Improbably familiar-sounding microtonal chord progression

Recently, Kyle Gann posted a "chord progression you haven't heard
before" at his blog. The chord progression illustrates a point about
microtonality- it's certainly not a progression I've heard before,
but the chords themselves are all just Just seventh and eleventh
chords, which I have heard before of course. It's the particular
microtonal voice-leading that makes the progression unfamiliar.

Here is a little microtonal chord progession which I think
illustrates the opposite. I'd like to get other opinions on whether
it sounds yee olde or not to others before I say how it's tuned.

http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV

-Cameron Bobro

Can't tell how you do it, but I love it. Those major thirds sound really wide, and the
traditional aspects of the voice-leading set off the occasional incommensurable oddness.
Hard to tell how much the vibrato-y timbre influences the pitch perception.

Kyle

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Cameron Bobro" <misterbobro@...> wrote:
>
> Recently, Kyle Gann posted a "chord progression you haven't heard
> before" at his blog. The chord progression illustrates a point about
> microtonality- it's certainly not a progression I've heard before,
> but the chords themselves are all just Just seventh and eleventh
> chords, which I have heard before of course. It's the particular
> microtonal voice-leading that makes the progression unfamiliar.
>
> Here is a little microtonal chord progession which I think
> illustrates the opposite. I'd like to get other opinions on whether
> it sounds yee olde or not to others before I say how it's tuned.
>
> http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV
>
> -Cameron Bobro
>

can't seem to download

/^_,',',',_ //^ /Kraig Grady_ ^_,',',',_
Mesotonal Music from:
_'''''''_ ^North/Western Hemisphere: North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>

_'''''''_ ^South/Eastern Hemisphere:
Austronesian Outpost of Anaphoria <http://anaphoriasouth.blogspot.com/>

',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',

Cameron Bobro wrote:
>
> Recently, Kyle Gann posted a "chord progression you haven't heard
> before" at his blog. The chord progression illustrates a point about
> microtonality- it's certainly not a progression I've heard before,
> but the chords themselves are all just Just seventh and eleventh
> chords, which I have heard before of course. It's the particular
> microtonal voice-leading that makes the progression unfamiliar.
>
> Here is a little microtonal chord progession which I think
> illustrates the opposite. I'd like to get other opinions on whether
> it sounds yee olde or not to others before I say how it's tuned.
>
> http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV > <http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV>
>
> -Cameron Bobro
>
>

Agree with Kyle re:vibrato....

Cool. What is it? No, it doesn't sound 'ye olde'...it does sound
rather on the sour (but not altogether unpleasantly so) side, though.
It's definately pushing the envelope for those timbres to want to be
inharmonic or gamelan-like, for me, anyway.

-AKJ.

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "kylegann1955" <kgann@...> wrote:
>
> Can't tell how you do it, but I love it. Those major thirds sound
really wide, and the
> traditional aspects of the voice-leading set off the occasional
incommensurable oddness.
> Hard to tell how much the vibrato-y timbre influences the pitch
perception.
>
> Kyle
>
>
>
> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Cameron Bobro"
<misterbobro@> wrote:
> >
> > Recently, Kyle Gann posted a "chord progression you haven't heard
> > before" at his blog. The chord progression illustrates a point about
> > microtonality- it's certainly not a progression I've heard before,
> > but the chords themselves are all just Just seventh and eleventh
> > chords, which I have heard before of course. It's the particular
> > microtonal voice-leading that makes the progression unfamiliar.
> >
> > Here is a little microtonal chord progession which I think
> > illustrates the opposite. I'd like to get other opinions on whether
> > it sounds yee olde or not to others before I say how it's tuned.
> >
> > http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV
> >
> > -Cameron Bobro
> >
>

I can't get it either. The space in the file name is causing problems.
Change the name and more people can obtain it.

Prent Rodgers

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...> wrote:
>
> can't seem to download
>

> > it sounds yee olde or not to others before I say how it's tuned.
> >
> > http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV
> > <http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV>
> >
> > -Cameron Bobro
> >
> >
>

Prent Rodgers wrote:
> I can't get it either. The space in the file name is causing problems.
> Change the name and more people can obtain it.
>
> Prent Rodgers
>
> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...> wrote:
> >> can't seem to download
>> >>> it sounds yee olde or not to others before I say how it's tuned.
>>>
>>> http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV >>> <http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV>
>>>
>>> -Cameron Bobro

The file name has a space in it; that's what the %20 is replacing. I definitely would change the file name; replace the space with an underscore or something.

~D.

>>>> it sounds yee olde or not to others before I say how it's tuned.
>>>>
>>>> http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV
>>>> <http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV>
>>>>
>>>> -Cameron Bobro
>
>The file name has a space in it; that's what the %20 is replacing. I
>definitely would change the file name; replace the space with an
>underscore or something.
>
>~D.

