Riley's 5 limit tuning for "Harp of New Albion"

Riley's 5 limit tuning for "Harp of New Albion"

I had recently replaced my missing copy of Harp of New Albion by Terry Riley and decided to lattice out the tuning which i guess many might have already done. It is interesting in how La monte uses 7 limit intervals to approximate 5 and here we have Riley doing the opposite with the 16/15 over the 15/8 7 cents shy of an 8/7. Riley's use of the tuning is interesting also in that he never uses the 1/1 of his tuning for the tonic, albeit the D of 16/15 could have been also a good choice for the 1/1. Anyway in the context of the pieces it shows how far one can go into new territory with a relative simple 5 limit. I like the choice of the 64/45 giving him two just major scales which he seems to avoid using more than using. If you tuned the row with 5/3 , 5/4 and 15/8, and decided keep it in the same relationship wit h3/2 and 9/8 by lowering thise too, the scale would coincide with the Centaur Scale.

THE DOWSING POLES- New instrument member of the Meta-Slendro Ensemble

The Dowsing Poles This instrument grew out of a desire to have something like Tubular Bells to add to my ensemble of Meta-Slendro instruments. This tuning is anything but a conventional Slendro encompassing instruments using 12, 17 and 22 unequally spaced pitches in the octave informed by both traditional sources and recurrent sequence mathematics. 

In order to realize such a Tubular Bell instrument and after much experimentation, I decided to explore the possibilities of suspending the tubes in the middle instead of the conventional nodes used on all my other instruments. This produces a somewhat similar sound to the desired orchestral instrument but with even more pitch, making the use of small distances between some pitches in the tuning much more practical and realistic.

Mounting the bars in this fashion was extremely difficult as it a point of balance, but wanted the tubes to be vertical in order to take up less space and easier to play. The present method of tying elastic cord seems to work well but am still not cutting the cords quite yet in order to see how it works after at least a few weeks. Hence why they can still be seen for the time being. This instrument is also quite modular being usable in any or all of the three sections and it allows the tubes to be placed in any order of which is shown here. The sections themselves are also flexible in being placed in a chain of any configuration here conforming to the only flat section on the Anaphorian Embassy grounds. This instrument will get it premiere at the Now Now Festival this Thursday night at 107 Projects

A Near Flatland with a Bastard Lattice- An Addition to The Journal of Anaphorian Music Theory

This paper is an addition to the Journal of Anaphorian Music Theory that looks at one set of progressions that occur  within the normal 12 tone scale.  The overall idea is that analogous structures can be constructed in other systems but worth sharing with a broader music community for those interested in what can be done with pitch.
http://anaphoria.com/flatlandbastard.pdf

Installation as an Immersive Score

Meru Set 1 - Back of Screen 1

 Before I write about my final installation presented at UOW, on this blog, i wish to focus on the musical aspect of the installation separately as a mirror from the way it was realised.

For the moment I resist classifying this as sound art for reason which I will explain. Usually from that perspective,  sound is an added element to a visual display. In this particular case i am entertaining the idea to look at in an complementary way.  Here the concept is to having the totality of an immersive space replace or act a the musical score.As I am not imposing sound into the space, I am inviting the participants to explore
 what is presented as options. This to me is more like a score.

Meru Set 2 - Back of Screen 2

This allows new possibilities not possible with conventional scores regardless of their format.  The idea is to immerse the performer in the score as opposed it being an object presented in front of one where the other surroundings are suppressed or ignored. It also omits the role of the score of something that is projected outward into the space since one is already inside of it. In this installation a participant is open to explore the totality of everything that is presented to them. It thus represents a totality in which the visual elements provide the stimulus for the sound.

Meru Set 3 -Front of Screen 2

Such a composition opens up new possibilities in terms of being open ended, without a fixed perceptible beginning and ending,  for varied number of players, and of  changing  players who might only participate in part of the total duration. The nature of the participants moving through the space thus liberates the concept of one person one instrument or set of instruments. In this sense it works toward a composition without an author or an anonymous one. The players though unlike in traditional western music do not bring instruments, something closer to how gamelan ensembles are fixed and thus a centre where people congregate. The corporeal experience and presence becomes the determination of how the work unfolds in the space which will be unique to each participant.

