Ornament as Data Structure: An Algorithmic Model based on Micro-Rhythms of Csángó Laments and Funeral Music

This study presents an algorithmic method for creating ornaments linked to skeletal base-notes. In developing this model, a data structure for encoding ornament-types is presented. This data structure employs contour theory, variable harmonic scaling, temporal/iterative parameters, and stochastic noise. In order to tune these parameters, the laments and funeral music of the Csángó, a music rich with ornamentation and dense heterophony, is used both as a textural model and as a source of quantitative data. This model is implemented in the Python programming language and is integrated into the athenaCL composition system, an open-source, crossplatform program for algorithmic composition in Csound. It is shown that convincing heterophonic textures can result by the combination of algorithmic ornamentations of a single line.