Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup crazy_music A neat JI sonority with narrow fourth -- MIDI files

Hello, there, everyone, and here are links to two progressions
involving a JI sonority I like very much, and find at once rather
concordant, energetic, and luminescent: 16:21:24:28 (at a rounded
0-471-702-969 cents).

Keenan Pepper mentioned this sonority last year on the Alternate Tuning
List, and reading his post again the other day, I decided to try it.

At least in a gentle timbre like the Yamaha TX-802 "Puff Pipes"
(preset voice A56), this sonority has an effect which I'd describe as
on the concordant side, although certainly energetic: the regular
fifths and fourths seem to provide a space through which the energy of
the narrow fourth at 21:16 can diffuse, filling it with a kind of
light.

Here's my first type of resolution at two pitch levels, just in case
this might make any difference in people's impressions:

http://value.net/~mschulter/sesen001.mid
http://value.net/~mschulter/sesen002.mid

For the curious, I might note that this progression can be written in
a notation with C4 as middle C, and "v" showing a note a septimal
comma (64:63, ~27.26 cents) lower than the regular note in Pythagorean
tuning:

Fv4 E4
D4 E4
Cv4 A3
G3 A3

The outer minor seventh contracts to a stable fifth, just as in more
conventional neo-Gothic resolutions, guiding the rest of the
progression. Here the resolution is "remissive," with a descending
semitone at 28:27 or ~62.96 cents (Fv4-E4); and an ascending
whole-tone at 9:8 or ~203.91 cents (G3-A3).

Here's another resolution of the same sonority, an "intensive" one
with ascending 28:27 semitones and a descending 9:8 whole-tone:

http://value.net/~mschulter/sesen002.mid

Fv4 Ebv4
D4 Ebv4
Cv4 Abv3
G3 Abv3

These examples are based on a 24-note keyboard tuning with two
Pythagorean manuals a pure 7:6 apart. If anyone is curious, I could
describe the arrangements of these progressions on such a keyboard,
but maybe that's more of a topic for the main Tuning List.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@...

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>

🔗mschulter <MSCHULTER@...>

Hello, there, everyone, and here's another neo-Gothic JI progression
on the general theme of "running with the Wolves."

Yesterday, I was exploring around on a 24-note keyboard with two
Pythagorean manuals a pure 7:6 apart, and found myself playing G# on
the upper manual together with Eb on the lower manual _visually_ a
diminished sixth or "Wolf fifth" higher.

This interval formed a remarkably sweet third, and I became curious
what I had come upon, knowing that there were various odd flavors of
thirds to be found on this keyboard. Could it be a "schisma-like"
third close to a ratio of 5:4, for example?

A bit of arithmetic suggested that it had a size of about (678 - 267)
cents, or roughly 411 cents (actually a bit closer to 412 cents). At
least on a Yamaha TX-802 with the "Puff Pipes" timbre (voice A56),
this was just the perfect size.

Now I wanted to use this incredibly beautiful third in a three-voice
cadence, one which had an actual "Wolf fourth" between the upper
voices of the first sonority at around 0-412-933 cents:

http://value.net/~mschulter/seswf001.mid

Here is this cadence written in a notation where "v" shows a note a
septimal comma lower than the usual Pythagorean note, with C4 as
middle C:

G#4 Av4
Eb4 Ev4
Bv3 Av4

The outer voices of the first sonority form a pure 12:7 major sixth,
while the lower voices form that exquisite major third at what turns
out to be the pleasant ratio of 524288:413343 or about 411.62 cents.

The two upper voices at Eb4-G#4 form the Pythagorean "Wolf" fourth or
augmented third at 177147:131072 (~521.505 cents), not really a
dissonance in this sonority and timbre, just another element in the
brew, maybe a touch of "color" or "deepening" of hue.

From my keyboardist's eye view, the extra bit of humor was that the
major third looked _visually_ like a Wolf fifth, as a keyboard
spelling with "}" showing a note on the upper keyboard raised by a 7:6
may suggest:

G#4 F#}4
Eb4 C#]4
G#}3 F#}3

Whatever the fine points of theory and keyboard navigation, I find it
a beautiful JI progression, and wanted to share it as an example of
"running with the Wolves."

In peace and love,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@...

🔗mschulter <MSCHULTER@...>

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>

Margo!
Yes honestly i have enjoyed these tremendously , clicking them over
and over again. Our Ears have been spoiled I imagine in that we might
not hear them with the conviction of the cadences that we have been
saturated with to mean "Yes, this is really the End!' At some other time
they might be heard this way. These gems now point towards more of a "We
stop , but we will go on!" This is why i thought i really could hear a
chain of them, singular or plural.
Thanks you for bringing these gems to the forefront.

mschulter wrote:

> Hello, Kraig!
>
> Thanks to you and Erv Wilson for your encouragement, and among other
> things I guess it's time to get some papers together for Erv.
>
> I hope you enjoy the JI example of "running with the Wolves" I'm
> posting, and thanks for the humor of your posts, a great creative
> element.
>
> Peace to all, with deepest appreciation,
>
> Margo
>

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
http://www.anaphoria.com

The Wandering Medicine Show
Wed. 8-9 KXLU 88.9 fm

🔗David J. Finnamore <daeron@...>

🔗mschulter <MSCHULTER@...>

Hello, there, Kraig Grady -- and also David Finnamore and everyone.

Here's a cadential chain of one type in JI that might address your
post, and thanks for the encouragement to get this into a MIDI file.

http://value.net/~mschulter/xgji001.mid

Please enjoy, and here's a quick response for now, Kraig, to a very
important point you made regarding these cadences, and a larger
question of how people coming from different musical backgrounds or
cultures may have the same progression or piece in different but
beautiful ways.

From my own perspective, these are compelling cadences, based for the
most part on 13th-14th century European patterns. As my everyday
musical language, I take it for granted in a sense -- although I'm
always interested in new possibilities and intonational twists.
However, what I also take for granted is that the setting is fluid,
with lots of possible continuations or conclusions. There are many
possible modal centers, and the same cadence might occur in pieces
concluding on different centers.

One writer comments that in some 14th-century pieces, a cadence can
happen at almost every measure of a modern transcription -- and that's
pretty much a given for me.

Your response maybe gives me some idea of what this might sound like
to someone not accustomed to it, and I'm delighted that the same music
can present different colors when heard through different "aural
prisms" of previous experience and expectations.

In a larger piece, of course, the form and things like repetition and
emphasis might make some centers seem more "central" than others; but
the openness and fluidity of modal music is something I much treasure,
all the more so when I can share it with such musicians and friends.

Peace and love,

Margo

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>

Margo!
Thank you for the lovely sequence and a fitting end to this mess by
your observant comments.

mschulter wrote:

> Hello, there, Kraig Grady -- and also David Finnamore and everyone.
>
> Here's a cadential chain of one type in JI that might address your
> post, and thanks for the encouragement to get this into a MIDI file.
>
> http://value.net/~mschulter/xgji001.mid
>

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
http://www.anaphoria.com

The Wandering Medicine Show
Wed. 8-9 KXLU 88.9 fm

🔗Robert Walker <robertwalker@...>

Hello there,

> http://value.net/~mschulter/xgji001.mid

> In a larger piece, of course, the form and things like repetition and
> emphasis might make some centers seem more "central" than others; but
> the openness and fluidity of modal music is something I much treasure,
> all the more so when I can share it with such musicians and friends.

This seems to have something of the attractive floating quality one
can get with the hexany.

I'm enjoying your midi clips a lot. I too enjoy repeatedly clicking them!

The one with the wolf fourth had a remarkably docile wolf in it!

Robert