Probabilistic Generation of Ragtime Music from Classical Melodies

Abstract

This paper examines the computational problem of taking a classical music composition and algorithmically recomposing it in a ragtime style. Because ragtime music is distinguished from other musical genres by its distinctive syncopated rhythms, our work is based on extracting the frequencies of rhythmic patterns from a large collection of ragtime compositions. We use these frequencies in two different algorithms that alter the melodic content of classical music compositions to fit the ragtime rhythmic patterns, and then combine the modified melodies with traditional ragtime bass parts, producing new compositions which melodically and harmonically resemble the original music. We evaluate these algorithms by examining the quality of the ragtime music produced for eight excerpts of classical music alongside the output of a third algorithm run on the same excerpts; results are derived from a survey of 163 people who rated the quality of the ragtime output of the three algorithms.