Kenneth and Andrew Hsu

Kenneth and Andrew Hsu attempted to find fractal patterns in music by

establishing scaling relations and

thinning a composition.

These ideas attracted sufficient popular attention to be described in the New York Times. Here it is reported the Hsus have patented a fractal music box, a device that filters music from a CD, producing a reduction, or abstract, of the music.

Thinking over the thinning process, Peak and Frame imagined a similar approach they called Cantoring.

Remove the middle third of a composition, then remove the middle thirds of the two remaining thirds, and so on for several levels.

Do some adjustment to aleviate dissonances where notes have been removed.

Does what remains still sound like Bach?

Preliminary student experiments have suggested "yes" for Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, but "no" for less complex composers, Stephen Foster, for example. Might robustness under Cantoring be a measure of musical sophistication?