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The 17-Tone Puzzle — and the Neo-Medieval Key That Unlocks It
The 17-tone Puzzle — And the Neo-medieval Key That Unlocks It by George Secor A Grave Misunderstanding The 17 division of the octave has to be one of the most misunderstood alternative tuning systems available to the microtonal experimenter. In comparison with divisions such as 19, 22, and 31, it has two major advantages: not only are its fifths better in tune, but it is also more manageable, considering its very reasonable number of tones per octave. A third advantage becomes apparent immediately upon hearing diatonic melodies played in it, one note at a time: 17 is wonderful for melody, outshining both the twelve-tone equal temperament (12-ET) and the Pythagorean tuning in this respect. The most serious problem becomes apparent when we discover that diatonic harmony in this system sounds highly dissonant, considerably more so than is the case with either 12-ET or the Pythagorean tuning, on which we were hoping to improve. Without any further thought, most experimenters thus consign the 17-tone system to the discard pile, confident in the knowledge that there are, after all, much better alternatives available. My own thinking about 17 started in exactly this way. In 1976, having been a microtonal experimenter for thirteen years, I went on record, dismissing 17-ET in only a couple of sentences: The 17-tone equal temperament is of questionable harmonic utility. If you try it, I doubt you’ll stay with it for long.1 Since that time I have become aware of some things which have caused me to change my opinion completely. -
Founding a Family of Fiddles
The four members of the violin family have changed very little In hundreds of years. Recently, a group of musi- cians and scientists have constructed a "new" string family. 16 Founding a Family of Fiddles Carleen M. Hutchins An article from Physics Today, 1967. New measmement techniques combined with recent acoustics research enable us to make vioUn-type instruments in all frequency ranges with the properties built into the vioHn itself by the masters of three centuries ago. Thus for the first time we have a whole family of instruments made according to a consistent acoustical theory. Beyond a doubt they are musically successful by Carleen Maley Hutchins For three or folti centuries string stacles have stood in the way of practi- quartets as well as orchestras both cal accomplishment. That we can large and small, ha\e used violins, now routinely make fine violins in a violas, cellos and contrabasses of clas- variety of frequency ranges is the re- sical design. These wooden instru- siJt of a fortuitous combination: ments were brought to near perfec- violin acoustics research—showing a tion by violin makers of the 17th and resurgence after a lapse of 100 years— 18th centuries. Only recendy, though, and the new testing equipment capa- has testing equipment been good ble of responding to the sensitivities of enough to find out just how they work, wooden instruments. and only recently have scientific meth- As is shown in figure 1, oiu new in- ods of manufactiu-e been good enough struments are tuned in alternate inter- to produce consistently instruments vals of a musical fourth and fifth over with the qualities one wants to design the range of the piano keyboard. -
MTO 20.2: Wild, Vicentino's 31-Tone Compositional Theory
Volume 20, Number 2, June 2014 Copyright © 2014 Society for Music Theory Genus, Species and Mode in Vicentino’s 31-tone Compositional Theory Jonathan Wild NOTE: The examples for the (text-only) PDF version of this item are available online at: http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.14.20.2/mto.14.20.2.wild.php KEYWORDS: Vicentino, enharmonicism, chromaticism, sixteenth century, tuning, genus, species, mode ABSTRACT: This article explores the pitch structures developed by Nicola Vicentino in his 1555 treatise L’Antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica . I examine the rationale for his background gamut of 31 pitch classes, and document the relationships among his accounts of the genera, species, and modes, and between his and earlier accounts. Specially recorded and retuned audio examples illustrate some of the surviving enharmonic and chromatic musical passages. Received February 2014 Table of Contents Introduction [1] Tuning [4] The Archicembalo [8] Genus [10] Enharmonic division of the whole tone [13] Species [15] Mode [28] Composing in the genera [32] Conclusion [35] Introduction [1] In his treatise of 1555, L’Antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (henceforth L’Antica musica ), the theorist and composer Nicola Vicentino describes a tuning system comprising thirty-one tones to the octave, and presents several excerpts from compositions intended to be sung in that tuning. (1) The rich compositional theory he develops in the treatise, in concert with the few surviving musical passages, offers a tantalizing glimpse of an alternative pathway for musical development, one whose radically augmented pitch materials make possible a vast range of novel melodic gestures and harmonic successions. -
