Fractal Music

Here is a printable version of this page
NOTE: before beggining this exercise, make sure that the "caps lock" is off. (All values need to be entered using lower-case ascii values.)
1)The first voice is our metronome. Extend this voice to 12 measures by clicking once on the right-pointing arrow next to the number “8.”
2)Place the cursor at the end of the eight yellow bars marked “Beat” and select Beat from the “Phrase” menu. This inserts the selected phrase, in this case Beat, at the location of the cursor.
3)Select “Beat” from the Phrase menu three more times so that there are a total of 12 measures in the first voice.
4)From the “Scale” menu, select “Natural Minor.”
(This step is necessary to maintain exercise compatibility with the current version of Fractal Music Composer.)
5) Click in the first measure of the second voice to begin entering notes in this location.
6)Press the “Q” key to select quarter note insertion and enter the notes from Phrase One in the second voice using the sequence: 3, 7, 5, 4, 3, p, i , p.
7)Select this two measure phrase by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the cursor across all eight notes. Let go of the mouse button and then click on the “Make Phrase” button
8)Name this “phrase 1” and click “OK.”
9)Place cursor at the end of phrase 1 and then select phrase 1 from the “Phrase” menu.
10)There are now two instances of phrase 1 in the second voice. Repeat Step 9 four more times so that there are a total of six instances of phrase 1 in the second voice.
11)Place cursor at the beginning of the third voice and then select phrase 1 from the “Phrase” menu.
12)Select this new instance of phrase 1 by clicking on it.
13)Click on the “Length” transform button. Use the drop-down menu to stretch it by a factor of 3/2. This phrase is now automatically renamed “phrase 1_Lx3/2.”
14)Place cursor at the end of this new phrase and select phase 1_Lx3/2 from the phrase 1 entry in the “Phrase” menu. Do this three times to obtain a total of 12 measures in the third voice.
15)Click on the “plus” sign to add a new voice and select an octave offset of “-1.“ Click “OK.”
16)Place cursor at the beginning of this fourth voice and then select phrase 1 from the “Phrase” menu.
17)Use the “Length” transform to stretch it by a factor of 4. This phrase is now automatically renamed “phrase 1_Lx4.”
18)Place cursor at the end of this new phrase and select phase 1_Lx4 from the phrase 1 entry of the “Phrase” menu.
19)Select this second instance of phase 1_Lx4 and click on the “Break Phrase” button.
20)Select the final four measures of this voice and click the “Delete” button so that all voices end after twelve measures.
21)Click on the “Play” button to listen to the composition.
22)Select the third instance of phase 1_Lx3/2 (in the third voice) and click the “Shift” button. Scroll up and select “-2.” Click “OK.” Click in a blank measure to deselect the phrase.

NOTE: The Shift transform transposes the phrase by the selected number of scale steps. These are not the same as half steps. They are counted using only notes from the current scale. This type of pitch transform is called diatonic transposition.

23)Click on the “Play” button to listen to this variation of the composition.
Here is how the composition should sound, and how the final workspace should look.
Here is an exploration of why this composition is fractal in duration.

Return to Exercises.