MIDI: Piece for European Union (Thanks, Mark!)

Hello, everyone, and my special thanks to Mark Gould, whose suggestion
for a "European Follow-On" moved me to compose this piece: _O Europae
domus communis_ ("O common house of Europe").

<http://www.calweb.com/~mschulter/o_europ1.mid>

Since the music ties in with the text, I'm providing a very crude ASCII
score, and also an English translation. While there are some aesthetic
and compositional points I might discuss, maybe it would be better to
let people listen first and give their own reactions.

Suffice it for now to say that whatever merit this little piece might
have owes a lot to such classics as the Missa Tournai, for example,
and also to the tradition of a piece such as a motet composed for an
occasion of state.

My apologies, of course, for any errata or glitches in the MIDI or the
score.

A note on the tuning system: this is Peppermint 24, something with
which I'm familiar, although I _do_ intend to write a piece in 25-tET
also as you proposed. My keyboard notation, as usual, has an asterisk
sign (*) to show a note on the upper keyboard raised by ~58.68 cents.
Here the piece is centered on the upper keyboard in order to obtain
the desired intervals.

In vocal performance, obviously, singers would approximate rather than
precisely follow this intonational model, and indeed might sing some
pure or closer-to-pure fifths where Peppermint has them tempered about
2.14 cents wide.

Composing this piece has been quite an experience, and thank you,
Mark, for helping to make it possible and providing that creative and
catalytic impetus to "make micro music."

* * *

! _O Europae domus communis_, song to celebreate expansion of European
! Union, composed 1-4 May 2004.

! Composition for three voices in Peppermint 24, a tuning system where the
! ratio between the sizes in cents of the chromatic and diatonic semitones
! is equal to Phi (~1.618), with fifths at about 704.096 cents. Two
! 12-note chains in this regular temperament are placed at a distance
! of around 58.680 cents, producing some pure 7:6 minor thirds.

! Basic rhythm is 6/8, with dotted quarter or crotchet as beat or tactus
! Suggested tempo around 80-85 beats per minute (MIDI has 83-1/3)

! Numbers above notes count main beats (two per measure), with
! subdivision into eighths/quavers shown in relevant measures;
! a comma in this line indicates a pause in the phrasing. Please note
! that notes are generally sustained until the next note indicated
! in that part or the end of the piece.

| 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 |
F*4 F*4 E*4 F*4 D*4 E*4 F*4 G*4 A*4 Bb*4
C*4 C*4 B*3 C*4 D*4 E*4 F*4
F*3 F*3 G*3 F*3 Bb*3 C*4 D*4
O Eu- ro- pae do- mus com-

1 2 3 4 5 6 | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
1 2 | 1 2, | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 |
A*4 G*4 G*4 F*4 A*4 A*4 G*4 F*4 E*4 D*4 E*4 F*4
E*4 D*4 E*4 E*4 D*4 C*4 B*3 C*4
C*4 Bb*3 A*3 C*4 Bb*3 A*3 G*3 F*3
mu - nis am- pli- fi- ca- ta,

| 1 2 3 4 5 6 | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2,|
F*4 G*4 F*4 E*4 D*4 F*4 F*4 G*4 A*4 A*4 G*4 G*4 F*4 A*4
C*4 D*4 C*4 B*3 C*4 C*4 D*4 E*4 D*4 D*4 E*4
F*3 A*4 G*3 G*3 F*3 A*3 Bb*3 C*4 Bb*3 Bb*3 A*3
O _ Gal - li - a vox no- bi- lis- si- ma

| 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 |
A*4 G*4 G4 G*4 G*4 F*4 E*4 D*4 E*4 F*4
E*4 D*4 D4 D*4 D*4 E*4 D*4 C*4 B*3 C*4
C*4 Bb*3 A*3 G*3 G*3 F*3
que - ru- lae pa- cis:

(duplets)
1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 + | 1 2 | 1 2 |
E*4 E*4 E4 E*4 F*4 F*4 F*4 E*4 F*4 F4
A*3 A*3 B*3 A*3 D4 D4 D4 D4 D4 D*4
A*3 A*3 A3 A*3 A*3 A*3 A*3 A*3 A*3 Bb3
Ex du- me- to il- la- que- an- te bel-

| 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2, | 1 2 |
F4 F*4 F*4 F*4 G*4 A*4 A*4 G*4
C*4 C4 C*4 Bb*3 D*4 D*4 D*4 E*4 E*4 D*4
Bb3 Bb*3 Bb*3 Bb*3 Bb*3 A*3 A*3 A*3
lis du- ci- te nos Ut prae-

1 2 3 4 5 6 | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
1 2 | 1 2, | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 |
G4 E*4 G4 G*4 A*4 G*4 G*4 G*4 F*4 E*4
D4 B*3 D4 D*4 D*4 D*4 E*4 E*4 D*4
A*3 A*3 G*3 G*3 G*3 G*3
va- le - at con - cor -

1 2 | 1 2 ||
D*4 E*4 F*4
C*4 B*3 C*4
G*3 F*3
- di - a.

"O common house of Europe enlarged,
O France, most noble voice of imploring peace:
Out of the entangling thicket of war, lead us
So that concord may prevail."

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@...

Margo,

More comments if it seem apropos, but for now...

You return in exactly the same spirit you left: sharing, making music, always focusing your energy in positive ways.

So *very* good to have you online again!

Cheers,
Jon

On Wed, 5 May 2004 kraig grady wrote
>
> somehow when i clicked on this i got a series of clicks. does anyone
> know why

Hi, there, Kraig, and thank you for calling to my attention a possible
glitch in my file of a kind which has been known to affect some MIDI
devices. If Jon's helpful comments don't address or solve your specific
problem, or for others with sound cards, etc., where this known glitch
might cause a problem, I've produced another MIDI file where unisons
between two voices are sounded in only one voice:

<http://www.calweb.com/~mschulter/o_euro1b.mid>

With some devices, it seems, having two "Note On" messages for the same
note can get treated as a "Note On" almost immediately followed by a "Note
Off," abruptly cutting off the note. Thus I've removed one of the notes at
such places -- fortunately, in this piece, only a few -- to avoid such
problems.

Kraig, if this were a source of the difficulties you were having, I would
expect it to occur in the middle of the piece, since that is where these
unisons occur; if it was happening at the beginning, for example, we might
look to another cause, for example as in Jon's suggestions.

Jon, thank you for your warm and encouraging comments, as always, and also
for your technical insights so aptly applied to the practical goal of
"making micro music."

While this ties in with another thread where I might offer some further
comments, for now I will mention that Guenter Nagler's midi2txt utility
for converting a MIDI file to readable text of the commands which can be
proofread has been very helpful for proofreading the MIDI output I get
from the Scala EXAMPLE feature -- not to mention Manuel Op de Coul's
Scala! As has been commented elsewhere, it's appropriate early and often
to let it be known that these programs are useful and appreciated.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@...

Hello, everyone, and please let me thank Kraig, Jon, Rick,
Christopher, and others for showing that "making micro music" is a
question of sharing our skills and generosity, that solving practical
problems of a technical nature is at once a part of this process and a
very significant arena for this generosity, and that this forum is a
wonderful opportunity to help each other.

Of course, Kraig, I'm delighted that your problem got solved -- and that
reminds me, I can and should write a review of that beautiful CD that you
sent me. That's one of my next projects, after offering a few comments on
Bill's _Xentonality_ to go with what others have shared, and especially on
my curious and very pleasant response to the _ Turquoise Dabo Girl_ piece
in 11-tET.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@...