A mathematical study conducted at Viterbo, Italy’s University of Tuscia has found evidence that jazz and classical music structures have become simpler over time. The analysis, published on April 23 in Scientific Reports, pulled data from songs across six genres. Niccolò Di Marco, a computational social scientist at the university, then studied patterns in melodies, harmonies, and other structural elements.
“We are observing an evolution in music,” said DiMarco, who worked alongside a team on the study. The results came from studying 21,480 pieces of Western music. As for the genres, the team pulled data from classical, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, pop, and rock music.
After finding patterns in the structural forms, the team then mapped the relationships between notes in a song. Things like the order they were played in, or which notes came next in an arrangement.
When looking at data from more modern genres, electronic and hip-hop showed uniform structural patterns. Pop and rock music had pretty standard patterns as well, with some variance in older songs. Meanwhile, the much older classical and jazz genres had even more variance in their patterns. But when analyzing data from modern classical and jazz compositions, the team found simpler structures. Additionally, they had more similarities with pop and rock patterns.
Classical and Jazz Compositions Are Getting Simpler, But What Does That Mean?
To clarify, the study was strictly analyzing music from a mathematical standpoint, not an artistic one. So while jazz and classical compositions may show signs of simpler note structures, that’s not a sign of bad art.
Instead, DiMarco explained, it’s a possible sign of how accessible music production has become. With the widespread use of digital technology for recording and composition, the way modern artists make music has changed. A trend toward repetitiveness in structural features, said DiMarco, “is a measure of how that piece explores the possible musical space … following the rules of music.”
Essentially, it’s not a mark of fading artistry, or what ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax called a “cultural gray-out.” Instead, these findings potentially indicate that the process of making music has become simpler with the evolution of technology. What that says about art, culture, or musical diversity is better left to the experts.
“There has always been an anxiety about simplification in music,” said cultural musicologist Friedlind Riedel of the University of Salzburg. She referenced the “long history of cultural pessimism” and Lomax’s “cultural gray-out” theory. “However,” she added, “musical listening opportunities have probably never been more diverse in history than they are today.”
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