source file: mills2.txt Date: Sat, 7 Oct 1995 18:25:50 -0700 Subject: 88CET #17: Voice Spacing in Counterpoint From: Gary Morrison <71670.2576@compuserve.com> In nonoctave tunings, chord-tone spacing is no longer independent of chord quality (sonority). In 88CET, you can't, for example, have a subminor triad spanning more than an octave, or a major triad spanning less than an octave. The subminor third is only available within the first octave's span, and the major third is only available in the second-octave's span as a major tenth. What does this mean to a composer, other than the obvious fact that you have to plan spacing and quality each in light of the other? Does this pose problems? Certainly it can complicate some situations. For example in chorale-like, first-species counterpoint (and thus in a lot of small ensemble compositions) you usually want most voices to move in small, smooth steps. Suppose that all voices are closely spaced, forming a subminor triad. It would clearly be impossible to expand that subminor chord in small step-wise motion to a major chord. Still, that certainly doesn't prevent you from presenting the essential sonority of a subminor chord moving to a major chord. First of all, adding a bass note at a fifth below the root of the subminor triad, doesn't change the essential sonority of that triad very much. That chord would then span over a range of a major ninth, which can expand step-wise to a major tenth. The root of that subminor chord could even be a common tone between the two chords. Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sun, 8 Oct 1995 07:58 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id WAA24971; Sat, 7 Oct 1995 22:58:14 -0700 Date: Sat, 7 Oct 1995 22:58:14 -0700 Message-Id: <01HW6IGUQNWY921T88@delphi.com> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu