source file: m1589.txt Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 12:47:56 -0800 Subject: subharmonic scale From: monz@juno.com Jeff Collins wrote: > I am new to this list and have been doing a bit of > lurking around, but today i read a post from Joe Monzo > who mentioned the Subharmonic scale. This scale > sounds very interesting to me...but i have absolutely > no information on it. > Does anyone possibly have any info they can e-mail > (or snail) to me? I would really appreciate it. First, welcome to the List. I've decided it would be more fruitful to send this to the List than to you personally. Perhaps others have comments. The "subharmonic scale" can be characterized as a utonal progression, in Partch's terms. It is the exact inverse of the "harmonic series" of overtones above a fundamental. In the case of subharmonics, the "fundamental" is the highest note in the series, with the subharmonics in reciprocal integer ratios below it. The proportions as we used in our improv were as follows, with pitch progressing from the top down, and with the equivalent "bottom-up" standard terms given for the notes which form the "minor triad": 1/3 "fundamental" 1/4 "5th" 1/5 "minor 3rd" 1/6 "root" 1/7 1/8 "5th" 1/9 1/10 "minor 3rd" 1/11 1/12 "root" 1/13 1/14 1/15 1/16 "5th" 1/17 1/18 1/19 1/20 "minor 3rd" 1/21 1/22 1/23 1/24 "root" 1/25 1/26 Note that we normally skip the 1/1 and 1/2 as they just produce higher octaves of the top 1/3. Intervals between notes become progressively smaller as you go down the scale. The top note, 1/3, was around 3200 Hz. Notes below 1/16 are progressively smaller "semitones" -- the keyboard tuning went much further than this, but notes near the bottom were quite low in pitch and sounded more like rumbles than clear subharmonics. - Joe Monzo monz@juno.com http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]