Andrián Pertout
Andrián Pertout Three Microtonal Compositions: The Utilization of Tuning Systems in Modern Composition Volume 1 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Produced on acid-free paper Faculty of Music The University of Melbourne March, 2007 Abstract Three Microtonal Compositions: The Utilization of Tuning Systems in Modern Composition encompasses the work undertaken by Lou Harrison (widely regarded as one of America’s most influential and original composers) with regards to just intonation, and tuning and scale systems from around the globe – also taking into account the influential work of Alain Daniélou (Introduction to the Study of Musical Scales), Harry Partch (Genesis of a Music), and Ben Johnston (Scalar Order as a Compositional Resource). The essence of the project being to reveal the compositional applications of a selection of Persian, Indonesian, and Japanese musical scales utilized in three very distinct systems: theory versus performance practice and the ‘Scale of Fifths’, or cyclic division of the octave; the equally-tempered division of the octave; and the ‘Scale of Proportions’, or harmonic division of the octave championed by Harrison, among others – outlining their theoretical and aesthetic rationale, as well as their historical foundations. The project begins with the creation of three new microtonal works tailored to address some of the compositional issues of each system, and ending with an articulated exposition; obtained via the investigation of written sources, disclosure -
Clarinet Quarter-Tone Fingering Chart
Clarinet Quarter-Tone Fingering Chart 1st Edition rev.1 2017 Jason Alder www.jasonalder.com ii Author’s Note This clarinet quarter-tone fingering chart developed as a continuation of my initial work of one for bass clarinet, which grew from my extensive playing of contemporary music and study of South-Indian Karnatic music. My focus had been primarily on bass clarinet, so the development of this chart for soprano clarinet didn’t come to realization until some years later as my own need for it arose, occurring simultaneously with a decision to rework the initial bass clarinet chart into a second edition. The first edition for clarinet therefore follows the same conventions as the second edition bass clarinet fingering chart. This first revision revisits a few quarter-tone fingerings around the “break” after I discovered some better ones to use. Jason Alder London, 2017 iii Guide to the Fingering Chart This fingering chart was made using a Buffet R13 clarinet, and thus the fingerings notated are based on the Boehm system. Because some differences may exist between different manufacturers, it is important to note how this system correlates to your own instrument. In some fingerings I have used the Left Hand Ab//Eb key, which not all instruments have. I’ve included this only when its use is an option, but have omitted the outline when it’s not. Many notes, particularly quarter-tones and altissimo notes, can have different fingerings. I have notated what I found to be best in tune for me, with less regard for ease and fluidity of playing. -
Microtonality As an Expressive Device: an Approach for the Contemporary Saxophonist
Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Dissertations Conservatory of Music and Drama 2009 Microtonality as an Expressive Device: an Approach for the Contemporary Saxophonist Seán Mac Erlaine Technological University Dublin, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/aaconmusdiss Part of the Composition Commons, Musicology Commons, Music Pedagogy Commons, Music Performance Commons, and the Music Theory Commons Recommended Citation Mac Erlaine, S.: Microtonality as an Expressive Device: an Approach for the Contemporary Saxophonist. Masters Dissertation. Technological University Dublin, 2009. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Conservatory of Music and Drama at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License Microtonality as an expressive device: An approach for the contemporary saxophonist September 2009 Seán Mac Erlaine www.sean-og.com Table of Contents Abstract i Introduction ii CHAPTER ONE 1 1.1 Tuning Theory 1 1.1.1 Tuning Discrepancies 1 1.2 Temperament for Keyboard Instruments 2 1.3 Non‐fixed Intonation Instruments 5 1.4 Dominance of Equal Temperament 7 1.5 The Evolution of Equal Temperament: Microtonality 9 CHAPTER TWO 11 2.1 Twentieth Century Tradition of Microtonality 11 2.2 Use of Microtonality -
Xii - Les Tempéraments Justes De Plus De 12 Divisions (19, 31, 43)
