are virtually identical with the
closing measures of the tune. (Copy-
right permission could not be secured
to reprint the entire tune.) In any event,
most of the phrases that make up "Tea
for Two" are sawtooth in shape.
It seems unlikely that Bach's fugue or
"Tea for Two" could be generated en-
tirely by L-system curves. However, both
works seem to contain fractal elements
whose appeal may transcend their cul-
tural or historical origins. Moreover,
there can be no doubt that both works
display some of the self-similarity associ-
ated with the world of L-systems and
fractal geometry. As our work continues,
we hope to be able to generate composi-
tions as listenable (if not necessarily as
complex) as Bach's fugue. We intend to
employ L-system curves to model several
kinds of musical structures using new re-
cursion schemes of our own.
References and Notes
1. See, for example, A. Lorenz, Der muszkalzsche
AuXau des BuAnenfestspieZes "Derffing des Nibelungen"
(Berlin: Max Hesse, 1924), and other volumes in
the series "Das Geheimnis der Form bei Richard
Wagner." Many experts have disagreed with
Lorenz's findings involving large-scale structures,
however. See Ulrich Muller and Peter Wapnewski,
eds., The Wagner Handhook, John Deathridge, trans.
(Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard Univ. Press,
1992) pp. 21X215.
2. Among other works, see H. Schenker, Harmony
(Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1972).
3. L. Meyer and G. Cooper, The Whythmzc Structure of
Music (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1960).
4. F. Lerdahl and R. Jackendoff, A Generatzve Theory
of Tonal Music (Cambridge, MA and London: MIT
Press, 1983).
5. K. Jones, Compositional Applications of Sto-
chastic Processes," Computer Music Joureal 5, No. 2,
45-61 (Summer 1981 ) .
6. C. Arnes, "'Crystals': Recursive Structures in Au-
tomated Composition," Computer Mustc Journal 6,
No. 3, 4S64 (1982).
7. L. Hiller and C. Ames with R. Franki, Auto-
mated Composition: An Installation at the 1985 In-
38 Masorl and SaffZe} L-Systemss Melodies and Musical Structure
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ternational Exhibition in Tsukuba, Japan, "Perspec-
tives of New Music 23 No. 2, 196-215 (1985).
8. P. Prusinkiewicz and A. Lindenmayer, The Algo-
rzthmzc Beauty of Plants (New York: Springer-Verlag,
1990) pp. 1-3.
9. Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer [81 pp. 3-6.
10. Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer [8] p. 6
11. H. Abelson and A. di Sessa, Turtle Geometry
(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1981) p. 393. LogoX was
developed as an educational tool to teach children
about computers and computer programming. In
LogolE) a turtle figure on the screen will travel speci-
fied distances and directions (with or without the
pen down) when given commands by the user. We
have borrowed the concept of a turtle, but not the
image. No turtle appears on our computer screen
when L-system curves are being drawn; instead, the
figures are drawn with discrete commands.
12. Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer [8] pp. 6-7, 18.
The term "turtle heading" refers to the direction a
that the turtle faces while drawing the curve.
13. P. Prusinkiewicz and J. Hanan, Lzndenmayer Sys-
tems, Fractalsa and Plants (New York: Springer-
Verlag, 1989) pp. 11-12. The convention for + and
- is reversed in The Algarithmzc Beauty of Plants. We
are using the convention in I>indenmayer Systems,
Fractats, and Plants since our figures and computer
programs were written with this convention.
14. Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer [8] pp. 3-6.
15. P. Prusinkiewicz, Score Generation with L-
Systems,"International ComputerMusic Conference '86
Proceedings (1986) pp. 455-457.
16. Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer [8] p. 12.
17. Prusinkiewicz and Hanan [ 13] p. 79.
18. P. Prusinkiewicz, K. Krithivasan and M.G.
Vijayanarayana, "Application of L-Systems to Algo-
rithmic Generation of South Indian Folk Art Pat-
terns and Karnatic Music," in R. Narasimhan, ed., A
Perspectzve zn Theoretical Computer Sczence, Series in
Computer Science 16 (1988) pp. 229-248. This ar-
ticle does not refer to L-system curves, but only to
L-system strings.
