new piece

Here's a new piece I've written for alto sax and recorded computer music.

It's in what I'd call "CJI" -- Crystallizing Just Intonation -- the sax
plays in 12-tet, but the chords in the recorded part "crystallize" around
the sax notes in Just sonorities. It's 13-limit for the most part.
though I don't really think about limits in this context. . .for a given
swath of the recorded part, I'd write, for example, "Around G# as 5/4
of E" . . so then I'd use 12-tet G#, and B would be 6/5, D, 7/5, etc. etc.
In the music, the sax would typically be holding or emphasizing a G# at
this point. then a measure or two later, the sax would move on, and
the recorded part would crystallize around a different 12-tet pitch. A
few sections are "atonal" more or less, so are just in straight-ahead
12-tet.

Anyways. . . .

This is a MIDI demo with a "piano" sound doing the sax, as I can't deal
with MIDI sax timbres:

http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/sounds/w.sax.mp3

The thing will hopefully be performed live in NYC in September.

C B

does/will the sax( piano) trigger the accompanying parts , or is it pre determined. O I guess i am asking if the as will be determining the accompaniment by where they decide to hold.
it is basically rotating a 13 limit diamond to various 12 Et degrees? /

I remember Ivor had an organ that when you held a chord , they would all correct themselves. it was very very crude ( as most of ivor thing's deliberately where, but one could hear the beats going away.)

Christopher Bailey wrote:

>Here's a new piece I've written for alto sax and recorded computer music.
>
>It's in what I'd call "CJI" -- Crystallizing Just Intonation -- the sax >plays in 12-tet, but the chords in the recorded part "crystallize" around
>the sax notes in Just sonorities. It's 13-limit for the most part. >though I don't really think about limits in this context. . .for a given >swath of the recorded part, I'd write, for example, "Around G# as 5/4 >of E" . . so then I'd use 12-tet G#, and B would be 6/5, D, 7/5, etc. etc. >In the music, the sax would typically be holding or emphasizing a G# at >this point. then a measure or two later, the sax would move on, and >the recorded part would crystallize around a different 12-tet pitch. A >few sections are "atonal" more or less, so are just in straight-ahead >12-tet.
>
>Anyways. . . .
>
>This is a MIDI demo with a "piano" sound doing the sax, as I can't deal
>with MIDI sax timbres: >
>http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/sounds/w.sax.mp3 >
>The thing will hopefully be performed live in NYC in September.
>
>
>C B >
>
>
>
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
> >
>
>
> >

--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 17:39:25 -0700
> From: Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>
> Subject: Re: new piece
>
> does/will the sax( piano) trigger the accompanying parts , or is it pre
> determined. O I guess i am asking if the as will be determining the
> accompaniment by where they decide to hold.

No it's not interactive. It's all written out. They just play in strict
12-tet, and things should work out.

Actually, you will hear that there
are places where the sax line is leaping all around while the harmony
holds in the background, here it gets off, and the player might inflect
some notes a bit.

For example, the sax might be emphasizing a G, and
the harmony in the recorded part is Eb-Bb-Db (forming a 4:5:6:7), but
then the sax might decorate the G with an occasional leap to various
tones, including a Db, which will be out of tune relative to the
recorded part. I find the beating somewhat charming myself, but I
wouldn't be averse to the player making an adjustment for it.

>
> it is basically rotating a 13 limit diamond to various 12 Et degrees? /
>

Yes that's the idea. . . .though actually, there are some 17, 19s in
there as well. (Though those are pretty close to 12-tet so I don't
emphasize them much.)

>
> I remember Ivor had an organ that when you held a chord , they would all
> correct themselves. it was very very crude ( as most of ivor thing's
> deliberately where, but one could hear the beats going away.)

Awesome! How did he pull that one off?

>
> Christopher Bailey wrote:
>
> >Here's a new piece I've written for alto sax and recorded computer music.
> >
> >It's in what I'd call "CJI" -- Crystallizing Just Intonation -- the sax
> >plays in 12-tet, but the chords in the recorded part "crystallize" around
> >the sax notes in Just sonorities. It's 13-limit for the most part.
> >though I don't really think about limits in this context. . .for a given
> >swath of the recorded part, I'd write, for example, "Around G# as 5/4
> >of E" . . so then I'd use 12-tet G#, and B would be 6/5, D, 7/5, etc. etc.
> >In the music, the sax would typically be holding or emphasizing a G# at
> >this point. then a measure or two later, the sax would move on, and
> >the recorded part would crystallize around a different 12-tet pitch. A
> >few sections are "atonal" more or less, so are just in straight-ahead
> >12-tet.
> >
> >Anyways. . . .
> >
> >This is a MIDI demo with a "piano" sound doing the sax, as I can't deal
> >with MIDI sax timbres:
> >
> >http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/sounds/w.sax.mp3
> >
> >The thing will hopefully be performed live in NYC in September.
> >
> >

Hi Chris,

I am listening to your piece for the second time. My player is set
on "repeat," so the end was immediately followed by the beginning
again. Ok, just now I turned "repeat" mode off.

