three excellent ideas

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three excellent ideas

• polansky
• Seattle, March 2009

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1.Tempo Melody(Cowell/Beyer)
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• Cowell tempo melody

If we wish to use tempo as melody, we have but
to establish the tempo value of various tones,
and change them as the piece progresses This
use of consecutive changes of tempo is of course
no new thing it is the mathematical ratio
between tempi that has not been systematized. It
can be observed in current practice that when the
relations between successive tempi do not follow
a simple ratio, but are accidental and arbitrary,
the result is felt to be rhythmically rough.
Conversely, I am convinced that further
investigation would confirm my own experiments,
which show that when successive tempi. Give an
impression of smoothness, the ratio is
demonstrably simple.
NMR, p. 92
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Beyer, first clarinet suite, 4th movement,
(excerpt) first 8 phrases

• Frog Peak edition, edited by Daniel Goode and
  Dennis Bathory-Kitsz

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Beyer, second clarinet suite, 4th movement,
(excerpt) first 6 phrases

• Frog Peak edition, edited by Marguerite Boland

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Examples of Beyers use of tempo
melodiesClarinet Suites 1 and 1b, 4th mvmts.
Performed by Daniel Goode (1) Craig Hill
(1b) From Johanna Beyer Sticky Melodies, New
World Records
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• Tempo ratios, per line, in Johanna Beyers two
  clarinet suites, 4th movement

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4th Movement, 2nd clarinet suite (Beyer) Note
names

• Line Tempo Scalar Tempo Ratio Note Name
• 1 1/1 --- C
• 2 3/2 3/2 G
• 3 3/2 9/4 D
• 4 1/3 3/4 G
• 5 3/2 9/8 D
• 6 3/2 27/16 A
• 7 3/2 81/32 E
• 8 2/1 81/16 E
• 9 3/4 243/64 B
• 10 2/1 243/32 B
• 11 3/2 729/64 F
• 12 2/1 729/32 F

(cycle of 5ths, mixolydian mode)
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4th Movement, 2nd clarinet suite (Beyer)Interval
sequence

• Line Tempo Scalar Interval Name Pitch (octave
  reduced)
• 1 1/1 C
• 2 3/2 P5th G
• 3 3/2 P5th D
• 4 1/3 P5th (down) G
• 5 3/2 P5th D
• 6 3/2 P5th A
• 7 3/2 P5th E
• 8 2/1 Octave E
• 9 3/4 P4th (down) B

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References (tempo melodies/Beyer)

• Boland, Marguerite. 2007. Experimentation and
  Process in the Music of Johanna Beyer. VivaVoce
  No. 86, Journal of the Internationaler
  Arbeitskreis Frau and Musik (in German).
  www.archiv-frau-musik.de. (English version on
  Polansky, website)
• 2007a. (ed.) Suite for Clarinet Ib. Annotated
  performance edition. Frog Peak/Johanna Beyer
  Project 17. Series editor Polansky, Larry.
  Hanover Frog Peak Music (A Composers
  Collective)
• Cowell, Henry. 1930. New Musical Resources.
  Republished by Something Else Press, 1969.
• Goode, Daniel. 2007. Suite for Clarinet I .
  Annotated performance edition. Frog Peak/Johanna
  Beyer Project 16. Kitsz, Dennis, copyist and
  co-editor.
• Kennedy, J. and Polansky, L. 1996. Total
  Eclipse The Music of Johanna Magdalena Beyer
  An Introduction and Preliminary Annotated
  Checklist. Musical Quarterly. 80/4.
• Polansky, Larry. 2008. Sticky Melodies The
  Choral and Chamber Music of Johanna Magdalena
  Beyer. Liner notes to Sticky Melodies, New World
  CD 80678.
• Johanna Magdalena beyer miscellaneous
  materials http//eamusic.dartmouth.edu/larry/mi
  sc_writings/talks/beyer.index.html
• 1930. Seeger, Charles. Tradition and Experiment
  in the New Music, in Studies in Musicology II,
  (ed.) Ann Pescatello, University of California
  Press. Berkeley, CA. 1994.
• Thanks to Marguerite Boland and Amy Beal for help
  with these ideas

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2. Dissonant counterpoint and statistical
feedback(Cowell/Seeger/Tenney/Ames)
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melodic dissonant counterpoint
Carl Ruggles has developed a process for himself
in writing melodies for polyphonic purposes which
embodies a new principle and is more purely
contrapuntal than a consideration of harmonic
intervals. He finds that if the same note is
repeated in a melody before enough notes have
intervened to remove the impression of the
original note, there is a sense of tautology,
because the melody should have proceeded to a
fresh note instead of to a note already in the
consciousness of the listener. Therefore Ruggles
writes at least seven or eight different notes in
a melody before allowing himself to repeat the
same note, even in the octave. Henry Cowell,
NMR, pp. 41-42
Avoid repetition of any tone until at least six
progressions have been made. Seeger, Manual
of Dissonant Counterpoint. p. 174.
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Tenney on the evolution of Carl Ruggles melodic
style

• I believe that what he was primarily concerned
  with was freshness newness, maximal variety of
  pitch-content and the sustaining of a high
  degree of atonal or atonical (but nevertheless
  harmonic) tension.