19. B. Mandelbrot, TheFractal Geometry of Nature
(New York: W.H. Freemane 1983) p. 44.
20. Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer [8] p. 9. In this
work, the curve is identified as "a quadratic modifi-
cation of the snowflake curve.
21. Mandelbrot [19] p. 446.
22. Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer [8] pp. 11-18.
23. Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer [81 pp 11-13.
These pages give the exact requirements that
curves must meet in order to be FASS curves
(which are bounded and do not intersect them-
selves). We dropped certain requirements and
adapted the rules slightly to allow the curve to in-
tersect itself.
24. The string-rewriting procedures were written
with the software package Mathematica@. The com-
puter programs that interpreted the L-systems as
curves and converted the curves into MIDI files
were written in NeXT objective C (including the
objects of the NeXT music kit) on a NeXTStation.
The program Ensemble(E) with MIDI was used to re-
alize the MII)I files into sound on a Roland key-
board. All results were recorded on tape.
25. Leonardo is now depositing information in elec-
tronic form on the Internet, hosted at the MIT
Press file server <mitpress.mit.edu>. For complete
directions on accessing the site, see the announce-
ment at the front of this issue. The three files ac-
companying this article are named "Masgosp,"
"Mascurvl" and Mascurv2," with extensions PC,
Mac and NeXT. These files can be listened to using
MIDI equipment.
26. The idea of looking at the percentage of inter-
vals occurring in pieces of music was inspired by
K.J. Hsu and A.J. Hsu, "Fractal Geometry of
Music,"Proceedings of the Natzonal Acade?7ly of Science,
U.S.A. 87, No. 3, 938-941 (1990) and K.J. Hsu and
A.J. Hsu, "Self-Similarity of the '1/f Noise' Called
Music," Proceedings oftheNationalAcademy of Sczence,
U.S.A. 88, No. 8, 3507-3509 (1991). Table 1 re-
sembles one of Hsu and Hsu's tables, but repre-
sents the work of the two authors.
27. R. Lach, Studien zurEntwicklungsgeschicAte der
ornamentalen Melopoie (Leipzig, Germany: C. F.
Kahnt, 1913).
28. G. Herzog, Speech Melody and Primitive Mu-
sic," Musical Quarterly 20, No. 4, 452-470 (1934).
29. B. Szabolcsi, A Historw of Melody (New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1965).
30. B. Nettl, Music in Pqznitive Culture (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1959).
31. E. Narmour, The Analysis and Cognition of Basic
Melodic Structures (Chicago, IL and London: Univ.
Of Chicago Press, 1992).
32. For example, W. Fowler, "Tactics for Writing
Tunes, Keyboard 15, No. 12, 94-95 (1989).
33. C. Adams, Melodic Contour Typology,"
ECtAnomusicology 20, No. 2, 179-215 ( 1976) .
34. See "melody" in The New Har7vard Dictionary of
Muszc (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1986) pp.
481-484.
35. A. Ringer, "melody," in Stanley Sadie, ed., The
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (New
York: Macmillan, 1980) Vol. 12, pp. 118-127.
36. Narmour, The Analysis and Cognitzon of Musical
Complexity (Chicago, IL and New York: Univ. of Chi-
cago Press, 1992).
37. Narmour [31] p. 66.
38. D. Parsons, The Directory of Tunes and Musical
The?7les (Cambridge, MA: Spencer Brown, 1975).
39. H. Barlow and S. Morgenstern, A Dictionarw of
Musical Themes (New York: Crown, 1948).
40. Barlow and Morgenstern, A Dictionary of Vocal
Themes (New York: Crown, 1950). Other editions of
dictionaries by Barlow and Morgenstern have also
appeared in print. All Barlow-Morgenstern editions
contain indexing errors, however, and they should
be consulted with caution.
41. See, for example, P. Breslauer, "Diminutional
Rhythm and Melodic Structure,"Journal of Music
Theory 32, No. 1, 1-19 (1988).