"Enigma" Assignment

Chris Vaisvil suggested this composition exercise on XAII on Facebook. Sorry, Prof, that I am so late handing in (and at the wrong pigeon hole, too).

This attempt is not very avant garde (Chris's words about Andrew Heathwaite's) - but it is not 12-edo (honest).

http://soundcloud.com/martinsj013/enigma-assignment

Steve M.

What Steve is referring to, for those of you not on facebook, was a request
by a few memebers to start to learn some composition theory that was made
on the Xewnharmonic Alliance II facebook group. The assignment was

Assignment 1 - instructions - transcribe the Enigma theme by Edward Elgar
into any un12 equal tuning system you wish to use. Goal - it must be
recognizable. Assignment 2 - repeat the theme four times - once solo, then
harmonized with another line (2 voice), two more lines, and finally 4
lines. Every other parameter is free. http://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Enigma_theme.png/798px-Enigma_theme.pngFor the
pieces with posted scores I pointed out some compositional practices used
by the composer, such as Andrew Heathwaite using 2 against 3 against 5
groupings almost every measure of his 3rd variation.

I said Andrew's was the most avant garde of those posted at the time. So
Steve, since yours was not posted when I said my comment, I'm puzzled as to
why you are bringing this up.

Chris

On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 3:34 AM, martinsj013 <martinsj@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> Chris Vaisvil suggested this composition exercise on XAII on Facebook.
> Sorry, Prof, that I am so late handing in (and at the wrong pigeon hole,
> too).
>
> This attempt is not very avant garde (Chris's words about Andrew
> Heathwaite's) - but it is not 12-edo (honest).
>
> http://soundcloud.com/martinsj013/enigma-assignment
>
> Steve M.
>
>
>

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "martinsj013" <martinsj@...> wrote:
>
> Chris Vaisvil suggested this composition exercise on XAII on Facebook. Sorry, Prof, that I am so late handing in (and at the wrong pigeon hole, too).
>
> This attempt is not very avant garde (Chris's words about Andrew Heathwaite's) - but it is not 12-edo (honest).
>
> http://soundcloud.com/martinsj013/enigma-assignment

I like it; it sounds like you're using "standard" diatonic/chromatic tonality in a superpyth-like tuning?

BTW, I can tell that your software is using MIDI pitch bends all on the same channel to implement the microtonality, because whenever one pitch leads directly into another pitch, the decay of the first pitch slides to some other weird pitch that's not in your intended tuning. To solve this problem, either (preferably) avoid using pitch bend altogether and use some other means to set up your microtonal scale, or, if there's no way around using pitch bends, then make sure that each pitch has time to decay without any other pitch bends occurring on the same channel. If you use pitch bend then consecutive notes on the same channel have to be well-separated in time.

Keenan

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
> I said Andrew's was the most avant garde of those posted at the time. So
> Steve, since yours was not posted when I said my comment, I'm puzzled as to
> why you are bringing this up.

Hi Chris,
I was only trying to find a light-hearted way to make an excuse for the fact that my piece does not really escape 12-et or common practice in the slightest. Unlike Andrew's - or Gene's which I've just heard on Facebook - wow!

Steve M.

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Keenan Pepper" <keenanpepper@...> wrote:
> I like it; it sounds like you're using "standard" diatonic/chromatic tonality in a superpyth-like tuning?

Thank you; I have tried it in superpyth but actually it is based on a lattice of 2:3 combined with 6:7 ratios. In the end I used 14 different pitches within the octave. Or so I thought ...

> BTW, I can tell that your software is using MIDI pitch bends all on the same channel to implement the microtonality, because whenever one pitch leads directly into another pitch, the decay of the first pitch slides to some other weird pitch that's not in your intended tuning. To solve this problem, either (preferably) avoid using pitch bend altogether and use some other means to set up your microtonal scale, or, if there's no way around using pitch bends, then make sure that each pitch has time to decay without any other pitch bends occurring on the same channel. If you use pitch bend then consecutive notes on the same channel have to be well-separated in time.

Argh; thanks for pointing that out. I should have realised (but then it took a while for me to detect and correct an Ab instead of a G# in the final chord!) I will have to look at how to fix this (I am using Scala). I am also not happy with the sound font.

Steve M.

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "martinsj013" <martinsj@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Chris,
> I was only trying to find a light-hearted way to make an excuse for the fact that my piece does not really escape 12-et or common practice in the slightest. Unlike Andrew's - or Gene's which I've just heard on Facebook - wow!

Thanks Steve--always nice to know a piece rates a "wow".

Hmm .. I only found about about this 'assignment' over the Christmas break - there are certainly some interesting possible counterthemes.

- Enigma theme counterpoints itself perfectly in canon at the 5th below with a quarter-note delay

- The first two entries of Bach's G minor Fugue from 'Book 1 of the 48' fit pretty well perfectly below the theme

- The subject of Bach's G minor Fugue from 'Book 2' is extremely similar to 'Enigma' in its intervals, and also works as a counterpoint when speeded up and transformed into 4/4

- The opening theme of Brahms' 4th symphony transposed to G minor also counterpoints the first 3 bars of Enigma perfectly

Dunno if this suggests any connection with tuning though...

~~~T~~~

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "genewardsmith" wrote:
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "martinsj013" wrote:
> >
> > Hi Chris,
> > I was only trying to find a light-hearted way to make an excuse for the fact that my piece does not really escape 12-et or common practice in the slightest. Unlike Andrew's - or Gene's which I've just heard on Facebook - wow!
>
> Thanks Steve--always nice to know a piece rates a "wow".
>