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Posted by Caleb "Overman" Morgan 1) Students who want to learn the text-book approach. Ok, make that 5 kinds of people. But, in defense of what I’m going to say, I often learn most from off-the-cuff, subjective statements. For instance, Persichetti, in his book on 20th Century Harmony, says that the polychord Bb triad over C triad is dull and lacks resonance. I completely disagree, but I find his opinion and the fact that it differs from mine to be very interesting. So, let’s say I’m assessing whether a given row might be good for my next piece. In fact, I’m doing that now. I’m thinking about the following row: C, Bb, F, A, E, Ab, G, C#, D, B, Eb, F#. This is a mixed analysis and a bit of stream-of-consciousness. Some of this happens very quickly and intuitively. First thing: Take a look at the series to see if it has any obvious fatal flaws. Like 4 semitones in a row. (C,C#,D,D#). Or a disguised version of this. In fact, I DO notice that there are some embedded descending chromatic scales: Bb, A, Ab, G. But these are interspersed with other pitches. Not too bad. The second thing: make a basic matrix (say, using Matriocity for the Mac) to assist playing all the different versions. Play through all the rows forwards and backwards, in a relaxed way, just listening for colors, continuity, discontinuity, moods, structures. I’m a composer, so at this stage I’m allowed to be irrational—I would describe the flavor here as sort of “lonely, mystical, peaceful, & painful”. Don’t ask me WHAT that means. So far, I like it. Next, attend to all the harmonic structures in every possible grouping in each rotation and each transformation of the row. Primary row first: It’s got 2 015’s (or incomplete major-7th chords for you jazzers) in a row: Bb, F, A which goes to A, E, Ab. This is a chain of consonances: If these were literal frequency ratios, Bb to F is approximately 2:3, F to A is approximately 4:5, A to E is another 2:3, E to Ab is approximately 4:5 again. Then, when Ab goes to G, we are a fifth (3:2) away from our starting note on C. So potentially there is a continuous loop that flows smoothly. But the C# is a discontinuity. Which can be emphasized. or de-emphasized because the C# pulls up to D. At the end I’ve got a very blatant B minor-to-major triad. I like it, because I like the sound of B triad over C bass. Next, I look for statements of C, Bb, F, A, E, Ab embedded in different versions of the row. It’s a good MOF. There are 10 versions in the primary matrix alone. Does it ever “sound good”—whatever that means—when I bring this motif out? For example: C (c#) Bb (d) F (b) A E Ab is found in the row form: p/11/7 (row transposed down a minor second and rotated 7 positions). Does it sound good when I play the capitalized notes in one register and the small notes in another? Yeah, it does. So already I can exploit the MOF potential without violating whatever my silly, subjective ear tells me. I could go on and on. I won’t. The point is that any composer at the “precompositional” stage is madly thinking all kinds of things along these and other lines. Maybe this series is a keeper. I listen deeper. One other point: 12-tone procedure doesn’t exist to make one’s life easier! It’s there to make one’s life harder! It doesn’t replace choice, it makes choice somewhat agonizing! That’s why it’s beautiful. Not masochism, but rather Nietzschean self-overcoming, if you will. Or not.
on 10/4/2006, 7:44 am, in reply to "Re: mallalieu & self-sim series"
24.63.115.63
Subjectivity and Thinking about Tone Rows.
First, and I’m only partly joking, there will be 3 kinds of people who will strongly object to what I’m about to say:
2) Positivists who reject subjective, emotional, or illogical statements
3) Composers whose (subjective) thought-processes and opinions differ from mine.
4) Everybody else
5) Knaves and Fools.
I note that the two hexachords of p/0/0 are the same: 014568. But since I think of the series as circular, I don’t make too much of this.
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