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Chord Notation

🔗Keenan Pepper <mtpepper@prodigy.net>

5/27/2000 7:14:46 AM

Just wondering, does anyone know of an alternate chord notation for
utonal/otonal chords? For instance, a C dominant seventh chord "C7" could be
written "1/1-O7" for tonic otonal 7-limit (assuming of course the key of C).
Something like this would be very helpful both in "translating" existing
works into JI and composing improvizational JI music. Here's an explanation
of my notation I've been using for a while, but that I'd be happy to change
if I found a preexisting one.

The root of the chord is stated as a ratio relatice to the "key" or
fundamental, followed by a dash and a letter "O" or "U" for otonal or
utonal, followed by the odd limit of the chord. If an identity is missing it
is written after it with a slash through it, eg. "1/1-O7 /3" for that
dominant seventh without a fifth. If, on the other hand, an identity is
present that is much greater that the limit of the rest of the chord, it is
written in parenthesis, eg. "1/1-O5 (15)" for a major seventh chord. These
procedures can be repeated and combined to yield things like "1/1-O5 /3
(25)" for an augmented "stack of thirds", "1/1-O7 /1" for a 5:6:7
diminished, and "1/1-O7 /5 (21)" for an interesting chord I dicovered the
other day (try it!).

Stay Tuned,
Keenan P.

P.S. That utonal>otonal cadence commented on in "What am I listening to??
[huh??]" would be "9/8-U9>1/1-O9", and is a very powerful cadence indeed,
with separations of 36/35 on the critical identities of 5 and 7 (9/7>5/4 and
9/5>7/4).