Daily Pep-TAK 4/4/2020: mesmerizing just intonation chamber music.

1. Ellen Arkbro - Chords for Guitar
2. Harry Partch - The Rose (Partch Ensemble)
3. J.S. Bach - Ciaccona in Just Intonation (Joshua Modney)
4. Catherine Lamb - Frame (Christine Tavolacci)
5. Charles Curtis - Unfinished Song
6. Pauline Oliveros - Deep Listening Ione (Oliveros, Dempster, and Panaiotis)
7. Nicola Vicentino - Madonna il poco dolce (Johannes Keller)
8. Marc Sabat - Plainsound Duet (Jennifer Ames Alexander and Colin Alexander)
9. Yoshi Wada and Tashi Wada - Reed Modulations
10. Michael Harrison - Mureed (Del Sol Quartet)
11. Bill Daugherty - Eidos (Ekmeles with Yarn and Wire)
12. Chris Otto - Violin Octet
13. Monteverdi - Adoramus te, Christe (Exaudi)

mesmerizing just intonation chamber music - Daily Pep TAK Playlist

cool

The latest root of sine collection demonstrates a clutch of talented artists exploring the way of the sine. Employing diverse techniques such as the glitch melodics of Michael Santos to the chaos patterns of Johan Zwart the results are compelling.

+ local [michael santos]
+ remembered root of sines [celibacy club]
+ the queen of brooklyn [bluermutt]
+ just intonation [henry walmsley]
+ spine theft [stheft]
+ sinebulb 2 [unknown artist]
+ sinebulb 3 [unknown artist]
+ sinebulb 4 [unknown artist]
+ a sign in grain [johan zwart]

Root of Sine - Volume 4 is available from the PROJECT page of
http://www.audiobulb.com

just intonation [henry walmsley]

Frame -  Catherine Lamb

This track was written to demonstrate the harmonic possibilities of using higher harmonics freely whenever the composer wishes, without the bounds of a traditional scale, but within the bounds of major/minor/seventh harmony. It is also quite funky!

Harmonics of 11ths, 13th, 23rds etc are prominent in this composition, without being overwhelming in their unusualness. The highest prime harmonic used was the 127th harmonic in the final melody! E#''' was also used (125th harmonic)

It was written using a new notation system which has been devised to make accessing higher harmonics as intuitive as possible (it still takes a bit of getting one's head around!). Please contact me if you would like to see the score written in this notation system, or for details about how this notation system enables interesting harmonic composition outside of the bounds of the Western 12-note scale to be realised.

It qualifies for chiptune since although it is (much to my shame) 16-bit 44100Hz audio instead of the pure 8-bit, the sounds were synthesised from scratch using modified sin/saw waves, with a bit of band-limited noise thrown in for good measure. The synth took as input CSV 6xN matrices as sequence files, and processed in Octave/MATLAB to give MP3 output which you hear here.
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update 10th Apr 2015:

Here is a brief description of how the MP3 track was generated:

Just Intonation Notes (1/1 4/3 7/4 etc) <-> New Notation System (C F `Bb~7 etc) which is easier to read than pure numbers and where the letter corresponds (roughly) to the position in the 12ET scale
-> Excel block of chords and melody notes for visual presentation to composer (.txt)
-> Excel long (~1700 columns) of calculated note letters, frequencies, note lengths, etc
-> Excel final sequence file with 6 columns: channel, start time, frequency, note length, loudness, stereo position (.csv)
-> Octave/MATLAB code to take the 6 columns and turn them into chiptune (.mp3 or .wav)
-> Sometimes extra post processing in Audacity for final .wav

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See also:
- https://arxiv.org/a/ryan_d_1 (arXiv) for a list of my academic paper pre-prints, including my writing on music theory and Just Intonation
- http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4785-9766 (ORC ID) for my academic profile
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidryan59 for my LinkedIn profile

Sonata 1 'Cheery' - Chip Synth, Justly Intoned

This is a justly intoned arrangement of J. S. Bach's Prelude in C Major, the first Prelude of the 48 Preludes and Fugues, a body of work by Bach which demonstrated that with tempered tunings every major and minor key was usable.

As well as being one of my favourite pieces of music, I thought it would be worthwhile to demonstrate that this music sounds just as interesting (maybe more interesting!) in Just Intonation (JI), where exclusively rationally-spaced intervals are used. JI is the natural way of tuning intervals. It derived from harmonic series, which are produced by string and wind instruments.

Due to the 'wrap-around' nature of tempered tunings, some transitions (e.g. D minor to G major) are good transitions in tempered tunings, but sound 'further away' or less harmonious in JI. Also, transitions from ,D' to `D (10/9 to 9/8) and from C to `C~7 (1/1 to 63/64) are noticeably microtonal shifts. Some people might like them, some might not. Personally, I like them. The major advantage is the purity of all the triads and seventh chords, which in my opinion outweigh the 'disadvantages' of having noticeable microtonality.

As always, I've slipped in an 11th and 13th harmonic (the 11th is obvious, the 13th less so). I refuse to write any new music which does not contain both 11th and 13th harmonics.

