An Algorithm for Human Embodiment and Computational Realization of Familiar and Novel African/Clave Unavailable

This paper introduces an algorithm which aims to inspire music creation by generating familiar African/clave rhythm and novel transforms of them. The algorithm generalizes the musical practices described in Peñalosa’s pedagogy into an ‘embodied state’ indicative of African philosophies of call and response and grounding in ancestral wisdom. Based upon polyrhythmic alternations of hands and feet performing replicated ‘seed rhythms’, the rhythms presented here sit within a four beat structure with time signatures 12/8, 16/8, 20/8, 24/8, 28/8 etc. The algorithm has also been coded into MAX MSP for analysis and creative use.