New piece up on Xenharmony

It's called Bodacious Breed and is on the page for my own
compositions:

http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/gene.html

A direct download link is

http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/ogg/gene/bodacious.ogg

This is in the 2401/2400-planar ("Breed") temperament, which I tuned
using 441-equal (so Joe can put me down as advocating that if he
likes.) The scale is a 3x3x3 cubic array of tetrads, which is the
natural next step from the stellated hexany. Besides being
harmonically far richer, it has a very different character, being
strongly tonal. The tempering conflates 60/49 with 49/40, reducing
the 32 notes of the scale to 31. Two opposite corners of the cube
become harmonically linked in this way, a fact I make some use of.

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> It's called Bodacious Breed and is on the page for my own > compositions:
> > http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/gene.html

Well, what can I say? It's a great honor to be named in the title of one of Gene's compositions. I suppose my next instrumental piece will have to be called "Superlative Smith" now. Or maybe a praise song?

Oh Gene Ward Smith, the master of mathematics
His crazy sounds enrage the geriatrics
With groups both abelian and free
Though it may not be your cup of tea
One look his wedgies will knock you down
In the land of the lattice he wears the crown

Yes, coming on nicely...

Graham

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <graham@m...> wrote:
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> > It's called Bodacious Breed and is on the page for my own
> > compositions:
> >
> > http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/gene.html
>
> Well, what can I say? It's a great honor to be named in the title of
> one of Gene's compositions. I suppose my next instrumental piece will
> have to be called "Superlative Smith" now.

Sounds good to me! Better get cracking on it.

Or maybe a praise song?
>
> Oh Gene Ward Smith, the master of mathematics
> His crazy sounds enrage the geriatrics
> With groups both abelian and free
> Though it may not be your cup of tea
> One look his wedgies will knock you down
> In the land of the lattice he wears the crown
>
> Yes, coming on nicely...

Are the singers going to use headphones, or do without?

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> Are the singers going to use headphones, or do without?

I don't want the technology to get in the way of the performance. Each singer will be provided with a traditional slide rule with which to calculate the pitch they should be singing in at any given instant. Hence, this will be a form of "computer music".

Graham

>It's called Bodacious Breed and is on the page for my own
>compositions:
>
>http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/gene.html
>
>A direct download link is
>
>http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/ogg/gene/bodacious.ogg
>
>This is in the 2401/2400-planar ("Breed") temperament, which I tuned
>using 441-equal (so Joe can put me down as advocating that if he
>likes.) The scale is a 3x3x3 cubic array of tetrads, which is the
>natural next step from the stellated hexany. Besides being
>harmonically far richer, it has a very different character, being
>strongly tonal. The tempering conflates 60/49 with 49/40, reducing
>the 32 notes of the scale to 31. Two opposite corners of the cube
>become harmonically linked in this way, a fact I make some use of.

Unlike Jon I make a practice of separating performance values from
composition (and artistic intent) when evaluating a piece of music.

I like this, and it seems somehow bigger in scale and grandeur than
your previous works. Maybe it's the reverb. :)

The orchestration could benefit from more subtlety, however, and
the piece seems more like an improvisation than a composition.

As always, I stick to my line that artistic criticism and feedback
are essentially useless to both artist and listener. But I've
always enjoyed criticism for some reason, perhaps as an art in
itself, and you sounded disappointed at the amount of comment on
your piece, so...

-Carl

Carl,

First off, welcome back from vacation!

{you wrote...}
>Unlike Jon I make a practice of separating performance values from >composition (and artistic intent) when evaluating a piece of music.

Maybe I wish I could, too. But life is short, and I don't like expend time listening to things that don't please me.

>As always, I stick to my line that artistic criticism and feedback are >essentially useless to both artist and listener.

Spoken as someone who is not a performer, I assume.

Cheers,
Jon

>First off, welcome back from vacation!

Thanks; I'd recommend it to anyone.

>>As always, I stick to my line that artistic criticism and
>>feedback are essentially useless to both artist and listener.
>
>Spoken as someone who is not a performer, I assume.

I'm a notoriously bad performer. I should have qualified the
above as applying only to composition.

-Carl

C,

{you wrote...}
>Thanks; I'd recommend it to anyone.

I'm going to have a 24-hr vacation later this week. Best I can do right now! :(

> >Spoken as someone who is not a performer, I assume.
>
>I'm a notoriously bad performer. I should have qualified the above as >applying only to composition.

Well, I didn't mean to 'out' you! I guess that is why performers like to get feedback loops going, so they can work on those rough edges. Anyhow, you really think composition can't benefit from constructive criticism/dissection/etc? I think there certainly are aspects that are so personal as to be outside of it, but other areas could almost always benefit from a friendly ear glancing over your shoulder (I would think).

Cheers,
Jon

>Anyhow,
>you really think composition can't benefit from constructive
>criticism/dissection/etc?

Kinda sorta, yeah. Composition is such a personal statement;
who can really tell you what you want to say? As for 'how to
say it', there really isn't any precise terminology for
describing musical structure. You can say limited stuff like
'the transition into the bridge is too abrupt', but that's
about the extent of it. What makes a piece of music great is,
despite the mathematical machinations of mice and men, a great
mystery. It's also personal and subjective. Many great works
met with bad reviews. We're lucky the greats had the insight
to ignore such reviews!

-Carl

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> I like this, and it seems somehow bigger in scale and grandeur than
> your previous works. Maybe it's the reverb. :)

Thanks!

> The orchestration could benefit from more subtlety, however, and
> the piece seems more like an improvisation than a composition.

