music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush globe theatre london, england also known as chance music or indeterminacy, aleatoric music is music that has some element Aleatoric Music of unpredictability to it. the word “aleatoric” comes from the greek root alea, which means dice! you could argue that almost all live music has a bit of unpredictability... different performers might interpret the same piece a little bit differently. but aleatoric music is defined aleatoric music can be thought of as music which has more intentional as being in two different categories... unpredictabilty than that! though a piece could use both kinds! aleatoric aleatoric composition performance a composer might use randomness to a composer might instead decide to decide how to write a piece... which design a piece to leave part or all of it notes to play, how long to chance... making the piece sound they should last, or different every time it is performed! which instruments the result is a to use, for example. fixed piece: one that for example, a repeat ad lib sounds the same piece might have j œ #œ bœ #œ each time it is sections where & ‰ œ bœ bœ œ nœ ‰ œ J ‰ played! performers are instructed to repeat a certain passage an one of the pioneers of unspecified number of times, at their aleatoric composition is own tempo, independent from each other. greek composer this is called senza misura! iannis xenakis, who would use natural of course, there are endless possibilities: phenomena to performers directed to play whatever they compose music... want, specific passages played at unspecifed like using patterns of times, or performances which depend on x e n a k is molecular motion to unpredictable elements, like coin flips or write his 1975 work audience participation! n’shima for brass, cello and heads again... vocalists. This use of natural trombones, randomness is called stochastic music! you’re up! one of the most famous examples of I love sounds just as they are... And I have aleatoric music is john cage’s 1952 no need for them to be anything more than piece 4’33”, which involves one or more what they are! I don't want them to be musicians on stage, doing nothing, psychological, I don't want a sound to for four minutes and thirty-three pretend that it's a bucket, or that it's seconds. president, or that it's in love with another sound; I just want it to be a sound! the piece is sometimes ridiculed as an example of nonsensical modern john cage, 1991 art run amok, but cage saw it as an opportunity to take advantage of the expectations of concert etiquette pieces like 4’33” represent the to force the audience to actively ultimate aleatoric experience; listen together in a silent the performer has no control environment! over the piece, other than creating the framework of a performance. cage pointed out that 4’33” was not intended to be a performance of as a result, it causes us, as listeners silence, but a chance to listen to cage and as music theorists, to consider ambient sounds: nearby traffic, rain the very definition of music itself! falling on the roof, or even whispered conversations! licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit tobyrush.com for more.