I seem to remember getting it earlier, but now, even when I
use the correct URL, what I get is an exe file that looks
malicious. Has somebody's server been hacked? -Carl

Hmmm...here it is again...
http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=SequenceXample01.WAV

and here is the same progression with a straight and still timbre,
as well as a little introduction that shows the way the tuning was
generated:

http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=SequenceXample01a.wav

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <carl@...> wrote:
>
> >>>> it sounds yee olde or not to others before I say how it's
tuned.
> >>>>
> >>>> http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV
> >>>> <http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=Sequence%20Xample01.WAV>
> >>>>
> >>>> -Cameron Bobro
> >
> >The file name has a space in it; that's what the %20 is replacing.
I
> >definitely would change the file name; replace the space with an
> >underscore or something.
> >
> >~D.
>
> I seem to remember getting it earlier, but now, even when I
> use the correct URL, what I get is an exe file that looks
> malicious. Has somebody's server been hacked? -Carl
>

At 01:44 AM 8/22/2008, you wrote:
>Hmmm...here it is again...
>http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=SequenceXample01.WAV
>
>and here is the same progression with a straight and still timbre,
>as well as a little introduction that shows the way the tuning was
>generated:
>
>http://dl.kibla.org/dl.php?filename=SequenceXample01a.wav

The first file doesn't play for me, and I don't believe it's
a wav file. The second one does, and it indeed sounds like
a still version of what I heard earlier. i love the timbre
you use, and I love the progression outlined here. There is
at least one howler interval, but it works beautifully in
the progression. Bravo!

-Carl

I see what you're doing. I actually did something similar myself a
while ago with chords up to the 11-limit. First I took all of the
5-limit chords that have C in them - C major, Ab major, and F major -
and I voiced them in such a way that the voice leading was maximally
smooth. Sounded good, but nothing astounding there.

Then I went up to the 7-limit and repeated, then the 9-limit, etc. By
the time I got to the 11-limit version, there were some very
interesting chord modulations in there, and yet they still sounded
very familiar. It's all about the voice leading, I suppose.

The quarter tone or so shifts in the harmony at around the 4th or 5th
chord were really cool, btw.

This is all Diamond progressions. the common tone modulations on a single note

/^_,',',',_ //^ /Kraig Grady_ ^_,',',',_
Mesotonal Music from:
_'''''''_ ^North/Western Hemisphere: North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>

_'''''''_ ^South/Eastern Hemisphere:
Austronesian Outpost of Anaphoria <http://anaphoriasouth.blogspot.com/>

',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',

Mike Battaglia wrote:
>
> I see what you're doing. I actually did something similar myself a
> while ago with chords up to the 11-limit. First I took all of the
> 5-limit chords that have C in them - C major, Ab major, and F major -
> and I voiced them in such a way that the voice leading was maximally
> smooth. Sounded good, but nothing astounding there.
>
> Then I went up to the 7-limit and repeated, then the 9-limit, etc. By
> the time I got to the 11-limit version, there were some very
> interesting chord modulations in there, and yet they still sounded
> very familiar. It's all about the voice leading, I suppose.
>
> The quarter tone or so shifts in the harmony at around the 4th or 5th
> chord were really cool, btw.
>
>

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Mike
Battaglia" <battaglia01@...> wrote:
>
> I see what you're doing. I actually did something similar myself a
> while ago with chords up to the 11-limit. First I took all of the
> 5-limit chords that have C in them - C major, Ab major, and F major
-
> and I voiced them in such a way that the voice leading was maximally
> smooth. Sounded good, but nothing astounding there.
>
> Then I went up to the 7-limit and repeated, then the 9-limit, etc.
By
> the time I got to the 11-limit version, there were some very
> interesting chord modulations in there, and yet they still sounded
> very familiar. It's all about the voice leading, I suppose.
>
> The quarter tone or so shifts in the harmony at around the 4th or
5th
> chord were really cool, btw.
>

Thanks for the comments, everybody. I was also tickled to find that
my wife found the progession pretty and logical, considering the
egregiously wide thirds doing double duty as pseudo-inverted 5ths and
such.

Technically this example is 5-limit JI, hehe. But it is similar to
the common-tone diamond progressions Mike describes because the
simple movement of 5/4s and 6/5s off the pedal tone moves right away
to a point of maximum "otherness" vis a vis the "tonic", as spelled
out in the little intro. That particular "other" zone is bounded by
13/10 and 17/13 so the 5-limit augmented third lands smack in the
middle: building by simple Just intervals from there allows a kind of
variation on playing within a 5-diamond and a 13 diamond at the same
time, whilst hanging on to the pedal tone willy-nilly.

That example was the wonkiest-but-still-works version I've found.
These kinds of things:

1/1.......0.000 unison, perfect prime
5/4.......386.314 major third
13/10.....454.214 tridecimal semi-diminished fourth
13/8......840.528 tridecimal neutral sixth
26/15.....952.259 tridecimal semi-augmented sixth
2/1.......1200.000 octave

are very smooth and pretty of course. Notice that a 5/4 above the
maximally dissonant/assonant/whatever "thirth/foird" is also in
another such zone.

The version I'm working with now has a 17/13 as the "hinge", which
has the sneaky benefit of creating a very nice sounding pseudo-
tempered 4/3 against the pure 7/4. (For me, the 7/4 tolerates no
tempering or nearby flavors, it needs to be off, or on.)

-Cameron Bobro