tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30712330.post4198312507627277688..comments2023-02-26T06:56:57.963-08:00Comments on Classical in Seattle: The End of Tonality?Z. Carstensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11171998761327140850noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30712330.post-35770585253575305642007-10-30T19:37:00.000-07:002007-10-30T19:37:00.000-07:00The author states that "The only problem is that t...The author states that "The only problem is that these new notes sound really off key, and our Westernized brains demand the tuning we are comfortable with."<BR/><BR/>There is some evidence that what the ear seeks is not any tuning in particular, but rather the alignment of tuning and timbre. <BR/><BR/>Check out this paper:<BR/> http://eceserv0.ece.wisc.edu/~sethares/consemi.html<BR/><BR/>The subsequent work of this paper's author, Bill Sethares, shows -- rather conclusively -- that the music of other cultures shows a similar relationship between tuning and timbre. Thai & African music uses a 7-tone equal temperament tuning because their marimba-like instruments emit a spectral pattern which aligns well with that tuning; a similar co-evolution has apparently occurred between tuning & timbre in Indonesian gamelan music.<BR/><BR/>Thus, the music of all (most? many?) cultures appears to be based on an alignment of tuning and timbre.<BR/><BR/>This has important ramifications to composers of modern classical music. Sethares' latest work -- the first paper of which is to appear in the Winter 2007 issue of the Computer Music Journal, and another in the early 2008 Journal of Mathematics and Music -- expands the framework of tonality by expanding it beyond the Harmonic Series to include continua of pseudo-harmonic tunings & related timbres. These continua enable new usical effects -- polyphonic tuning bends, new chord progressions(!), temperament modulations, etc. -- which were never before possible, but which fit snugly within the expanded framework of tonal harmony.<BR/><BR/>If it is true, as Schoenberg and others claimed, that by the early 1900's the theory of tonality had been completely worked out -- leaving no new territory for composers to explore -- then this new expansion of tonality offers great opportunity to today's composers.<BR/><BR/>For more information, see www.thummer.com.<BR/><BR/>P.S.: The above-references forthcoming papers were co-written by Andrew Milne of The Tonal Centre, Bill Sethares, and me.JimPlamondonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09369224973365121846noreply@blogger.com