Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup tuning Rama in Russia

On April 11th, Joshua Pierce and I are leaving for a 6-concert tour of
Russia. One of my new works is "Rama" based on Arthur C. Clarke, and
originally composed for trombone solo, is on the program.

I'd like to share my experience with this piece, now played on bassoon. It
is in quadratic prime just intonation beginning on the 41st harmonic of a G
1/1, lower than the conventional bassoon's low Bb. I use a vacuum cleaner
cylindrical tube and twist it in to the top of the bell, effectively giving a
low G 1/1.

Reading the various Rama books, about a cylindrical space ship that makes
repeat visits in the earth's future, I was inspired by some of the questions
Clarke raised through his characters.

From Rama II (Bantam Books 1990) a character ask "What comes first? Do we
use models to help us find the truth? Or do we know the truth first, and
then develop the mathematics to explain it?" The piece hopes to answer, and
I believe it is succeeding. The answer appears to be both.

Clarke wrote that quadratic primes - 41, 43, 47, 53, 61, 71, 83, 97, etc.,
were the intelligence system of the Rama aliens. They used it to communicate
with humans through computers they supplied in the ship. "Each successive
number is computed by increasing the difference from the previous number by
two, resulting in exactly forty consecutive prime dollars. The sequence of
primes ends only when the 41st number in the string turns out to be a
nonprime, namely 41 X 41 = 1681."

My solo Rama uses an otonality that has the low B with the ratio 41/32, then
a C at 43/41, a D at 47/43, E at 53/47 etc. up to a highest bassoon C at
347/313

The utonality begins on the highest bassoon Eb at 1601/1024, D at 1601/1523,
C# at 1523/1447, etc. all based on the Low G 1/1. The bassoon fingerings are
explicit and distinctive. Clarke chose this quadratic prime range for a
certain symmetry that exists between the 2 directions which is why I exploit
the 2 full bassoon range JI arrays compositionally.

Like my piece Dune, each of the main characters or species are emphasized by
particular tuning "leitmotifs" in that the music is idiosyncratically related
to its subject. There is a 7-TET involvement in whole tones at one point,
and the swirling of the tube in bell is not to be underestimated for its
effect with its swirling, and with the particular fingerings that are chosen
because of its inherent distortion. The piece requires the tube. Amazingly,
the tube brings me closer to hearing through the whole instrument and I can
sing and play better than ever, because it is closer to my ears.

Now that I've learned the piece, I practice up and down the new scales and
they are amazing. However, the music is greater than the sum of its parts.

Johnny Reinhard

Rama in Russia

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