source file: mills3.txt
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:00:38 +0100

Subject: Re: Bucking the system

From: mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison)

>When working compositionally outside the usualTET, do you still tend to
>want (gravitate toward) triads and tetras for basic chords?  Or do you
>tend not to think in terms of chords at all?

   That's a valuable question.  I have taken several approaches, such as:
1.  Let's suppose that the old V7-I authentic cadence could be characterized as
    a reduction of harmonic tension from "somewhat tense" to "relaxed".  I like
    to use microtonal resources to locate chord progressions that release about
    the same amount of tension, but from "very tense" to "tense".
2.  Many "chromatically altered" came about contrapuntally when voices moving
    by step formed a new vertical sonority that proved to be interesting in its
    own right (e.g., N6).  Doing this with nontraditional step sizes can produce
    some even more interesting vertical sonorities.
3.  I also like for chords that fluidly bridge between traditional and
    nontraditionaly chords, or even better, nontraditional chords that fluidly
    bridge between two traditional chords.

   Perhaps the question could also be posed in a more general way as well:
"Do you compose music in unusual tunings using traditional principles, like
chords, counterpoint, cadences, organized form, tonality, or related keys?
My own answer to that would be that those principles have pretty much the
same amount of value to microtonal music as to 12TET music.  Those ideas
make audibly intuitive sense to many audiences out there, so it forms - in
essence - a well-known language of expectation and surprise.  Speaking to
audiences in that language could be useful in some cases, but speaking in
an alien language that just simply sounds interesting can be useful in
other cases.

   And perhaps one could throw the question a little bit more open, and ask
whether there is value in coming up with organized systems of
nontraditional theory for nontraditional tunings.  My answer to that would
be the same:  Organized theory has about the same amount of value in
unusual tunings as in traditional.  Organized theory can point out patterns
to help make it easier to anticipate what effect a musical idea will have
before you perform it.  That can be very useful to some forms of musical
practice and less useful to others.


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From:  "Patrick Ozzard-Low" <patrick.ozzard-low.itex@norfolk.gov.uk>
Subject:  George Secor's French Horn 
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