A Similarity Network for Correlating Musical Structure to Military Strategy

2026-01-18

AI Summary

This study addresses a critical gap in existing research by proposing an interdisciplinary analytical framework to effectively evaluate musical perception from the perspectives of system dynamics and information management, particularly in linking musical structure with complex strategic systems. Inspired by the conceptual parallels between conductors’ score interpretation and military sand-table exercises, the work introduces a novel network-based analogy between musical structures and classical military strategies such as those in Sun Tzu’s *The Art of War*. By extracting Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) from film scores in war movies, the authors construct a Music Clip Correlation Network (MCCN) and apply network analysis techniques to uncover deep structural commonalities in coordination mechanisms and information organization between music and military strategy. This approach offers fresh methodological insights for both music aesthetics education and strategic thinking research.

Technology Category

• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Analogy
• Machine Learning: Matrix & Tensor Methods
• Humans and AI: Brain-Sensing and Analysis

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Models for Web evolution
• Social Networks and Social Media: Social media analysis through the lenses of networks
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Studies of user behavior, including longitudinal effects of personalized systems

Abstract

Music perception, a multi-sensory process based on the synesthesia effect, is an essential component of music aesthetic education. Understanding music structure helps both perception and aesthetic education. Music structure incorporates a range of information, the coordination of which forms the melody, just as different military actions cooperate to produce a military strategy. However, there are a few ways for assessing music perception from the perspectives of system operation and information management. In this paper, we explore the similarities between music structure and military strategy while creating the Music Clips Correlation Network (MCCN) based on Mel-frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs). The inspiration comes from the comparison between a concert conductor's musical score and a military war commander's sand table exercise. Specifically, we create MCCNs for various kinds of war movie soundtracks, then relate military tactics (Sun Tzu's Art of War, etc.) and political institutions to military operations networks. Our primary findings suggest a few similarities, implying that music perception and aesthetic education can be approached from a military strategy and management perspective through this interdisciplinary research. Similarly, we can discover similarities between the art of military scheming and the art of musical structure based on network analysis in order to facilitate the understanding of the relationship between technology and art.

Problem

• music perception
• music structure
• military strategy
• aesthetic education
• interdisciplinary research

Innovation

• Music Clips Correlation Network
• MFCC
• military strategy
• music structure
• network analysis