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Link to Thesis: http://ogma.newcastle.edu.au:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:21945

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Abstract/Summary/Outline:

There is a significant body of literature on the subject of symmetry in music, revealing many important insights into its role, particularly in music of the twentieth century. However, the scope of symmetry research is limited by the nature of symmetry itself. The self-referential nature of symmetry, associated with stasis and conservation, is at odds with the dynamic nature of music and its need to develop and evolve, prompting Stravinsky’s assertion that “to be perfectly symmetrical is to be perfectly dead”. By contrast, the study of symmetry reduction is the study of transitions, bifurcations and structural transformations, and despite its importance in a wide range of disciplines, including physics, biology and information technology, its role in music has not been addressed in a systematic way. Exemplified by the process of crystallisation, symmetry reduction occurs when a structure or process makes a transition from a state of high symmetry to one of relatively low symmetry, and is associated with self-organisation, the emergence of information, differentiation and hierarchy, and the appearance of patterns and periodicity. Order increases when symmetry is reduced. This exegesis offers the first systematic study of symmetry reduction in music...

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