Are You in Tune? A Phenomenological Enquiry into Pythagorean Tuning in the Creation of New Music Miranda Jensen ORCID: 0000-0002-0920-7695 This thesis is being submitted for the total fulfilment of the Doctor of Philosophy. August 2017 I Victorian College of the Arts University of Melbourne Abstract This research explores the experiential and practical performance aspects arising through using Pythagorean Tuning. The focus is primarily on the application of the tuning system in the creation, performance and apprehension of new music. In Western cultures, equal temperament is the dominant tuning standard to the extent that musicians and audiences may not be aware of other tuning possibilities. However, using non- tempered tuning standards arguably produces a different physical experience in the listener and a different quality of physicality in sound production on a musical instrument. The questions arise: How do people experience non-tempered tuning? How do musicians respond to the demands of playing in tuning systems that are not familiar and may work counter intuitively to the architecture of the instrument they play? Does the experience of the musician using different tuning systems enhance or detract from other performance attributes? This research is supported by practice led enquiry where the primary researcher collaborated with a number of producers to create an original album of contemporary music. A second album was produced which explored a range of musical styles through re-imaging Christmas carols. Together the two albums form the creative submission which provides a diversity of musical styles and artistic approaches using the Pythagorean tuning system. II Declaration I Miranda Jensen declare that this thesis comprises the original work of the author towards the award of Doctor of Philosophy except where indicated in the Preface. Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used. The thesis is fewer than the maximum word limit in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Signed___________________________ Miranda Jensen 01/08/2017 III Preface This thesis is the original work of Miranda Jensen and includes a summary of each of the collaborations that contributed to the original album that is part of the creative submission. Within this thesis text has been contributed by some of the collaborators on their experience of the project and where such inclusions are made, credit is attributed to the collaborator. Where creative works are the product of a collaboration with a producer, the instrumental accompaniment is generally the work of the collaborator and the lyric and vocals the work of the primary researcher. In some instances, final mixes were provided by the producer and in other instances they were completed by the primary researcher. No aspect of the thesis or the creative works have been submitted for other qualifications. One of the Christmas Carols submitted as part of the Christmas album was completed prior to enrolment in this degree, however, it was the first experiment of the tuning system in question and contributed to the application process to undertake this study. One of the original songs had been co-written prior to undertaking this degree, however was selected to be produced due to its harmonic structure, similarly a second song was also selected from my back catalogue for inclusion. An independent proof read was performed by a family member who is a secondary school teacher but not familiar with the content covered in this paper. Funding for the presentation of this research at conferences was provided by the Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty Small Grants. Funding was also provided from the same source for the final mastering of the original album. IV Acknowledgments A number of people have supported this research which has been greatly appreciated. Many thanks to my research supervisor Dr Rob Vincs for being the best PhD supervisor you could hope to have. Thanks to the many producers who collaborated and contributed to this research, specifically; Ben Hellmig, Jesse Thom, George Papanicolaou, Caleb Miller, Mark Kowalczuk and Jacky Ligon. Thanks to Grzegorz Machnacki for interest and effort tuning my piano to Pythagorean Tuning. Thanks to Mark Buys for lively discussion and referrals and thanks to John Kynnersley for an independent proof read of the final paper. V Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................. II Declaration ..............................................................................................................III Preface ................................................................................................................... IV Acknowledgments ................................................................................................... V Table of Contents ................................................................................................... VI Table of Figures .................................................................................................... VIII Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1 - Background ............................................................................................ 2 Pythagorean Philosophy .................................................................................................. 2 Early Examples of Natural Tuning ..................................................................................... 4 Developing Temperament Accuracy ................................................................................. 5 Societal Influences and Environment ................................................................................ 7 Inventions and their Impact on Temperament .................................................................. 8 Influencing Aspects of the 1900’s ..................................................................................... 9 Natural Tuning in the Modern World.............................................................................. 10 Physics of Sound ............................................................................................................ 12 Visual Sound.................................................................................................................. 14 Mathematics of Natural Frequencies .............................................................................. 15 Naturally Occurring Harmonics ........................................................................................... 19 Understanding Temperament or Tuning ............................................................................ 20 Frequency Perception .................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2 – Aims and Scope of Research ................................................................. 23 Aims of Research ........................................................................................................... 23 Phenomenological Enquiry............................................................................................. 25 Scope ............................................................................................................................ 26 Relevance of this Research ............................................................................................. 28 Process Practical ............................................................................................................ 29 Chapter 3 – Summary of Findings ............................................................................ 34 Timeline of Experiences through Practice and Projects ................................................... 35 Spring Song Live Performance Experimentation................................................................. 36 Practice and Compositional Enquiry ................................................................................... 40 Instrumentation Experimentation ...................................................................................... 41 Practical Tuning Experimentation ....................................................................................... 42 Impact of PT on Performance Practice................................................................................ 43 Creative Submission Dialogue ........................................................................................ 45 Fall in Love ........................................................................................................................... 45 Unstable .............................................................................................................................. 48 A New Day ........................................................................................................................... 49 A Love that You Own ........................................................................................................... 52 Taken by the Beat ................................................................................................................ 53 Beyond Belief....................................................................................................................... 56 Divine ..................................................................................................................................