Starting Over - Chances Afforded by a New Scale Hochschule für Musik und Theater Personal History

First encounters Opera Der Sprung The Bohlen-Pierce clarinet project Beyond the Horizon Notation BP kalimba project First encounters I remember hearing about the Bohlen-Pierce scale for the first time around 1987 in the seminar of ( Musikhochschule; Fritsch, a former collaborator of ’s, used to be interested in alternative tunings, particularly in the work of Harry Partch) First experiments with spectral stretching in the context of the BP scale in a graduate seminar at UC Berkeley in 1991 using Adrian Freed’s Reson8 bank of resonantors. Der Sprung

1st act of the 1st scene (1994; murder story; Libretto by Thomas Brasch) Use of scale as “academic” achievement - a metaphor for the content of libretto Form and material derived through temporal (1000 fold) stretching of speech. Three parts derived from the phonemes that compose the German word “eine.” First part 1+21+ 3 measures. 3:7:5 formal structure. 2nd part BP mapping of music onto spectral harmonies, stylistically somewhere in between Weill and Berg, scored for 2 singers, FM celeste and FM bell Last part featuring a 3:1 stretched chord orchestrated by the large

BP clarinet

The scene from Der Sprung requires wind instrument. First attempt employed physical modeling with Yamaha WX 7 controller. Performance with keyboard.

After premiere in 1999, search for adequate solution. Clarinet attractive because of spectral quality (odd partials).

April 2004 first contact with Stephen Fox, at the time teacher at the Norwegian Musikk Instrument Akademiet, first prototype. Since June 2004, email exchanges with Tilly Kooyman. Instigation of the Bohlen-Pierce clarinet project Beyond the Horizon

2007 completion of the first instruments.

2008 first concerts at Open Ear festival (Canada) and Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, performed by Tilly Kooyman and Stephen Fox, as well as Nora-Louise Müller and Anna Bardeli

Pieces written by Bloomfield, Harrop, Stahnke, Lemke, Hamel, Schwenk and myself.

Beyond the Horizon for 2 soprano clarinets and synthesizer employing stretched spectra adjusted to Bohlen-Pierce. Spectra...

Harmonic Spectrum - Odd and Even Partials Harmonic Spectrum - Odd Partials

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Stretched Spectrum Stretched Spectrum - Partials adjusted to BP

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Resonance model (credit to CNMAT)

Perception: First two partials are most clearly audible. Pitch ambiguity between fundamental and upper tritave.

Tritave has similar quality as octave. Base triad can be inverted (3:5:7 - 5:7:9 - 7:9:15) and is perceived as such.

Observation: adjusted spectra sound smoother when played with BP intervals and chords, but the impact is not quite as striking as expected. Speculation: the effect of sensory dissonance on the perception of intervals might be overestimated (see dissertation by Doug Keislar), particularly in the context of the unfamiliar terrain of a microtonal scale / inharmonic spectra combo. Gestalt phenomena are probably more relevant. Comparison

Partial # Stretched Stretched & adapted 1 48.9 48.9 2 146.87 146.7 3 278.9 288.4 4 440. 440. 5 626.7 617.0 6 836.7 865.1 7 1068.2 1024.4 8 1320. 1320. 9 1590.9 1563.1 10 1880. 1851. 11 2186.6 2191.8 12 2510. 2595.4 13 2849.5 2824.3 14 3204.6 3073.3 15 3574.9 3639.3 16 3960. 3960. 17 4359.4 4309.4 18 4772.8 4689.5 19 5199.8 5103. 20 5640.19 5553. 21 6093.7 6042.7 22 6559.9 6575.6 23 7038.8 7155.4 24 7530. 7786.4 Mean 3071.6 3069.3 Top: Stretched spectra; bottom: BP-adjusted stretched spectra Notation (1) Notation of BP music is challenging. Different notational frameworks: logical (reflection of step size), e.g. BP analysis instrumental (tablature and fingerings), e.g. clarinet/ keyboard parts cognitive/familiar (Guidonian notation with [microtonal] accidentals), e.g. scores, voice parts Need for an notation environment capable of switching between notational frameworks Introducing MaxScore (credit to Nick Didkovsky) Ideal for microtonal notation and playback. Demonstration of microMaps MaxScore works like a Jitter object, several objects can be chained for real-time processing. Demo different notation modes for Beyond the Horizon Notation (2)

Notation context dependent. Choice of systems, lines (5 lines), key signatures. Scores need to be represented in a more comprehensible, unified way. Three possibilities: Diatonic notation with microtonal accidentals. Advantage: Familiarity. Disadvantage: Based on old diatonic principle, makes little sense in the context of BP (give example, ask how many steps...) BP modal (9 out 13) notation (lambda) with key signatures. Advantage: represents keyboard layout (Bohlen, Walker). Disadvantage: Musicians forced to learn a new framework which potentially has same shortcomings as diatonic notation: Lines and spaces don’t reflect equal steps size BP chromatic notation as proposed by Fox. See Hauer-Steffens or Ailler-Brennink chromatic notation in the context of 12TET. BP Notation

Key signatures for lambda scale (Walker 2001)

BP chromatic notation proposed by Stephen Fox Cognitive notation Instrumental notation Logical notation

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Pink lines refer to tritaves (d3, a4, e6) BP kalimba project

To be written for Jennifer Hymer’s kalimba project Dialog between kalimba (Hugh Tracey alto kalimba with 15 tines tuned to a tritave + one additional step) and computer Sampled sounds and resonance models; Quintet.net for playback Gestural control Improvising computer using DJster, a modified version of ’s AUTOBUSK software with microtonal capabilities running inside of Quintet.net DJster

Harmonic Energy Curve serving as the basis for the probability of BP pitches.

DJster interfacing with the µAUTOBUSK engine

Real-time control of DJster parameters from MaxScore using 24 note dimensions. More info: www.algomusic.com/maxscore.