XII - LES TEMPÉRAMENTS JUSTES DE PLUS DE 12 DIVISIONS (19, 31, 43) 1. INTRODUCTION Les acousticiens et théoriciens de la musique ont toujours été affrontés au problème de l’Intonation Juste. Depuis Ramis (ou Ramos) en 1482 [34], jusqu’à Helmholtz en 1863 [8], ils ont essayé de concevoir des échelles à intervalles consonants. Ça a repris en Europe dès le début du XXe siècle pour continuer outre- atlantique jusqu’à nos jours. Plusieurs fois on a eu recours à des octaves de plus de 12 divisions, ce qui donne des intervalles inférieurs au demi-ton, on parle alors de micro-tons. Continuons de parler de Ton dans le sens le plus large, ou bien d’Unité. Le système de F. Salinas (1557) était composé de 19 degrés et était censé être juste [48]. Défendu par Woolhouse au XIXe siècle, il sera relancé au XXe siècle par J. Yasser [49]. Le système à 31 tons a aussi des origines anciennes, l’archicembalo conçu en 1555 par Vicentino avait déjà 31 touches 1. Il avait pour objectif, entre autres, d’introduire des quarts de ton pour interpréter les madrigaux du napolitain Gesualdo. Etudié par le physicien C. Huygens à l’aide d’arguments scientifiques, il est basé sur la présence de la quinte, de la tierce et de la septième justes. 1 Comme dans tous les domaines, la Renaissance a connu une grande effervescence en théorie musicale. On a ressorti les anciens manuscrits (Aristoxène, Euclide, Nicomaque, Ptolemé,…), mais aussi hélas ceux de Boèce, unique référence du haut Moyen Âge. Le système de Vicentino n’avait donc rien d’insolite. -
2015,3 Interview with Johnny Reinhard
Рецензии, интервью • Reviews, Interviews 2015,3 INTERVIEW WITH JOHNNY REINHARD Anton Rovner: Can you tell me about your the Pompidou Centre. I have held important concert activities with the microtonal festival? concerts of microtonal music in Switzerland, What cities have you performed in the United for which I took eight people from New York, States besides New York, as well as what other where we introduced the music of Harry Partch countries? for concerts in Zurich and Kreuzlingen, and a Johnny Reinhard: I started my musical Zurich Radio broadcast. activities as a bassoonist. During my graduate AR: Can you tell about your microtonal studies in bassoon at the Manhattan School of festival, how it began, where do you perform Music and in ethnomusicology at Columbia and what kind of music do you perform there? University, I began to be interested in JR: In 1980 I received my Master’s degree microtonal music, which I decided to devote from Manhattan School of Music, and I learned to my full time to. In 1981 I founded the American play quartertones on the bassoon, so composers Festival of Microtonal Music, which has been began writing pieces for me. I enrolled in the in existence since then. The festival has held Music Department of Columbia University, performances of numerous musical works where I studied ethnomusicology, and I started incorporating microtones and alternate tunings to learn that different types of music of different by many composers throughout the world, peoples of past ages had different tunings. As both contemporary and from earlier times. In a result, I came up with the idea of a festival addition to that, I have performed with recitals of microtonal music, which would be inter- on the bassoon and with concerts of microtonal stylistic, where I would put together on one stage music in most European countries, different such diverse types of music as Middle Ages and cities across Canada – St. -
Pietro Aaron on Musica Plana: a Translation and Commentary on Book I of the Libri Tres De Institutione Harmonica (1516)
Pietro Aaron on musica plana: A Translation and Commentary on Book I of the Libri tres de institutione harmonica (1516) Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Matthew Joseph Bester, B.A., M.A. Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Graeme M. Boone, Advisor Charles Atkinson Burdette Green Copyright by Matthew Joseph Bester 2013 Abstract Historians of music theory long have recognized the importance of the sixteenth- century Florentine theorist Pietro Aaron for his influential vernacular treatises on practical matters concerning polyphony, most notably his Toscanello in musica (Venice, 1523) and his Trattato della natura et cognitione de tutti gli tuoni di canto figurato (Venice, 1525). Less often discussed is Aaron’s treatment of plainsong, the most complete statement of which occurs in the opening book of his first published treatise, the Libri tres de institutione harmonica (Bologna, 1516). The present dissertation aims to assess and contextualize Aaron’s perspective on the subject with a translation and commentary on the first book of the De institutione harmonica. The extensive commentary endeavors to situate Aaron’s treatment of plainsong more concretely within the history of music theory, with particular focus on some of the most prominent treatises that were circulating in the decades prior to the publication of the De institutione harmonica. This includes works by such well-known theorists as Marchetto da Padova, Johannes Tinctoris, and Franchinus Gaffurius, but equally significant are certain lesser-known practical works on the topic of plainsong from around the turn of the century, some of which are in the vernacular Italian, including Bonaventura da Brescia’s Breviloquium musicale (1497), the anonymous Compendium musices (1499), and the anonymous Quaestiones et solutiones (c.1500). -
