Miles Brew Ab/G# ?

> A lot of the material in _Bitches
> Brew_ was derived from the Augmented (3-1-3-1-3-1) scale; one of the
> few instructions given by Miles to the players had to do with
> combining the E major, Ab major, and C major triads.
I suppose to actually meet all his rules you would need to use:
C-Eb-E-G-G#-Ab-B-C in meantone terms, otherwise we have this ambiguity about the G#/Ab.
At least, this way we cover all the required triads precisely.

Charles Lucy - lucy@...
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--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Charles Lucy <makemicro@l...>
wrote:
> > A lot of the material in _Bitches
> > Brew_ was derived from the Augmented (3-1-3-1-3-1) scale; one of the
> > few instructions given by Miles to the players had to do with
> > combining the E major, Ab major, and C major triads.

> I suppose to actually meet all his rules you would need to use:
> C-Eb-E-G-G#-Ab-B-C in meantone terms, otherwise we have this
> ambiguity about the G#/Ab.
> At least, this way we cover all the required triads precisely.

There were no meantone instruments on this album, only 12-equal
instruments. The scale is of the form L-s-L-s-L-s (the six steps add up
to one octave) and a progression circling around the three triads
should have an unaltered common tone between each successive pair of
triads. Or make it

E minor - E major - Ab minor - Ab major - C minor - C major - E
minor . .

and there are *two* unaltered common tones between each successive pair
of triads.

Meantone doesn't work for this.

On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Paul Erlich wrote:

> E minor - E major - Ab minor - Ab major - C minor - C major - E
> minor . .
>
> and there are *two* unaltered common tones between each successive pair
> of triads.

Paul probably knows, but for other interested parties: this progression is widely referred to as the "hexatonic cycle" because of the number of chords, 6 -- as well as the fact that only 6 of the 12 chromatic notes appear in the progression. The two chords at maximum distance in the hexatonic cycle--forming a "diameter" of it--are called hexatonic poles, e.g. E-minor/Ab-major (they share no common-tones, but there is a maximally-smooth voice-leading between them where each voice moves by one scale step). Rick Cohn has written quite a bit about hexatonic poles - one of his articles shows a piece by Brahms that actually goes through this chord progression, which is difficult to explain using devices of traditional tonality. People also talk about the "hexatonic scale" (C-C#-E-F-G#-A) analogous to the octatonic scale. It's the hexachord used in Schoenberg's _Ode to Napoleon_, and all of its 5-note subsets belong to the same set-class. Strangely, Messiaen missed it in his list of "modes de transposition limitee". And that concludes my little blurb on the hexatonic system!

--Jon

On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Paul Erlich wrote:

> E minor - E major - Ab minor - Ab major - C minor - C major - E minor

a final p.s.: if you plot this hexatonic progression on a standard lattice of fifths and thirds, you just step gently around a hexagon centred on one of the roots of the triads.

in 12 you also have the opposite set of 6 tones that form the same structure just transposed.
If one did have a meantone 12 you could still try playing this scale

Paul Erlich wrote:

>--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Charles Lucy <makemicro@l...> >wrote:
> >
>>>A lot of the material in _Bitches
>>>Brew_ was derived from the Augmented (3-1-3-1-3-1) scale; one of the
>>>few instructions given by Miles to the players had to do with
>>>combining the E major, Ab major, and C major triads.
>>> >>>
>
> >
>>I suppose to actually meet all his rules you would need to use:
>>C-Eb-E-G-G#-Ab-B-C in meantone terms, otherwise we have this >>ambiguity about the G#/Ab.
>>At least, this way we cover all the required triads precisely.
>> >>
>
>There were no meantone instruments on this album, only 12-equal >instruments. The scale is of the form L-s-L-s-L-s (the six steps add up >to one octave) and a progression circling around the three triads >should have an unaltered common tone between each successive pair of >triads. Or make it
>
>E minor - E major - Ab minor - Ab major - C minor - C major - E >minor . . >
>and there are *two* unaltered common tones between each successive pair >of triads.
>
>Meantone doesn't work for this.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
> >
>
>
> >

--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Jon Wild <wild@m...> wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Paul Erlich wrote:
>
> > E minor - E major - Ab minor - Ab major - C minor - C major - E
> > minor . .
> >
> > and there are *two* unaltered common tones between each
successive pair
> > of triads.
>
> Paul probably knows,

Nope.

> but for other interested parties: this progression is
> widely referred to as the "hexatonic cycle" because of the number
of
> chords, 6 -- as well as the fact that only 6 of the 12 chromatic
notes
> appear in the progression. The two chords at maximum distance in
the
> hexatonic cycle--forming a "diameter" of it--are called hexatonic
poles,
> e.g. E-minor/Ab-major (they share no common-tones, but there is a
> maximally-smooth voice-leading between them where each voice moves
by one
> scale step). Rick Cohn has written quite a bit about hexatonic
poles - one
> of his articles shows a piece by Brahms that actually goes through
this
> chord progression, which is difficult to explain using devices of
> traditional tonality. People also talk about the "hexatonic scale"
> (C-C#-E-F-G#-A) analogous to the octatonic scale. It's the
hexachord used
> in Schoenberg's _Ode to Napoleon_, and all of its 5-note subsets
belong to
> the same set-class. Strangely, Messiaen missed it in his list
of "modes de
> transposition limitee". And that concludes my little blurb on the
> hexatonic system!
>
> --Jon

I've seen this hexatonic scale referred to as the "augmented scale".

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Jon Wild <wild@m...> wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Paul Erlich wrote:
>
> > E minor - E major - Ab minor - Ab major - C minor - C major - E
minor
>
> a final p.s.: if you plot this hexatonic progression on a standard
lattice
> of fifths and thirds, you just step gently around a hexagon centred
on one
> of the roots of the triads.

Jon, this seems to be untrue. Maybe you're using a special,
nonstandard "lattice"? I'd love to see you demonstrate what you're
talking about -- perhaps on another list?