[linux-audio-user] Music, composing, notation (was: More music)

On Sun, Feb 19, 2006 at 08:28:05AM -0500, Dave Phillips wrote:
> Ach, sorry, Steve, it's Abstract I was considering. I'm going to take a
> closer look at it today to see what I'll have to change to cram it into
> 2-guitar space. :)

I see. I think Abstract 1 would be a better choice anyway (than
Arabesque 1) for two guitars. I think the arrangement could be done, and
would sound nice. I have a sense of gratification with Abstract 1,
because it's the first piece I have ever written in 5/4 time.

In that piece I made heavy use of one of my favorite types of chord:
superimposed (or "stacked") fourths, in which the inter-note intervals
of 3 or more notes are all a fourth. In addition, I used another of my
favorite techniques: rearranging the notes of the chord (or adding notes
to the chord) so that the voicing of the chord includes one or more
intervals of a second. I love the way each of those (stacked fourths and
chords with seconds) sound.

Another of my compositional "tricks," should anyone be interested, is in
viewing the entire western-tuned chromatic scale as just
that--chromatic--and not put the notes into discriminatory boxes of
well-known major and minor keys and modes, or subject certain groups and
arrangements of pitches to lifeless academic dissection.

In this 12-tone approach, there are some interesting scales each of
which has the same interval between each of its notes, that one can mix
freely together in chords, melodies and harmonies: the chromatic scale,
the whole-tone scale, the scale of minor thirds (diminished scale), the
scale of major thirds (augmented scale), the scale of fourths (one of my
favorites), the scale of diminished fifths (the "dreaded" so called
tritone that splits an octave into two equal parts), and so on.

The equal-tempered system of tuning, taken in conjunction with the idea
that the scale one is using--regardless of notated key signature--is a
12-tone scale that includes all the notes, has its own very complex and
interesting mathmatical relationships, possible harmonies that are not
possible without equal-temperament, etc.

Using this way of conceptualizing the raw materials--the tones
(frequencies) available for composition--can open up new doors, new
territory for a performer or composer. For example, one of the first
concepts a person could adopt is to view each and every chord change of
any particular piece as a *key* change, and for the duration of that
chord one is in a different key. Another concept is to play chords that
are in another key that is related in some way to the "key" (chord) one
is in at the time. For example, if one were playing one or more bars
based around the C-Major chord, one could throw in fragments or entire
chords from other related keys, like a major triad based on the dominant
7th of C (B-flat), or based on the second tone of the C-Major scale (D).

The possibilities are endless, I have barely scratched the surface, and
I could go on and on, which I (perhaps thankfully) won't. ;-)

> [re: LilyPond]
> I'm getting so fast with it that I can't imagine a GUI doing as well.
> Denemo and NoteEdit function nicely as front-ends for LilyPond
> (Rosegarden too), but now the GUI just seems like so much trouble to
> deal with. Weird.

I'm glad that nice GUI frontends are being developed for LilyPond. I
think they will help persuade people who are put off by the text-entry
method of LilyPond. But having become used to text-only notation in
LilyPond, I find I like it.

> Thanks for supporting the project, I hope more LAU folks donate to their
> favorite soundapps.

I try to donate some amount of money to various Linux software projects
during the year: to those projects whose software I use frequently or am
impressed with or grateful for.

> Btw, I've updated my LilyPond site again.
> [...]
> http://linux-sound.org/dlp-music-lilypond/

Neat-- ;-)

-sd

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with
the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.  -Samuel
Butler
----------------------------------------------------------------