Thresholds of Confidence: An Analysis of Statistical Methods for Composition,
Part 2: Applications

Charles Ames

Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 6, 1996, pp. 21-26.

JSTOR

Abstract

This is Part 2 of a two-part analysis of serialism, randomness and statistical feedback. Part 1 developed the theoretical basis, which the present article applies to seven compositional scenarios. Scenarios 1-3 cover discrete distributions in static contexts and deem methods effective when they are able to utilize the leastweighted state at least once. Scenarios 4 and 5 cover continuous distributions, again in static contexts. These scenarios measure effectiveness by comparing the expected mean and variance with the statistics obtained from populations. Scenario 6 covers discrete distributions with evolving weights, with effectiveness being gauged through the number of samples required to establish a trend. Scenario 7 covers conditional distributions through the paradigm of the Markov chain. Here a realization is deemed effective if it represents the leastweighted transition at least once.

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