CPS vs scales

> I hope to put i up my Xenharmonikon article on the CPS's. A small point
though,
> Wilson does not concider the CPS's as scales but as harmonic constructs.
He uses
> the term scale only in reference to a melodic construct as outlined in
his Moment
> of Symetries.

Kraig-
You've made this point before. Could you elaborate a little? How do you
actually use CPS in your music? Do you use MOS-like melodic subsets for
melody? Or ignore melody and just move around chords? Add extra tones to
hexanies to create more scale-like melodic structures? What? Is there
some way that CPS (harmonic) and MOS (melodic) structures can coincide?
Just curious.

Kris Peck wrote,

>Is there
>some way that CPS (harmonic) and MOS (melodic) structures can coincide?

I found it remarkable that the "constant structures" (not MOS but discussed
in my post a few hours ago) scale on Kraig's 22-tone instruments
(http://www.anaphoria.com/musinst.html) turned out to be a 1,3,7,9,11,15
eikosany plus only two extra notes. However, I would say that CPSs based on
consecutive odd integers seem more desirable from a harmonic standpoint --
skipping 5 but including 15 seems counterproductive except for the neat
melodic near-coincidence with 22-CS (Constant Structures).

If I'm not mistaken, http://www.anaphoria.com/trans22.html shows three more
22-CS just scales.

Kris Peck wrote:

>
> Kraig-
> You've made this point before. Could you elaborate a little? How do you
> actually use CPS in your music?

There is usually some aspect of the CPS I wish to explore in each piece. Like
one piece might concentrate on tetrads, another on hexanies, another on a
particular pattern. In most cases I have an assumption as to what this will
sound like

> Do you use MOS-like melodic subsets for
> melody?

yes, almost all scales I use are MOS derived, but the chain of modulations
seems to be a much stronger force.

> Or ignore melody and just move around chords?

when on a single chord, I draw as much melody out of it as I can. Since these
chords are 4 note chords in the eikosany, I many times add a fifth note to
make a pentatonic.

> Add extra tones to
> hexanies to create more scale-like melodic structures?

There aren't too many scales that contain hexanies. When using hexanies, its
properties of opposites prevail. If you start adding too many notes, the very
structure can get lost. This might be good in some cases though, even
desirable but haven't gotten there yet myself.

> What? Is there
> some way that CPS (harmonic) and MOS (melodic) structures can coincide?

Hopefully if one extends ones CPS to form a constant structure, they coincide
without having to think about it. The problem is solved A priori

>
> Just curious.

No it is a good question, and i am sure there is a myriad of ways to work with
these structures, These structures though determine what happens to a large
extent.

"Paul H. Erlich" wrote:

>
>
> I found it remarkable that the "constant structures" (not MOS but discussed
> in my post a few hours ago) scale on Kraig's 22-tone instruments
> (http://www.anaphoria.com/musinst.html) turned out to be a 1,3,7,9,11,15
> eikosany plus only two extra notes. However, I would say that CPSs based on
> consecutive odd integers seem more desirable from a harmonic standpoint --
> skipping 5 but including 15 seems counterproductive except for the neat
> melodic near-coincidence with 22-CS (Constant Structures).

That is where I started, the 1-3-5-7-9-11 eikosany , which requires 31 tones
to form a CS. Dallesandro (see Wilson's Article) is probably the best filling
of this space. It contains 2 1-3-7-9-11-15 eikosanies. one of which there
was a vibraphone in. I found this 22 tone subset easier to work with due to
less notes. When you are building instruments, size and space can become a
problem. The 22 allowed me to move around much easier. The tetrads seem more
melodically rich. If one is playing over a tetrad it is nice to have an
interval in the semitone range. With the 1-3-5-7-9-11 eikosany, the 12/11 is
the smallest interval. There are other things, like with the 15 Eikosany the
tritone remains a dissonance at least structurally, if not acoustically. But
yes, I followed your train of thought originally.

>

>
> If I'm not mistaken, http://www.anaphoria.com/trans22.html shows three more
> 22-CS just scales.
>
> .

>

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com