Shape of a Song is a Java app that reads MIDI files, and then draws a pictoral representation of that song.
The diagrams display musical form as a sequence of translucent arches. Each arch connects two repeated, identical passages of a composition. By using repeated passages as signposts, the diagram illustrates the deep structure of the composition.
The diagram above illustrates the complexity of part of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
Related posts:
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This is interesting, but can’t compare with the images that Bach can bring to your mind when you close your eyes.
This is interesting, but it can’t compare to the images Bach can bring to your mind when you close your eyes.
Bach certainly was complex. I wonder what the correlation is between musical complexity and greatness.