A Study of Microtones in Pop Music
University of Huddersfield Repository Chadwin, Daniel James Applying microtonality to pop songwriting: A study of microtones in pop music Original Citation Chadwin, Daniel James (2019) Applying microtonality to pop songwriting: A study of microtones in pop music. Masters thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/34977/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ Applying microtonality to pop songwriting A study of microtones in pop music Daniel James Chadwin Student number: 1568815 A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Huddersfield May 2019 1 Abstract While temperament and expanded tunings have not been widely adopted by pop and rock musicians historically speaking, there has recently been an increased interest in microtones from modern artists and in online discussion. -
Gaucho Alumni Return for Homecoming Today()
Gaucho Alumni Return for Homecoming Today() ; 1700 copies published every Friday by El Gaucho is published every Friday of ; the Associated Students. the school year. No issues are printed on - > l Subscription rates, fifty cents per year. holidays or during examinations. All-American award, 1939-40. All-Columbian “Medalist”, 1939-40. Vol. XX SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA, FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1941 No. 30 California Assembly Legislative Council Appropriates $650,000 Concentrates Efforts To Santa Barbara State Department of Science Building, Health On Budget Debate And Physical Education Units Gain Initial Entire Student Body Considers 1941-42 Attention from Newly Acquired Budget Financial Draft at Tuesday Assembly; An appropriation of $650,000 was made by the California State Richards Reveals Activity Survey Results Assembly to the extension of Santa Barbara State college last week, Annual budget bugaboos for the Associated students of Santa it was announced Wednesday by President Clarence L. Phelps. Land Barbara State college took the spotlight at last night’s executive nad new Buildings are included in this allotment. In addition, $693,* council meeting in room 81, pine hall, as council membeers carried 358 was budgeted for general operation, salaries, equipment, supplies and utilities. This was slashed from ^ Z — — on a four hour discussion to straighten out the $28,000 tangle and the original #738,255 request. finally accept the proposed budget, with a 7 to 3 vote. Discussion ----- :----------- --- ---;-------- MORE FUNDS NEEDED Newspapermen Southern California, that there Both allotments may still he amend* over the budget proposal centered ed, it was noted by President Phelps, State Assembly around the A.M.S., debate and foren who is working for an increase in Hold Annual sics, workshop plays, glee club, and budget. -
Explorations of Equal-Tempered Microtonality / Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony, Edited by Noah Kaplan and Tr
Document generated on 09/27/2021 5:49 p.m. Circuit Musiques contemporaines Explorations of Equal-Tempered Microtonality Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony, Edited by Noah Kaplan and translated by Rosalie Kaplan, Brooklyn, Underwolf, 2017. 28 pages with online audio supplement Julia Werntz, Steps to the Sea: Ear Training and Composing in a Minute Equal Temperament, Frog Peak Music, 2014. 47 pages with online audio supplement Robert Hasegawa Les voies de la pansonorité : la musique microtonale d’hier à aujourd’hui Volume 29, Number 2, 2019 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1062570ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1062570ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Circuit, musiques contemporaines ISSN 1183-1693 (print) 1488-9692 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this review Hasegawa, R. (2019). Review of [Explorations of Equal-Tempered Microtonality / Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony, Edited by Noah Kaplan and translated by Rosalie Kaplan, Brooklyn, Underwolf, 2017. 28 pages with online audio supplement / Julia Werntz, Steps to the Sea: Ear Training and Composing in a Minute Equal Temperament, Frog Peak Music, 2014. 47 pages with online audio supplement]. Circuit, 29(2), 99–102. https://doi.org/10.7202/1062570ar Tous droits réservés © Circuit, musiques contemporaines, 2019 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal.