What Does Aleatory Mean in Music?

Aleatory music, also called chance music, (aleatory from Latin alea, “dice”), 20th-century music in which chance or indeterminate elements are left for the performer to realize.

Why is it called aleatory music?

Aleatoric music (also aleatory music or chance music; from the Latin word alea, meaning “dice”) is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the determination of its performer(s).

What is a aleatory mean?

“Aleatory” means that something is dependent on an uncertain event, a chance occurrence.