I like this piece quite a lot. To me it sounds serious and yet
playful, "playfully serious" if that makes sense. I like the fact
that it sounds very 21st-century, and I cannot pigeonhole it easily
into any genre, although it sounds familiar (in the sense of
resembling previously-heard music and musical styles) at various
points. For me, it strkes a good balance between sounding novel and
sounding familiar, in ways that I don't directly link to your (very
effective) blending of ET and JI.

On the latter point, I think adding just harmonic accompaniment to
an essentially 12tET instrument and melody is a nice and reasonable
thing to do. I was of course trying to mentally substitute the sound
of a human-operated sax for the piano, and I think I did a
reasonable job of it, althoug the piano / MIDI version is nice in
its own right. (I can't think of any instances in which, for me,
MIDI has compared very well to a performance of the same piece by
musicians. Is that a pretty universal observation?) It would be cool
to hear the similarities and differences between the demo and the
piece performed as you intend.

Regards,
George

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Christopher Bailey
<chris@m...> wrote:
>
> Here's a new piece I've written for alto sax and recorded computer
music.
>
> It's in what I'd call "CJI" -- Crystallizing Just Intonation --
the sax
> plays in 12-tet, but the chords in the recorded
part "crystallize" around
> the sax notes in Just sonorities. It's 13-limit for the most
part.
> though I don't really think about limits in this context. . .for a
given
> swath of the recorded part, I'd write, for example, "Around G#
as 5/4
> of E" . . so then I'd use 12-tet G#, and B would be 6/5, D,
7/5, etc. etc.
> In the music, the sax would typically be holding or emphasizing a
G# at
> this point. then a measure or two later, the sax would move
on, and
> the recorded part would crystallize around a different 12-tet
pitch. A
> few sections are "atonal" more or less, so are just in straight-
ahead
> 12-tet.
>
> Anyways. . . .
>
> This is a MIDI demo with a "piano" sound doing the sax, as I
can't deal
> with MIDI sax timbres:
>
> http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/sounds/w.sax.mp3
>
> The thing will hopefully be performed live in NYC in September.
>
>
> C B

>
> From: "George Henry" <cruithnelaluna@...>
>Subject: Re: new piece
>
>Hi Chris,>
>
>I am listening to your piece for the second time. My player is set
>
>points. For me, it strkes a good balance between sounding novel and
>sounding familiar, in ways that I don't directly link to your (very
>effective) blending of ET and JI.
>
>
>
>On the latter point, I think adding just harmonic accompaniment to
>an essentially 12tET instrument and melody is a nice and reasonable
>thing to do.

Thanks for listening!

The supposition is that we like the structural possibilities of Equal
Temperaments, (and the elegance of those possibilities in a
lower-cardinality (i.e. from a certain point of view, 72 or even 31 tones
is just too much . . . )) but we like the sounds of Just Tuning.

This is just one more way to have our cake and eat it too.

>
> http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/sounds/w.sax.mp3
>
>

>
> Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 15:28:17 -0700
> From: Jon Szanto <jszanto@...>
>Subject: Re: new piece
>
>
>Chris,
>

>Sorry it took me a couple of days to write back, but thanks for sharing
>your latest. I think, in this instance, I would be *especially*
>interested
>in hearing a performance, so that there was more sonic difference between
>the sax and it's interaction with the electronics. I'll look forward to
>that particular 'document'.
>

I always have been more trusting of hearing, for example, a sax line on
the piano, rather than on a MIDI sax-sound, as a way of "checking how it
will sort of sound when it's finished." Somehow, I'm more easily able to
substitute, in my mind, the sound of the real instrument when the "test"
instrument is the piano.

>
>But what I really want to say (and, I guess, thank you for) is your
>continued use of such a wide palette of sound events in a musical
>construction. So often lip service it paid to the concept of expanded
>

Some of them are from my Roland XV3080, (the held, droney stuff), and
other sounds are synthesized using my own quirky little "virtual
instruments". Including a motley collection of guitar samples, very
uneven and unclean, which I like for precisely those characteristics.

