Categorical perception experiment -- audio files

Hello, there, everyone, and many thanks to Jacky Ligon for producing
and uploading some audio files made from a recording of some of my
improvisations.

This is in part a kind of experiment in categorical perception,
the way that people may place intervals in certain familiar
categories.

Any comments you might have about the kinds of intervals or
"concord/discord" patterns you might hear in these pieces would be
most welcome.

After allowing a bit of time for responses, I'll let you know more
about this "experiment."

By the way, a correction which Jacky kindly called to my attention
after I gave the wrong information: the first piece uses a timbre
called "Piccolo," which I confused with the "Chowning Celeste" used in
other pieces not yet posted.

Here are links to the upload notices:

/crazy_music/topicId_23.html#1148
/crazy_music/topicId_23.html#1149

Peace and love,

Margo

> Hi Margo!

Hello, there Jeff -- with greetings also to your wife. I've waited a
bit to reply in case others might have comments to make which my reply
might unduly influence <grin>, but now seems like a good time.

> By the way, I only can download 45 seconds of each song (this is the
> typical yahoo situation for me) so these comments only apply to the
> first 3/4 minute of each piece.

While I'm sorry about the download programs, that sounds like a very
fair sample.

> First here are my wife's comments:

> 14th C improv is "Cute. I like it. It sounds like it has that
> medievally thing happening." How about the tuning? "It sounds
> fine. It's a little bit different but doesn't sound weird or
> anything."

Please thank her for this feedback, and also for the next candid
remarks:

> Chowning improv is "The first part was annoying. I guess she was
> just playing with the tones. Dee, doo, dee, doo, dee, doo dee
> ... dah dum dah dum dah dum dah. Not as interesting as the first."

That feels like a very fair comment, and I say this as the performer.
She also raises an important for various kinds of styles, xenharmonic
or otherwise. What I was basically doing was starting with some
favorite "standard progressions" -- neo-medieval ones, in my case --
and trying out some riffs and changes, so to speak.

With this kind of thing, one person's beloved "old standard" can be
another person's annoying cliche. What's very perceptive about the
criticism is that I was indeed "playing with the tones" in some very
familiar patterns.

Maybe, in a way, I have an initial "advantage" with some listeners
that what's very familiar to me in terms of neo-medieval styles and
tunings might not be so familiar to them, but rather "new" or
"different." However, the opening was indeed dwelling on something I
find lovely but also quite conventional, and it's good for a composer
or improviser to acknowledge this.

Incidentally, in a certain curious way, maybe this piece draws some
inspiration from Miles Davis and his group in _Kinda Blue_, although I
don't mean to imply any comparison with the artistry of that album.

> Here are mine:

> On first listen, I found the 14th to be more odd in tuning that
> Chowning -- the Chowning piece sounded more conventional to me.

This is very interesting, and maybe I'll reserve more comment until a
bit more time has gone by for anyone else who might be inclined to
respond.

> On second listen, the tunings normalized to my ears (this is what
> usually happens for me). I liked the cadences in the 14th piece. All
> the chord progressions in both pieces I found to be striking and of
> great interest as they 'tickled' my ears. I like what you are doing
> in these pieces.

Thanks for this feedback, and I'll respond further on some of the
points raised here.

> - Jeff

In peace and love,

Margo