Post by fuguestate on May 22, 2020 5:04:10 GMT
So, this idea has been floating around in my head for 3 years(!) now: subverting 12-tone serialism by applying serial techniques to the 7 notes of the C major scale. Why, oh why? Because I like being a contrarian.
I found the process of coming up with a tone row and its associated matrix an absolute bore, even for the 7-note subversion of 12-tone serialism, so I wrote a computer program to generate a random row for me and automatically compute the matrix. In the process of writing this program, it occurred to me that the choice of 12 tones in the original serialism is completely arbitrary: one could very well have applied to any number of tones, or any number of objects, really (like, say, a set of durations or arbitrarily-chosen rhythms). One could, for example, make a 19-tone matrix in 19-EDO, and relish in the utter aural chaos that is 19-EDO atonal music, or one could apply it to the 5 tones of a pentatonic scale. Or anything in between, really. There's nothing about the technique that ties it specifically to the 12 semitones of the octave. That was merely an arbitrary choice. Which means I get to arbitrarily choose to apply it to the 7 boring ole tones of the C major scale (so there!).
(In fact, one could apply it to a set of a single note, whereupon one comes up with something like Scelsi's one-tone pieces. Or one could apply it to all 88 or so notes of the piano and come up with something that spans the entire range of pitches and isn't arbitrarily tied to the octave. Heck, one could apply it to a non-octave division of the chromatic scale, too, or any arbitrarily-chosen subset thereof.)
But given this vast space of possibilities, why, of all things, choose the C major scale? 'cos I like being a contrarian, and to paraphrase Sibelius: other composers are inventing exotic cocktails of atonal serial music of all kinds, I return to the cup of C-old water.
I found the process of coming up with a tone row and its associated matrix an absolute bore, even for the 7-note subversion of 12-tone serialism, so I wrote a computer program to generate a random row for me and automatically compute the matrix. In the process of writing this program, it occurred to me that the choice of 12 tones in the original serialism is completely arbitrary: one could very well have applied to any number of tones, or any number of objects, really (like, say, a set of durations or arbitrarily-chosen rhythms). One could, for example, make a 19-tone matrix in 19-EDO, and relish in the utter aural chaos that is 19-EDO atonal music, or one could apply it to the 5 tones of a pentatonic scale. Or anything in between, really. There's nothing about the technique that ties it specifically to the 12 semitones of the octave. That was merely an arbitrary choice. Which means I get to arbitrarily choose to apply it to the 7 boring ole tones of the C major scale (so there!).
(In fact, one could apply it to a set of a single note, whereupon one comes up with something like Scelsi's one-tone pieces. Or one could apply it to all 88 or so notes of the piano and come up with something that spans the entire range of pitches and isn't arbitrarily tied to the octave. Heck, one could apply it to a non-octave division of the chromatic scale, too, or any arbitrarily-chosen subset thereof.)
But given this vast space of possibilities, why, of all things, choose the C major scale? 'cos I like being a contrarian, and to paraphrase Sibelius: other composers are inventing exotic cocktails of atonal serial music of all kinds, I return to the cup of C-old water.