Synth makers go to great lengths to give you a very "neutral" sound
palette, as I suppose they should. But I like constructing my own synths
where I'm not exactly sure what it's going to give me when I ask for a
certain pitch at a certain loudness, etc. The other thing is that my own
instruments don't "loop", but do a kind of granular synthesis, which
means every long note, even on the same pitch and loudness, is different
from every other loud note.

CB

Chris-

this is cool....listening now...love the computer part esp..

i picture ussachevsky and la monte young sitting down for a glass of iced tea
at a french cafe. (maybe it's the accordian-ness of that main sustained
sound) while strange alien insects from andromeda keep interrupting them
rudely by flying into their ears and expoding micro-laser probes. at the end
they bow their heads with their hats at their chest, and have a moment of
silence for the insects that they have succesfully squashed.

(i laughed i cried, it was better than 'cats').

now some 'keyboard magazine' type questions: tell us about your gear? when
did you buy your gear? how does you roadie trigger those neat samples halfway
through? do your prefer the old moogs, or softsynths? is that the yamaha-x5d1
triggering the p-200, or the reverse?

sorry, i've lost it completely. need more sleep i think. do you want me to
write descriptive program notes, moment by moment, for the premiere?

-aaron.

On Thursday 21 July 2005 6:21 pm, Christopher Bailey wrote:
> Here's a new piece I've written for alto sax and recorded computer music.
>
> It's in what I'd call "CJI" -- Crystallizing Just Intonation -- the sax
> plays in 12-tet, but the chords in the recorded part "crystallize" around
> the sax notes in Just sonorities. It's 13-limit for the most part.
> though I don't really think about limits in this context. . .for a given
> swath of the recorded part, I'd write, for example, "Around G# as 5/4
> of E" . . so then I'd use 12-tet G#, and B would be 6/5, D, 7/5, etc.
> etc. In the music, the sax would typically be holding or emphasizing a G#
> at this point. then a measure or two later, the sax would move on, and
> the recorded part would crystallize around a different 12-tet pitch. A few
> sections are "atonal" more or less, so are just in straight-ahead 12-tet.
>
> Anyways. . . .
>
> This is a MIDI demo with a "piano" sound doing the sax, as I can't deal
> with MIDI sax timbres:
>
> http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/sounds/w.sax.mp3
>
> The thing will hopefully be performed live in NYC in September.
>
>
> C B
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Christopher Bailey <chris@m...>
wrote:
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 17:39:25 -0700
> > From: Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@a...>
> > Subject: Re: new piece
> >
> > does/will the sax( piano) trigger the accompanying parts

***I'm finding it difficult to imagine Chris' piece with the sax
instead of the piano, but I'm looking forward to a performance
recording. Interesting project for sure! Congrats!

J. Pehrson

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Christopher Bailey
<chris@m...> wrote:
> >
> > Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 15:28:17 -0700
> > From: Jon Szanto <jszanto@c...>
> >Subject: Re: new piece
> >
> >
> >Chris,
> >
>
> >Sorry it took me a couple of days to write back, but thanks for
sharing
> >your latest. I think, in this instance, I would be *especially*
> >interested
> >in hearing a performance, so that there was more sonic difference
between
> >the sax and it's interaction with the electronics. I'll look
forward to
> >that particular 'document'.
> >
>
> I always have been more trusting of hearing, for example, a sax
line on
> the piano, rather than on a MIDI sax-sound, as a way of "checking
how it
> will sort of sound when it's finished." Somehow, I'm more easily
able to
> substitute, in my mind, the sound of the real instrument when
the "test"
> instrument is the piano.
>

***Hi Chris,

Why, of course, since that's the way we always "used" to do it!
Remember when we used to have to play our scores back at the
piano? :) (I'm dating myself...)

But, naturally, that's for the *composer* to do since you're *inside*
the piece, and see the score, etc.

It's harder for the listener to immediately *grok* that, IMHO...

I second Jon's enthusiasm about the broad palette.

J. Pehrson

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Aaron Krister Johnson
<aaron@a...> wrote:
>
> Chris-
>
> this is cool....listening now...love the computer part esp..
>
> i picture ussachevsky and la monte young sitting down for a glass
of iced tea
> at a french cafe. (maybe it's the accordian-ness of that main
sustained
> sound) while strange alien insects from andromeda keep interrupting
them
> rudely by flying into their ears and expoding micro-laser probes.
at the end
> they bow their heads with their hats at their chest, and have a
moment of
> silence for the insects that they have succesfully squashed.
>

***Hi Aaron...

As they said in that now-forgotten movie... "I'll have what (s)he's
having..."

JP