Meru Set 3 - Front of Screen 3

A composition nevertheless can be quite specific yet allows for each participant to take an active part in the create act. There is no separation between performer and audience. In this case, the instruments are predetermined and where they sound in the room is fixed. How they are arrange influences what a person might play next as well as providing self contained units even if the overall movement of the space is not. It is the unique structural possibilities of a certain class of microtonal instruments that allow for this type of interaction where strong acoustical realities can go from one end of the room to the other while still providing a local identity.

Meru Set 3 - Front of Screen 4

The installation incorporates a few of my instruments being used both in for their visual presence and as the sounds they produce.

Meru Set 3 - Shadows on Wall

9 of my Meru bars are used which are arranged in 4 sets of closely related pitches that cause beating. 

Meru Set 4- Back of Screen 3

 In the space, there is an over all placement starting from the entrance from low to high to correspond to the general character of the visual screens in which in turn is based on the space itself.

Meru Set 4 - Front of Screen 4

 What happens is that each visual elements such as the screen ( not that the score is limited to them) might be viewed from more than one perspective.

Meru Set 4 - Front of Screen 5

Also each instrument set will be a local point of perspective of the whole installation which will interpret even the same screen and frame and the shadows in a different way.

Meru Set 4 -View of The Tree

Each set will have available multiple direction to draw upon and even what is placed in back of the head  can continue to inform the participant.

The Tree - Front of Screen 5

 The sound of other instruments in the space extends ones vision and interaction around the corners of the space as well as invoking the memories from their location.

The Tree - Back of Screen 4

The instruments themselves can form apart of the score.

The Tree - Overall 

 The space or score in this case thus reflects a totality, a universe that one finds one is within. All elements one witnesses in the space becomes part of the score thereby increasing the means in which the score can interact.

THE HISTORY OF PROTEST DURING ANAPHORIA’S GREAT MISSIONARY EXPULSION

This short but distinct book by the respected historian Vunos Rainter is now available at the Center of Alphabetical Sequencing.  Already it is being heralded as an important work in detailing the unique methods of protesting during the last great upheaval on the island more than a century ago.  Since the Missionaries were strongly supported by military “advisors”, a different tactic was taken than the usual attempt of soliciting large group protest that normally take place in such situation. Instead the protest involve simultaneously appearing on as many different street corners possible. The effectiveness of this was it ability to be seen by more people that a concentrated group pushed to remote locales would not. When infiltrators seem to tip off the powers that be, smaller groups where formed that if need be would break into free acting protestors appearing randomly at times of high visibility.  This greatly hampered the mobilization of small but stronger forces who were unable to be everywhere at once.  The book also chronicles other tactics that appeared at the time like short 15 minute protests of large groups that would be gone by the time forces could be brought into place. Later there were even ‘groups of fives’ where smaller protest units divided into 5 groups would appear in a chain of locations each for a short period of time but them proceeding to another. Some locations could and would be visited within a few hours by a different group.

Forming Tetrachordal Scales from the Subharmonic Series

Here is a page of a document  added to The Journal of Anaphorian Music Theory. The document looks at one simple way one can derive tetrachordal scales from a subharmonic series. Such scales have been observed on equally spaced holes on flutes as well possibly the Greek Aulos.  Regardless of the case,  the scales manage to touch upon some well known ancient Greek ones as well as presenting  a method to finding others. Such a method could be easily tuned with only an ability to tune fourths and fifths above a given note.
A direct link to the PDF is also Here.

Performance from Yours and Owls 3/13

Here is an almost year old video clip from Yours and Owl's in Wollongong. It might be my favorite video on youtube as it seem to have less problems with it than the others. It is too bad the slower beginning didn't make in in, but it stands on its own. With Terumi Narushima as the duo Clocks and Clouds. A big thanks to Rory Anderson for putting this together on the fly.