Nicolas Slonimsky interview

Well, I really am anxious to get back to the Tuning List again. Last
night, I had some kind of weird dream in which I had discovered some
scales for someone using LOG MOD arithmetic. Maybe it was
determining frequencies... dunno. Was Monzo ever discussing LOGs in
conjunction with MODulus arithmetic in determining scales? I was
very positive in my dream-like state that I knew absolutely what this
was all about.

This is, essentially, a symptom of too much Tuning List cold turkey,
and a bad time of year for it, at that...

On the other hand, in addition to my usual lunacy and composing, I
did manage to read 5 (well, actually 4.5... since I'm not done) books
by the venerable Nicolas Slonimsky who, despite his "perfect pitch,"
was frequently very positive toward microtonality, especially just
intonation. Such thoughts run through many of his writings.

But, Slonimsky, besides being a "new music person" extraordinare, was
also quite an iconoclast, which led to his friendship and association
with Frank Zappa. They actually got along quite well, partially
through their mutual enthusiasm for the music of Edgar Varese.

In any case, I had the good fortune to have the opportunity to
interview Slonimsky's daughter Electra, and the audio interview is
now on the Internet here:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=446488

Joseph Pehrson

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
>
> Well, I really am anxious to get back to the Tuning List again. Last
> night, I had some kind of weird dream in which I had discovered some
> scales for someone using LOG MOD arithmetic.

This actually exists, and could no doubt be applied to scale theory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrete_logarithm

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...> wrote:
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> >
> > Well, I really am anxious to get back to the Tuning List again.
Last
> > night, I had some kind of weird dream in which I had discovered
some
> > scales for someone using LOG MOD arithmetic.
>
> This actually exists, and could no doubt be applied to scale theory:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrete_logarithm
>

***Someone has been invading my brain in the middle of the night... but
I take it as a good sign! :)

JP

JP,

Welcome back!

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> In any case, I had the good fortune to have the opportunity to
> interview Slonimsky's daughter Electra, and the audio interview is
> now on the Internet here:
>
> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=446488

This is extraordinary! Is there any way to download the entire
interview in one piece? (I realize I could save each mp3 as a
'chapter'). I've long admired and been fascinated by NS, going
actually back to high school. I fear there aren't (m)any friends of
new music these days the way he was in his time.

In case your interviews whet people's NS appetite, there is a
treasure-trove of recordings produced by Charles Amirkhanian of Open
Minds, from the archives of KPFA and KPFK. The Internet Archive search
yields this page of 10 interviews:

http://tinyurl.com/dmym9

Cheers,
Jon

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Jon Szanto" <jszanto@c...> wrote:
>
> JP,
>
> Welcome back!
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...>
wrote:
> > In any case, I had the good fortune to have the opportunity to
> > interview Slonimsky's daughter Electra, and the audio interview
is
> > now on the Internet here:
> >
> > http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=446488
>
> This is extraordinary! Is there any way to download the entire
> interview in one piece? (I realize I could save each mp3 as a
> 'chapter'). I've long admired and been fascinated by NS, going
> actually back to high school. I fear there aren't (m)any friends of
> new music these days the way he was in his time.
>
> In case your interviews whet people's NS appetite, there is a
> treasure-trove of recordings produced by Charles Amirkhanian of Open
> Minds, from the archives of KPFA and KPFK. The Internet Archive
search
> yields this page of 10 interviews:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/dmym9
>
> Cheers,
> Jon
>

***Hi Jon,

I deliberately kept the segments separate according to topic so that
people with slower internet connections wouldn't have problems
downloading them... This plus the fact that SoundClick will only
give me free space for files of 10MB max. Anything else gets cut off
anyway... !

Thanks for finding the Amirkhanian materials on Other Minds! I knew
that Other Minds was archiving things, but I had absolutely no idea
that this stuff was there. Very valuable.

Thanks again!

JP

JP,

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> I deliberately kept the segments separate according to topic so that
> people with slower internet connections ...

Yes, that is very good of you. It won't be a problem to snag them all,
was just asking.

> Thanks for finding the Amirkhanian materials on Other Minds! I knew
> that Other Minds was archiving things, but I had absolutely no idea
> that this stuff was there. Very valuable.

I'm not sure about the exact connection between them and this other
organization (the Internet Archive), but if you go to the OpenMinds
site and just do a registration (no fee) I believe you can go directly
into their archives with a search. Charles has created a pretty cool
org up there in the Bay area!

Cheers,
Jon

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
>
> Well, I really am anxious to get back to the Tuning List again.
Last
> night, I had some kind of weird dream in which I had discovered
some
> scales for someone using LOG MOD arithmetic. Maybe it was
> determining frequencies... dunno. Was Monzo ever discussing LOGs
in
> conjunction with MODulus arithmetic in determining scales?

Maybe, but certainly not just him.

> I was
> very positive in my dream-like state that I knew absolutely what
this
> was all about.

You probably do. In calculating the 53-note Pythagorean scale
yesterday, for example, I started with the set of frequencies {3^-26,
3^-25, . . . , 3^25, 3^26}; then used the log operation to convert
all the pitches to cents, and then used the mod operation (mod 1200)
to bring all the pitches into 1 octave. I'm sure you've gone through
this process before yourself, knowingly or otherwise.

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<wallyesterpaulrus@y...> wrote:
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...>
wrote:
> >
> > Well, I really am anxious to get back to the Tuning List again.
> Last
> > night, I had some kind of weird dream in which I had discovered
> some
> > scales for someone using LOG MOD arithmetic. Maybe it was
> > determining frequencies... dunno. Was Monzo ever discussing LOGs
> in
> > conjunction with MODulus arithmetic in determining scales?
>
> Maybe, but certainly not just him.
>
> > I was
> > very positive in my dream-like state that I knew absolutely what
> this
> > was all about.
>
> You probably do. In calculating the 53-note Pythagorean scale
> yesterday, for example, I started with the set of frequencies {3^-
26,
> 3^-25, . . . , 3^25, 3^26}; then used the log operation to convert
> all the pitches to cents, and then used the mod operation (mod
1200)
> to bring all the pitches into 1 octave. I'm sure you've gone
through
> this process before yourself, knowingly or otherwise.
>

***Hi Paul!

Thanks for providing the usual clarity about things. Yes, I have
gone through this, maybe with a little assistance here and there. I
don't even think it was really all that complicated... So, that's
what I was remembering! Amazing what's actually lurking in the
recesses of the mind... I'm anxious to get back here, after I finish
my Slonimsky phase, since there is much to do. Szanto has found some
great composing tools so I may be back in my "candy store" approach
of explorations, and can start all over again! (Not forgetting, of
course, the beautiful *Blackjack* for practical instrumental
composition...)

JP