Another interesting feature was Bach's usage of diminished chords. My favourite justly intoned diminished chord is the sequence 10:12:14:17:20:24:28:34:40 etc. Hence, some 17th harmonics have been used, wherever there is a diminished chord, in both 17/1 and 1/17 formats (and 5/17).

Hence, this track contains all the harmonics 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and 17. I will attempt to remedy the lack of 19, 23, ..., 127th harmonics in my next upload.

Enjoy!

Dave

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Bach number of this track: BWV846 or BWV 846

See also:
- https://arxiv.org/a/ryan_d_1 (arXiv) for a list of my academic paper pre-prints, including my writing on music theory and Just Intonation
- http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4785-9766 (ORC ID) for my academic profile
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidryan59 for my LinkedIn profile

Bach BWV846 Prelude in C major - Chip Synth, Justly Intoned

This is a justly intoned arrangement of Chopin's Etude in C Major (Opus 10, No. 1), the first Etude of his series of Etudes which demonstrated his new piano performance techniques.

Although Etudes are usually technical exercises, Chopin's are special since they are immensely listenable with intricate harmonies.

I have retuned Chopin's harmony to have much more than 12 notes to the scale. More to come (hopefully soon!) about the notes which have been used. Concisely, the major and minor triads and sevenths have almost everywhere been preserved, and Chopin's use of sequences leads the harmony down very interesting and long paths in the 7-limit tonal lattice. A couple of jarring transitions are where the harmony jumps up by a syntonic comma (or 7-limit comma). As always, 11th and 13th harmonics are smuggled in, in some of the diminished chords near the end.

Enjoy!

Dave

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See also:
- https://arxiv.org/a/ryan_d_1 (arXiv) for a list of my academic paper pre-prints, including my writing on music theory and Just Intonation
- http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4785-9766 (ORC ID) for my academic profile
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidryan59 for my LinkedIn profile

Chopin Etude in C Major - Op. 10, No. 1 - Chip Synth, Justly Intoned

pythagorean tuning vs. just intonation. c5 scale

Excerpt of Josh Modney's reinterpretation of J.S. Bach's "Ciaccona" in Just Intonation, as performed by Modney on "Engage" (New Focus Recordings)

http://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/josh-modney-engage/

J.S. Bach: Ciaccona (1720) with Just Intonation (excerpt)

Ellen Arkbro - CHORDS(SUB029)
VINYL pre-order: https://ellenarkbro.bandcamp.com/album/chords

With ‘CHORDS’, the Stockholm-based musician and composer Ellen Arkbro returns to Subtext, following her acclaimed debut album ‘For Organ and Brass’.

This new longplayer sees Arkbro adopt a more minimalist approach, focusing on the immediate qualities of sound and elegantly expanding the tonal capacities of acoustic instruments using precise, subtle synthesis.

Composed of a carefully selected combination of tones, ‘CHORDS’ stretches, extends and obscures the timbral character of the instruments it is performed on.

Across both tracks, Arkbro examines the sonic materiality and harmonic quality of chords. She considers how the compositions occupy space rather than time – transposing theoretical possibilities into the phenomenal realm.

As a part of Arkbro’s systematic investigation of harmonic sound, ‘CHORDS’ proffers a divergence from conventional ways of listening. This work allows for a form of listening which goes beyond the mere reception of outer stimuli in letting the listener experience their role as active, and as embodying the sound itself. Space rather than time becomes the primary locus of listening as subtle movement of head and body reveals the inner complexities of ‘CHORDS’.

@ellenarkbro

CHORDS

Pre-order

Ellen Arkbro - CHORDS For Guitar

Charles Curtis: Performances & Recordings 1998-2018 (SLT-005)

Saltern presents its fifth release, Charles Curtis: Performances & Recordings 1998-2018, the first comprehensive collection of recordings surveying the career of renowned, American cellist Charles Curtis. Selected by Curtis and Tashi Wada from recordings spanning the past two decades, the collection offers a broad, inclusive view of Curtis's activities across the diverse worlds of music he inhabits, containing rare, unreleased recordings, and never-before-released music by Terry Jennings, Richard Maxfield, Éliane Radigue, Alison Knowles, and Curtis. The wide-ranging scope of this release speaks not to a musical restlessness, but to a genuine spirit of inquiry, as these areas of activity for Curtis have existed concurrently in dialogue, not simply in succession, for decades. Over two hours of music by composers and artists with whom Curtis is closely associated including Éliane Radigue, Guillaume de Machaut, Tobias Hume, Silvestro di Ganassi, Terry Jennings, Morton Feldman, Anton Webern, Olivier Messiaen, Alison Knowles, Richard Maxfield, and Curtis himself. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu with liner notes by La Monte Young, Spencer Gerhardt, and Tashi Wada. Custom packaging and screen printing by Alan Sherry.

Performances & Recordings 1998-2018

Charles Curtis – Unfinished Song (1998)

Violinist, violist, improviser, co-director of the NYC-based Wet Ink Ensemble, member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)