Introduction to the Harmonic Series

Descending Progression

Descending Progression 2

Harmonic Sums

Overtones [Only 2 notes being played. You hear 3]

Where is F?

Alabaster Plaster

The Harmonic Series is what happens when you multiply a number by every integer into infinity. (1x1, 1x2, 1x3, etc.) When you reproduce it in frequency, it produces the major chord that serves as the basis of Western music. It also produces a bunch of other higher notes that aren't as closely related to our twelve musical notes.

Unless you listen to microtonal music or the traditional music of various non-Western cultures, the music you listen to is written in equal-temperament. In this tuning system, each of the notes that you perceive as being in tune are actually out of tune in various degrees so that all 12 keys will be equally in (or out of) tune. Each note on an instrument produces harmonics, but the notes themselves are detuned from the series to produce 12 equal divisions of the octave.

The music presented here is written with the tones of the Harmonic series which, unlike the equally-spaced tones of the equal tempered system, become more numerous and create smaller divisions of the octave as frequency rises. The series divides the octave into 2, 4, 8, 16,  32, etc.

To the Pythagoreans, the study of harmonics was one of the four most important sciences; the study of arithmetic in time. It mirrored the motion of the heavenly bodies. This music is a more accurate representation of the mathematical and acoustical structure of the universe, written scientifically and with great affection for the incredible statements made in equal temperament, replicated as accurately as moderately-priced modern technology will allow.