Re: Qualities of 17-tET: MIDI examples

Hello, there, Mary and everyone.

In response to your very gracious remarks, I should maybe just add
another example to the last of the three 17-tET resolutions in my
original post:

C#5 D5
G4 A4
Eb4 D4

MIDI example: <http://value.net/~mschulter/17tet003.mid>

Here the lower two parts alone form a usual progresson from a major
third to a fifth, but the highest voice makes the progression
"different" with its augmented sixth Eb4-C#5 and augmented fourth
G4-C#5.

It might be fun to compare this cadence to a kind of usual version not
included in my original post where the lower voices are unchanged, but
the upper voice is at a usual major sixth above the lowest voice and
fourth above the middle voice, Eb4-G4-C5, resolving to the same goal
of D4-A4-D5:

C5 D5
G4 A4
Eb4 D4

MIDI example: <http://value.net/~mschulter/17tet004.mid>

Here the lower voice descends by a semitone while the upper voices
ascend by whole-tones. By 14th-century conventions, this beautiful
cadence might tend to be less conclusive than one with ascending
semitones, like the first example of my earlier post:

C#5 D5
G#4 A4
E4 D4

MIDI example: <http://value.net/~mschulter/17tet001.mid>

Any of these cadences brings us to the stable goal of a complete 2:3:4
sonority (or actually the tempered approximation) on D4-A4-D5, and I
would say that the augmented sixth variety can lend an air of mystery
or "Impressionism." A neat feature of this variety is that it has both
ascending and descending semitone motions at the same time.

Mary, your generosity moves me to add something that should go without
saying, but feels good to say anyway. While I happen to approach these
progressions from a neo-Gothic viewpoint, they are part of the general
resources of 17-tET, there for the taking and sharing. If the shoe
fits the musical moment, why not wear it?

Most appreciatively, with love and peace to all,

Margo