"Harmonic Distortion"/"Periodicity Buzz"

"Directly Experiencing Resonance" and a good few other recent
topics here have revolved around the idea of "harmonic
distortion"/"periodicity buzz" IE when beating between two tones
occurs in such a way that it sounds harmonic and often produces the
impression a second "phantom" root/base tone.

What creative applications do you all have for the phenomena, both
in making scales and using certain combinations of notes in existing
scales?

Hi Michael,

> What creative applications do you all have for the phenomena, both
> in making scales and using certain combinations of notes in existing
> scales?

One of the best ideas, I think, is Harry Partch's concept of "Tonality diamonds". Many musicians, including myself, have been inspired by this. Actually, in 2003, I made a 23-tone scale which I intended to use in a large "audio-project" called "In the epimoric world" and a few months later, surprisingly, I realized it was actually the Partch's 19-tone 5-limit tonality diamond with 4 tones added. "In the epimoric world" eventually turned into two shorter compositions called "The harmonic prelude" and "Linear journeys". Later, I used the harmonic chords like 6:7:8:9:10:11 in some of my electronic pieces -- like, for example, "One in each way" (for modified recordings of voices and flutes) which I even posted here back in 2007. Something similar was also appearing in my "Neuropeon" for six flutes (November 2007) that I actually made by layering five flutes on an old-fashioned analog multitrack recorder and playing the sixth flute live at a concert at our school. And some of my newer "semi-improvized" music uses this property as well.

BTW: Have you heard the sound of an overtone flute? I think it speaks for itself. If you want to play an instrument with a very narrow "mensure" (if I can call it like that) and no finger holes, then the fundamental frequency to which it is tuned is clearly audible, no matter if you close the opposite end of the flute with your hand or leave it open. If you are interested, I've left an excerpt of the first movement of my "Linear journeys" here: www.myspace.com/petrpar

Petr