Re: Happy Birthday, Keenan Pepper!

Hello, there, everyone, and a special Happy Birthday to Keenan Pepper.

As suggested by Jon Wild, a setting of "Happy Birthday" which might
fit a neo-Gothic style could be one way of celebrating this occasion.
The following setting might fit your "Noble Fifth" temperament,
Keenan, and also (I would guess) any Gothic or neo-Gothic tuning from
Pythagorean to 22-tone equal temperament (22-tET).

Here C4 is middle C, and any convenient octave or absolute pitch
standard is fine. The numbers above the notes in this three voice
setting show beats in a 3/4 or 3/8 measure. As in the medieval
conductus, the melody is in the lowest part, with a bit of voice
crossing. Note that the choice of notes "D5/B4" in the middle voice at
the next to last measure means that D5 and/or B4 may be sung or
played, with an option to "divide" the part and sing or play both
notes if there are two or more people on this part, or on a keyboard.

3 & | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 & | 1 2 & 3 | 1 2
C5 C5 B4 C5 D5 E5 C5 C5 B4 C5 D5 E5 F5
G4 G4 A4 G4 A4 B4 G4 G4 A4 G4 B4 C5
C4 C4 D4 C4 F4 E4 C4 C4 D4 C4 G4 F4
Hap-py Birth-day to you___, Hap-py Birth-day to you___,

3 & | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 & | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 ||
C5 C5 G5 E5 C5 C5 D5 G5 G5 A5 F5 E5 F5
G4 G4 F4 A4 G4 B4 A4 D5 D5 E5 C5 D5/B4 C5
C4 C4 C5 A4 F4 E4 D4 Bb4 Bb4 A4 F4 G4 F4
Hap-py Birth-day, dear Kee-nan, Hap-py Birth-day to you.

For the setting of your name, Keenan, a "crunchy" sonority seemed in
order, thus E4-B4-C5 resolving to D4-A4-D5. While in the "Noble Fifth"
tuning the outer minor sixth might be a bit less crunchy at ~11:7, the
upper minor second should supply some strong "crunchiness," maybe even
more so at ~80 cents than in medieval Pythagorean (~90 cents).

As for that final cadence, in a three-part version I especially like
G4-D5-E5 with its outgoing major second before F4-C5-F5, but also like
G4-B4-E5 with the nice contrast to Bb in the previous measure. In
medieval terms, maybe I picture two different manuscripts, one with
each version. Additionally, as already mentioned, performers might
"have it both ways" by the option of a four-voice texture for this
cadence combining both alternatives, and featuring four directed
resolutions of unstable intervals by stepwise contrary motion:

E5 F5
D5 C5
B4 C5
G4 F4

(M6-8 + M3-5 + m3-1 + M2-4)

Jon's original request was for a ".MID file," which I guess might mean
a MIDI file in some computer format. For anyone who might want to try
such a project, here is a very unofficial SCALA file for a 12-note
version of the "Noble Fifth" tuning.

----------------- Scala file begins next line of text ----------------

! kpnobl12.scl
!
Keenan Pepper's "Noble Fifth" with chromatic/diatonic semitone = Phi (12)
12
!
128.669246 cents
208.191213 cents
287.713180 cents
416.382426 cents
495.904393 cents
624.573639 cents
704.095607 cents
832.764852 cents
912.286820 cents
991.808787 cents
1120.478033 cents
2/1

----------------- Scala file ends on previous line of text ------------

Anyway, Keenan, while this is a very quick arrangement, maybe it can
give some idea of what neo-Gothic music is like, when performed in
tunings ranging from Pythagorean to around 22-tET, including your
Noble Fifth tuning as one prime candidate.

Again, Happy Birthday, with much joy (musical and otherwise) in the
coming year.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@value.net

I think this is probably the best birthday present I am going to get. It
really ties together the random stuff I've learned about (neo-)gothic
polyphony. The melody being on the bottom is really wierd, though I suppose
there's really no reason for it to be on the top. It sounds wicked in a
chorus voice on my synth. In Robert Walker's midi, why is one note of the
penultimate chord in a different timbre?

Thanks sincerely,
Keenan P.