Microtonality



WHAT THE HECK IS MICROTONALITY?

Check out the 4 part article I wrote on New Music Box that explains microtonal (xenharmonic) music and even how to get started with it on your own.

Simply put, microtonality is music that contains more, or less, than the usual 12 notes per octave. I prefer to use only equal tempered tunings, meaning that each step in the scale is the same musical interval.

After hearing 12 tone music for so many years, it can be refreshing (or torturous, depending on the person) to be immersed in a new tonality.

You might want to read Wikipedia: Microtonal Music

WARNINGS FOR FELLOW MICROTONALISTS

I compose microtonal music strictly by ear and leave it to others to analyze, so you won’t find ratios or mathematics here. I reserve my left brain for building keyboards and chaos music.

Also, I've always had the notion to compose microtonal music that sounds pleasant and not weird and jarring for the sake of being weird and jarring. When performing with my band ZIA over the years, the audience generally didn't realize it was microtonal, even if they knew what that meant. Rather, they would notice that the music had a different "flavor" – not vanilla.

BACKGROUND

I was introduced to the idea of microtonal music in 1990 at Berklee College of Music in Boston, when one fine day in Electronic Music Composition class, Dr. Richard Boulanger surprised us by performing and singing his piece, Solemn Song for Evening, which he composed in the Bohlen-Pierce Scale. My hair stood on end as the alien notes washed over me. The notes were from outer space, yet it was still music. Wonderful music!

From then onward I was dedicated to writing microtonal music. One of my earliest pieces was Stick Men, also in the Bohlen-Pierce Scale.

I had the pleasure of watching Dr Boulanger perform Solemn Song again, 20 years later, at the first Bohlen-Pierce Symposium in Boston. He performs it on the Radio Baton, invented by Max Mathews.


At the same symposium, I performed Stick Men and a newer piece called Love Song with Dr Boulanger on the sonome (the hexagon keyboard invented by Peter Davies) rearranged for the Bohlen-Pierce Scale. I built the other two keyboards especially for this performance. The one I’m playing is a “Vertical Keyboard”, arranged for Bohlen-Pierce, in Dur II mode. I call it the “BP-tar”. The other keyboard, which Dan Sedgewick is playing, is a Korg Poly-800 rearranged for Bohlen-Pierce, in Lambda mode. Dan’s wife, Marji Gere, is playing a BP-tuned violin. It was humbling being on stage with such talented performers, me being the only one without a doctorate.


Here is the entire Bohlen-Pierce Symposium playlist, including lectures by myself, Dr B, Max Mathews and Heinz Bohlen as well as various performances.

In 2000, while at NYU, I wrote a research paper on the Bohlen-Pierce Scale. I’m currently developing hexagonal keyboard layouts for different equal temperaments, building custom Vertical Piano keyboards (for sale!), and composing.

In this playlist you can find a general lecture on Microtonality that I did at FAU.

I stay in touch with other microtonalists through the Xenharmonic Alliance group on Facebook. Introduce yourself! Don't be shy!

MY FAVORITE TUNINGS

Below are some music samples in my three favorite tunings, plus hexagon and piano-style keyboards that I’ve developed for each tuning. As you listen, see how long it takes for your ears to “tune-in”. Does each tuning sound like a different “flavor”? I would love to hear your feedback.
THE BOHLEN-PIERCE SCALE

My official Bohlen-Pierce Scale page

Go here for a full playlist of Bohlen-Pierce Scale Music.

Elaine Walker
Involution | Involution YouTube (2023, Elaine Walker / No Terrestrial Road)
Magic Rectangle (2021, Elaine Walker / Four-Momentum)
Infinity | Infinity video performance (2019, Elaine Walker / Four-Momentum)
Euler's Identity (2018, Elaine Walker / Four-Momentum)
Love Song | Love Song live performance at Berklee | Love Song YouTube (2011, ZIA / Drum'n'Space)
Greater Good | Greater Good practicing at home | Greater Good YouTube (2011, ZIA / Drum'n'Space)
1-rx^2 Part1 | Part2 | Part3 | Part4 (1992, composed in MAX using Chaos Melody Theory)
Agribusiness (1992, ZIA / v1.5)
Stick Men | Stick Men live performance at Berklee (1992, ZIA / v1.5)

Dr. Richard Boulanger
I Know of No Geometry
Solemn Song for Evening (live performance at the Bohlen-Pierce Symposium 2010)

Sevish
Orbital (Bohlen-Pierce beat)
Mashroon (microtonal drum & bass, Bohlen Pierce scale)

C-Thru Music lent me one of their sonome keyboards, called the AXIS, for a few months, and I rearranged the keys for the Bohlen-Pierce Scale. This particular AXIS toured with the Lionel Richie Band on loan, went to me, and then it went to my former professor, Dr. Boulanger, in the Synthesis Department of Berklee College of Music. I now have another one and am experimenting with layouts and chords for other tunings.
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AXIS FOR BOHLEN-PIERCE SCALE

11 Videos | Play All
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Lambda Mode

Lambda is most people’s BP mode of choice, and the keyboards look very tidy.
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Dur II Mode

Swap the last two black/white keys to get Dur II mode. It’s easier to see, and play.
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10 NOTES PER OCTAVE

LISTEN: Champagne (2010, ZIA, unreleased) | Sol (1992, ZIA, v1.5 CD) | Future (1995, ZIA, SHEM CD) | Evolution (1993, D.D.T., Discomedia) | Vivid (1993, D.D.T., Discomedia) | Future (1993, D.D.T., Discomedia)
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This particular diatonic scale sounds very exotic.
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19 NOTES PER OCTAVE

LISTEN: Golden (2000, ZIA, Big Bang CD) | Resolution (2000, ZIA, Big Bang CD) | Hand Held (1995, ZIA, SHEM CD) | Cover of Madonna's Vogue (1993, D.D.T., Discomedia)

You might want to read: Wikipedia 19tet
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16 NOTES PER OCTAVE

LISTEN: Skate Space (2018, Elaine Walker, Four-Momentum) | Flow Field (2020, Elaine Walker, No Terrestrial Road) | Avatar (2012, ZIA, Drum N Space) | Happiness (2012, ZIA, Drum N Space)

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17 NOTES PER OCTAVE

LISTEN: Inner Alien (2020, Elaine Walker, No Terrestrial Road) | Wave Equation (2018, Elaine Walker, Four Momentum) | Lorentz Force (2018, Elaine Walker, Four Momentum) | The Beginning (2012, ZIA, Drum N Space) | 17 Tone Piano Project (mostly 17 tone music, and other tunings as well)
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THE GOLDEN RATIO TUNING

LISTEN: Humans and Martian Machines (2000, Elaine Walker, MARS CD)

The Golden Ratio Tuning was the result of a school assignment in Composition class at NYU, which I had in 2000 during my Masters studies in Music Technology. The assignment was simply to write a piece of music utilizing the Golden Ratio in some way. This is the only unequal temperament I have ever used, and for that matter, I only wrote one piece with it!
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