Session 5 February 2000

[Musicinventor]

This is really interesting I think. For a long time I have suspected it may be more about the relationship between whatever place you choose to start your your "tone" and how other tones are added once you decide to start at that same place others can join and adjust to that starting place

With tempered tuning all of the chromatic pitches can be the starting point of 36 uniquely sounding 7 note scales. The attachment shows all 36 in what is called "first expansion of the scale". These are chords and are arranged in the list from brightest to darkest sounding. The first on the list, from bottom up is; C E G B D F# A. To place it back into it’s original setting, rearrange the pitches, starting from C, in alphabetical order; C D E F# G A B C


This is the basis for composition, improvisation, creating melodies and chord progressions. In our current Western music we use maybe ten of these sounds, the most popular being II, and IX.

In the end, our standardization of pitches, I.e. A=440 or 432 is arbitrary. I could call 440hz Cat and 126hz Dog for what it’s worth. It is the actual frequencies that matter most.

And songs or compositions do not even always have to be totally without dissonance to have a positive or healing effect perhaps.

In my opinion, it is the interplay between consonance and dissonance that gives music its overall beauty. What was considered dissonant with Beethoven is today rather mild in comparison with what is now considered dissonant. Without a good balance of the two, the music becomes rather boring or quite annoying. For me, and I speak only for myself, listening to Pop music has become akin to reading those "Dick and Jane" books I was taught from back in the 60’s!