vaisvil
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Two Microtonal Pieces
Both pieces used Sonar X1 to host Kontakt. Kontakt's factory "notes per octave" setting was used to achieve the desired alternate tuning. For info on microtuning Kontakt see this page: http://chrisvaisvil.com/?p=631 For Brass and Voice Choirs in 17 edo This is a piece using 2 keyboards, an M-Audio 88es (vocal choir) and Alesis Q49 (brass choir) in 17 notes per octave. The objective was to use some functional xenharmonic chord progressions. I would be interested in knowing if you perceive the harmonies as having direction, tension and release in the sense of 12 equal common practice chord progressions. For 2 Violas and Gongs in 10 edo This is a piece performed on an Alesis Q49 using Kontakt 4′s viola and gongs samples as the sound source. The violas are retuned to 10 notes per octave. This piece is concentrates more on melodic aspects. This is my first piece in 10 edo and I found it rather easy and intuitive to compose in. Online play and download can be found here: http://chrisvaisvil.com/?p=1039
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morenoise
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Re:Two Microtonal Pieces
2011/07/14 11:32:06
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Hi Chris, while I don't have a clue what you're talking about , here's my gut reaction to your pieces. I like the choir part of the first piece and think the tuning works well here, the brass part is a bit hit and miss imho, from dissonant to just out of tune  . The violas and gongs piece is a lot more accessible to my ears. Greetings, Rik
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Chappel
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Re:Two Microtonal Pieces
2011/07/14 11:46:37
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I listened to the first one. The only real tension I noticed was in what I perceived to be some kind of V to I progression. I can hear what sounds like the supertonic wanting to resolve to the tonic and the leading tone wanting to resolve to the tonic. I'm not a big fan of these kinds of chords and mostly it just sounded out of tune to my ears. I've heard microtonal stuff that I really liked but that was in the nature of melodic lines juxtaposed with more conventional harmonies, like the stuff Don Ellis did with his 1/4 tone trumpet.
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vaisvil
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Re:Two Microtonal Pieces
2011/07/14 11:54:36
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Thanks for the listen and comments Rik! I guess there is something to be said about the effect of timbre since the brass for a good part follows the choir harmonic progression. As for the viola piece - it seems pretty universal that use of different tunings in a mostly melodic situation has wider acceptance. As you are probably aware the Blues (and Jazz) often uses microtonal "inflections" => for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_note For comparison's sake let me list the tunings in cents (these are in Scala format - an accepted, pretty universal format used by by microtonal composers based on the program Scala http://www.huygens-fokker...ala/ ) Our common tuning 12 equal ! C:\Cakewalk\scales\12edo.scl ! 12edo 12 ! 100.00000 200.00000 300.00000 400.00000 500.00000 600.00000 700.00000 800.00000 900.00000 1000.00000 1100.00000 2/1 And here is 17 equal ! C:\Cakewalk\scales\17et.scl ! 17 ET 17 ! 70.58824 141.17647 211.76471 282.35294 352.94118 423.52941 494.11765 564.70588 635.29412 705.88235 776.47059 847.05882 917.64706 988.23529 1058.82353 1129.41176 2/1 and here is 10 equal ! E:\Cakewalk\scales\10edo.scl ! 10 edo 10 ! 120.00000 240.00000 360.00000 480.00000 600.00000 720.00000 840.00000 960.00000 1080.00000 2/1
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morenoise
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Re:Two Microtonal Pieces
2011/07/14 12:08:56
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Hi Chris , thanks for the explanation. Still don't like the brass part though  . Since I learned to play guitar purely by ear, my reference window is quite small when confronted by these harmonies. As you've mentioned this is not a problem playing melodies, for instance playing slide guitar. I think those harmonies are an acquired taste though. Greetings, Rik
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vaisvil
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Re:Two Microtonal Pieces
2011/07/14 12:31:50
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Chappel
I listened to the first one. The only real tension I noticed was in what I perceived to be some kind of V to I progression. I can hear what sounds like the supertonic wanting to resolve to the tonic and the leading tone wanting to resolve to the tonic. I'm not a big fan of these kinds of chords and mostly it just sounded out of tune to my ears. I've heard microtonal stuff that I really liked but that was in the nature of melodic lines juxtaposed with more conventional harmonies, like the stuff Don Ellis did with his 1/4 tone trumpet.
I guess one could throw in certain flavors of "world music" as well. Historically in the west additional notes have (probably this needs an almost) always been added melodically first before they became standard usage - that is incorporated in common practice music. So, in short I agree with your observations. - I've not heard of Don Ellis - I will look him up - thanks!
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vaisvil
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Re:Two Microtonal Pieces
2011/07/14 12:41:43
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morenoise
Hi Chris , thanks for the explanation. Still don't like the brass part though . Since I learned to play guitar purely by ear, my reference window is quite small when confronted by these harmonies. As you've mentioned this is not a problem playing melodies, for instance playing slide guitar. I think those harmonies are an acquired taste though.
Greetings, Rik
Hi Rik, I didn't think my explanation would change your perception - its just an interesting observation to note. I agree with you that for the most part microtonal harmonies are an acquired taste - and I've seen people with perfect pitch have a very difficult time with microtonality in any way shape or form - even to not accepting blue notes. There is one exception though. In 12 equal the major 3rd is badly out of tune. A "Just" or really "perfect" major 3rd is 386 cents. In 12 equal the major 3rd is 400 cents. When you play a "just" major third there is no beating - it sounds as clean as a "perfect" fifth. In that case a "just" perfect fifth is 702 cents and in 12 equal it is 700 cents. You can see they are very close and in general "Just Intonation" intervals sound particularly pure and clear. So, with a just major 3rd you can glob on all kinds of distortion and it will sound as clear and beat free as a perfect fifth. Great for guitarists. Chris
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Chappel
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Re:Two Microtonal Pieces
2011/07/14 12:50:28
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vaisvil
I guess one could throw in certain flavors of "world music" as well. Historically in the west additional notes have (probably this needs an almost) always been added melodically first before they became standard usage - that is incorporated in common practice music.
So, in short I agree with your observations. - I've not heard of Don Ellis - I will look him up - thanks!
Oh, sure. I was referring to Western music where almost all the music we hear derives from the 12 tone chromatic scale. Steve Vai is another, and more modern, example of someone who has played some fascinating microtonal stuff. I used to listen to the Don Ellis Band a lot back in high school in the early 70's. Great jazz. There's a lot of his stuff on YouTube. Here's a good one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_JDsblpMP0
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vaisvil
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Re:Two Microtonal Pieces
2011/07/14 19:16:33
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Chappel
Oh, sure. I was referring to Western music where almost all the music we hear derives from the 12 tone chromatic scale.
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12 tone chromatic scale is a relatively recent invention. Choral music, i.e. church music was in adaptive Just Intonation (like barbershop quartets today) and instrumental music starting in the middle ages with Pythagorean tuning and progressed through various meantone compromises to arrive at the great compromise of 12 equal 1750-ish. In the Renaissance a number of composers proposed tuning systems with more than 12 notes (19 and 31 being quite popular) and built instruments to play in those tunings. We don't have a great deal of information prior to the Greeks. Some very old (10's of thousands of years) suggests some close to 12 equal diatonic tuning - and some not.
Chris
post edited by vaisvil - 2011/07/14 19:18:11
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