Re: free rhythm and free pitch

Hi there,

Just as one can have rhythm of metronomic exactness, and free rhythm
tending towards speech / poetry in its metre, one can have exact
microtonal pitches, and maybe free pitch.

I've been thinking about the performance / midi clips debates
we have at times.

A midi clip I think of as a score, but with more precise
tempi and dynamic markings than one would normally use as they
have to be exact, and with the luxury that one doesn't have to
be able to read music and hear it as one reads in order to hear it
- one can just hit the play button on ones score editing program,
or make a midi clip of it for anyone to listen to as I have done
on my tunes page.

Then one can have mp3 / other audio realisations, which I think
of as the performance side of things. Those may be pretty close
to the exact pitch, depending on hardware / software it is realised
on. Even then, pitch mightn't be as intended for one
reason or another (glitches intervene, or hardware limitations
in resolution, or whatever).

What though about someone performing a microtonal piece on an
acoustic instrument.

Some really gifted performers will be able to play
the exact pitches pretty much as written (to within a few
cents, or maybe even a single cent). Or one can add in some
electronic instruments / microtonal keyboard as support for
the other players.

However, more generally, how about htis idea. I think of a
microtonal piece in a particular tuning as inspired by
the temperament or scale. Somehow when composing in it,
the shape of the piece gets affected by the pitches in the
scale.

I've just posted about this particular idea to crazy_music
for those who are following the debates there.

Once finished, you have the piece, and a midi realisation
of it perhaps (or could be mp3) which a performer can listen
to to hear how it works. Then they can perform it.

But, just as a metronomic realisation of rhythm just gives
first idea of how rhythm goes in a piece, so a midi clip
microtonally tuned could be used the same way for pitch.

Of course on microtonally retuned keyboard one just plays the pitches
as shown.

However for other instruments, perhaps one can use the
original pitches as a general guide, as one does with
the beats for a rhythm, and then maybe one can then
intonate in a way that fits with the overall feel /
intention / idea of the piece. Basically at that point,
if it works, then it is okay I think.

Even on microtonal keyboard, one can pitch bend
the notes, and abitility to do that more may be
a nice thing to add (how about having multiple
midi controllers, with each one micro-adjusting the
pitch of one of the notes of the scale?)

Perhaps we can learn from the Indian Alaps too,
and the other traditions that use microtonal
bending of notes.

May be an interesting point for debate anyway,...

Robert