canon in J on 8-string fretless.

And this has been on Youtube for over a year?? Where have I been??

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWYggKqsDqw

The Pachelbel's Canon of the Bohlen-Pierce musical scale. Rather than 12 steps to the 2nd harmonic (octave), BP uses 13 steps to the 3rd harmonic (tritave).

To my knowledge, there are no other convincingly rigorous attempts toward a meaningful 12-TET/BP transposition process that go beyond an attempt at 1-to-1 mapping. A deeper understanding of what individual voices are doing and how they are interacting in Canon in D must first be achieved, and then the voices in the BP composition must be made to function in similar ways (while negotiating other conditions such as melodic contour and reasonable absolute pitch).

The progression of Pachelbel's Canon is essentially a harmonization of a descending major scale extrapolating itself into variously configured transient chords.

Canon in D constitutes an elegant mathematical proof that the diatonic scale is emergent, not a cultural or academic contrivance. Canon in J aims to do the same service for one of BP's diatonic scales (specifically Moll II [Pierce]).

While 2nd order acoustic spectra certainly exist in natural circumstances and theoretically ideal forms (square wave, triangle wave), a scale based on only odds is bound to sound not as 'natural' as one with odds and evens. Or at least not on the first few listens.

This recording of Canon in J was performed in overdubbed rounds using a fretless 8-string electric bass with custom-gauges, tuning and markings set specifically to meet the requirements of the composition.