I thought it had more direction than usual with me--striving for a
statement, wrapping things up and that sort of thing. I'm working on a
hopefully improved version.

> As always, I stick to my line that artistic criticism and feedback
> are essentially useless to both artist and listener. But I've
> always enjoyed criticism for some reason, perhaps as an art in
> itself, and you sounded disappointed at the amount of comment on
> your piece, so...

I wasn't sure anyone had even listened to it.

>> As always, I stick to my line that artistic criticism and feedback
>> are essentially useless to both artist and listener. But I've
>> always enjoyed criticism for some reason, perhaps as an art in
>> itself, and you sounded disappointed at the amount of comment on
>> your piece, so...
>
>I wasn't sure anyone had even listened to it.

I listen to *everything* on these lists, though sometimes it has to
wait a few days until I'm near some bandwidth (especially if I'm
on vacation).

-Carl

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> We're lucky the greats had the insight
> to ignore such reviews!

They didn't always. Schumann rewrote his fourth symphony in respose to
criticism, and some people starting with Brahms think that was a
mistake. (Brahms felt so strongly about this that even Clara Schumann
could not stop him from getting the first version finally
published.)The constant revising Bruckner did doesn't seem to have
made matters any better either. Even Beethoven responded to
criticism--his Opus 130 string quartet in the first version ended with
the Grosse Fugue; in response to his publisher asking for another
ending, he first flew into a rage and then wrote another, very
different but very beautiful last movement--about the last thing he wrote.

Gene,

{you wrote...}
>They didn't always. [snip]

Excellent insights, thanks for sharing that. As far as criticism, are you hip to Nicholas Slonimsky's "A Lexicon of Musical Invective"? If not, you'd love it!

Cheers,
Jon

>Even Beethoven responded to
>criticism--his Opus 130 string quartet in the first version ended with
>the Grosse Fugue; in response to his publisher asking for another
>ending, he first flew into a rage and then wrote another, very
>different but very beautiful last movement--about the last thing he
>wrote.

Probably the most famous magnum mistake of critics -- the Opus 133
is a serious contender for best piece of music ever written. Of
course it did spur B. into writing a replacement, so it wasn't
all bad.

-Carl

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> Probably the most famous magnum mistake of critics -- the Opus 133
> is a serious contender for best piece of music ever written. Of
> course it did spur B. into writing a replacement, so it wasn't
> all bad.

True enough. Of course otherwise maybe he could have finished the
first movement of the quintet.

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> I listen to *everything* on these lists, though sometimes it has to
> wait a few days until I'm near some bandwidth (especially if I'm
> on vacation).

That's nice to know. Actually, it seems I have another fan in Brian
Mclaren, who I think must have listened to 45000 Fingers. At least, I
can't figure out what else "Beethoven on a bad day played on
a piano that hasn't been tuned since the Nixon administration" could
possibly be referring to. Someone should tell the poor fellow that in
these parts we call it "microtonality" or "xenharmony" rather than
"out of tune 12-equal music", but it's good to draw a response. The
idea that my free music is of such quality that it is preventing
people from earning their living by selling albums of microtonal music
is particularly gratifying, since I know that can't possibly be true,
so no one is harmed; yet what an endorsement!

Gene,

{you wrote...}
>Actually, it seems I have another fan...

I love stream-of-conscious writing as much as the next person, but posting about events that no one else is aware of is pretty odd. If the 'review' of your work is somewhere out there on the net, either send a link or post it here (or meta). It is hard for anyone to draw conclusions with incomplete quotes, etc.

And: be careful.

Cheers,
Jon

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Jonathan M. Szanto"
<JSZANTO@A...> wrote:
> Gene,
>
> {you wrote...}
> >Actually, it seems I have another fan...
>
> I love stream-of-conscious writing as much as the next person, but
posting
> about events that no one else is aware of is pretty odd. If the
'review' of
> your work is somewhere out there on the net, either send a link or
post it
> here (or meta). It is hard for anyone to draw conclusions with
incomplete
> quotes, etc.

It's on crazy_music, and actually you get a mention also. I suppose I
could repost it to metatuning if there was a popular demand. Anyway,
while the charge my compositions on xenharmony are in 12-equal is a
curious one, I would be proud to be Beethoven on a bad day.

I'll not indulge in any flame wars here, if that is what has you worried.

Gene, you wrote...

> It's on crazy_music, ... I suppose I
> could repost it to metatuning if there was a popular demand.

Well now that you've gone and mentioned it, here's a URL for the source of
the quote:
/crazy_music/topicId_1263.html#1263

Oh, and here's something else related to that...
/crazy_music/topicId_1268.html#1268

But I am *SO* very glad to get away from whomever posted that message and
other similar messages. ;-) At least here people mostly just post stuff
related to music and pointers to music instead of lengthy ad-hominem
screeds.

I even do produce some music without insulting people on a grand scale.
But, release CDs? Huh? I don't release CDs. Nobody would buy 'em. Every CD
I put out is hand made and individualized. ;-)

Rick

G,

{you wrote...}
>It's on crazy_music, and actually you get a mention also.

Yow. A moribund list, even if owned by a talented and inspired musician. Wonders never cease.

>I suppose I could repost it to metatuning if there was a popular demand.

Not on my account.

>I would be proud to be Beethoven on a bad day.

Ah, go for a good day. :)

>I'll not indulge in any flame wars here, if that is what has you worried.

That wasn't my thought, but let's move this elsewhere, OK?

Cheers,
Jon