A study using net science to measure the intricacy of 20,000 pieces of medicine produce over four C has found that medicine is becoming less complex over clip .

euphony is an important part of human life , found inevery societythat we know of . As such , it ’s pretty interesting to learn how the nontextual matter word form is changing over fourth dimension , and with the advent of new musical technology and improved accessibility of euphony over the C and late decades .

measure the complexity of medicine is no simple-minded chore in itself . For the study , investigator from the Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Padova used tool from web science to analyze medicine of various literary genre over the centuries .

" We analyze[d ] a dataset of close to 20 , 000 musical instrument digital interface file categorized into six macro - genres , choosing to represent musical compositions as weight down directed web where notes are node and transitions are edge , " the team explained . " This approach consistently search structural difference across musical genre and propose a potential method acting for measuring melodic complexity and its style over time . "

In simple terms , by assigning notes to " nodes " – see the circles in the video below – and representing any modulation between the notes as connecting lines – " border " – the team could then analyze how complex a piece of medicine is . Where one government note repeatedly transitioned to another note , the connecting line was thickened , making psychoanalysis comfortable .

Using this web analysis , the team found some surprising results , though not necessarily out of occupation with previous research . Overall , they found that musical complexity has decline over the centuries , with Greco-Roman being much more complex than advanced euphony . However , even classical euphony is not immune from this trend , and has become less complex as time goes on .

One exclusion to the rule of diminishing complexness was jazz , though only for a brief period .

" Notably , Classical music exhibits a declining trend , whereas Jazz prove an initial gain in its complexity in its early day , follow by a decline and eventual stabilisation , " the team writes . " In contrast , the other genres maintain comparatively level practice , with efficiency value comparable to those of Classical and Jazz in recent year . "

Previous researchhas found that melodies are getting simpler in more recent times , first occurring at the onrush of disco music , new wave , and stadium rock candy in around 1975 , and again with the rise of hip - hops , electronic music , and MTV . However , it ’s not like these raw genre are responsible for for the downslope in complexity of music , with the new study finding that complexity has go down within all genres studied .

While it ’s not clear why music is getting less complex , the squad suggests that it could be to do with technical advance , allowing more people to frame music , among other factors .

" The observed style of melodic simplification reflect broader social change , including the influence of global interconnectedness , speedy substance dissemination , and the algorithmic curation of music consumption , " the team wrote , adding " overall , our field of study highlights that the democratization of the composition cognitive process and the Second Coming of new technologies and platforms have fostered the ontogeny of literary genre characterise by thin complexity proportional to earlier eras . "

It is also important to note that while medicine may be have simpler in terms of melody , it may also be getting more complex in other ways . Music was play on fewer tool in the past tense , for example , while modern music may involve many level of different texture .

" My conjecture is that other aspects of music are getting more complex and melodies are getting simpler as a style to indemnify , " Madeline Hamilton , co - writer of the premature enquiry , excuse at the meter .

Further inquiry is needed , but perhaps this Modern way of analyzing it – through the manipulation of web depth psychology – could help realize up the mystery of why medicine come out to be get simpler over time .

The work is available viaarXiv .