Please do drop in (room 437 IT Building) or send an email
(michael.mcgettrick@nuigalway.ie)
for more info on this project.
5. TOWARDS HIERARCHICAL
MARKOV CHAINS
We define a hierarchical Markov Chain to be one whose order is governed
by a separate Markov Chain. One can extend this definition to several levels.
It is clear that low order Markov Chains give rise to much randomness,
while high order gives more predictable results. In some areas (e.g.
algorithmic composition) both randomness and predictability are required,
but at different points in the sequence. It seems thus that
hierarchical Markov Chains may be a way of achieving the structure required
in much of Music.
The project will investgate the properties of such chains. Code will be
written to generate melodies from a certain idiom (e.g. reels in Irish
Dance Music) using hierarchical Markov Chains.