James Tenney, 1997. The Chronological Evolution
of Carl Ruggles Melodic Style
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Tenney Chronological graphs of ALSD, ALSCin
Ruggles works(average length of different pitch
classes average length of consonant pitch
strings)

• Consider for a moment what is meant by the
  incredibly high values for ALSD reached in Sun
  Treader, the Evocations, and Organum. It is, in
  each case, almost 9, which means that at every
  moment in the process of composing these melodic
  lines there were only four pitch-classes
  remaining to chose from for the next tone and
  not even all of these four would necessarily
  satisfy certain other conditions, such as the
  desire for dissonant relations in close
  proximity. Very severe constraints indeed, for a
  music which sounds so free! (Tenney)

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Statistical Feedback(Charles Ames)

• Along with backtracking, statistical feedback is
  probably the most pervasive technique used by my
  composing programs. As contrasted with random
  procedures which seek to create unpredictability
  or lack of pattern, statistical feedback actively
  seeks to bring a population of elements into
  conformity with a prescribed distribution. The
  basic trick is to maintain statistics describing
  how much each option has been used in the past
  and to bias the decisions in favor of those
  options which currently fall farthest short of
  their ideal representation

Charles Ames Tutorial on Automated Composition.
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uh-oh!

• H T H H H H H T T T

• limited frame size
• probability vs. statistics
• colored local distributions
• odd strings
• method, not result

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Tenney, dissonant counterpoint (melody)
algorithm (incorporating statistical feedback)
simplest version

• 1. Take N elements and associated probabilities
  pn
• 2. Using a pseudo-random number generator, pick
  an element
• 3. Set the selected elements probability to zero
  (or some very low value)
• 4. Increment all other probabilities by some
  uniform or weighted amount
• 5. Pick again

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Tenney algorithmprobability progressions (1)
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Tenney algorithmprobability progressions (2)
Thanks to Kimo Johnson for his collaboration on
these graphs
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Tenney dissonation algorithmhistograms of simple
version of the function
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different probability increment functionsTenney
dissonation algorithmautocorrelation over n
trials
Original, linear function (no curvature)
Strong positive curvature
Linear function with MAX 1
Very strong positive curvature
Thanks to Mike Winter and Alexander Barnett for
collaboration in this work.
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Tenney mode example
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Example of Tenneys use of the melodic
algorithmSeegersong 2solo flute

• Performed by Margaret Lancaster
• Forthcoming on her solo CD, Have Faith!, New
  World Records

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Selected References Melodic dissonant
counterpoint/statistical feedback

• Charles Ames
• 1996. Thresholds of Confidence An Analysis of
  Statistical Methods for Composition Part 2
  Applications, Leonardo Music Journal 6.
• 1995. Thresholds of Confidence An Analysis of
  Statistical Methods for Composition, Part 1
  Theory. Leonardo Music Journal 5.
• 1993. How to Level a Driver Sequence, Leonardo
  Music Journal 3.
• 1992. Catalog of Sequence Generators, Leonardo
  Music Journal 2.
• 1991. Catalog of Statistical Distributions
  Techniques for Transforming Random, Determinate
  and Chaotic Sequences, Leonardo Music Journal 1.
• 1990. Statistics and Compositional Balance,
  Perspectives of New Music, 28/1.
• 1987a. Automated Composition in Retrospect,
  Leonardo, 20/2.
• 1987b. Tutorial on Automated Composition,
  Proceedings of the ICMC. International Computer
  Music Association. Urbana, Illinois.
• 1986. Two Pieces for Amplified
  Guitar,Interface Journal of New Music Research,
  15/1.
• James Tenney
• 1977. The Chronological Development of Carl
  Ruggles' Melodic Style, Perspectives of New
  Music, 16/1.
• Larry Polansky, Mike Winter (with Alexander
  Barnett).
• In progress. A Few More Words About James
  Tenney Dissonant Counterpoint and Statistical
  Feedback. Paper given NYC (2007) and Phoenix
  (2006)
• Michael Casey
• 1992. HS A Symbolic Programming Language for
  Computer Assisted Composition. M.A Thesis,
  Dartmouth College.

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3. Freestyle tuning and paratactical
intonation(Harrison)
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scales in Arions Leap
Metal Strung Harp

• Ya chengs
• 3-part chord with the intervals 7/6 and 4/3,
  tuned as A-C-D (4/3, 14/9, 16/9), transposed up
  25 /24, 16/15, 6/5, down 25/24.
• Troubadour Harp
• Adds Eb (50/27), Bb (25/18), G (32/27) to the
  total fabric

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tyvarb (Breysheet) (in the beginning ... )
(Cantillation Study 1)(1985 revised 1987,
1989)for voice and live computerJody
Diamond, voiceLarry Polansky and Phil Burk, live
computer systemsfrom The Theory of Impossible
MelodyNew World Records, 2009(reissue of
Artifact CD, 4, 1991)
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References freestyle tuning, paratactical
intonation

• Lou Harrison
• 1971. Music Primer. New York, C.F. Peters
• 1974. A Phrase for Arions Leap. Score published
  in Ear (West) 1. Recording on Tellus 14 Just
  Intonation (1986).
• Leta Miller and Fredric Lieberman
• 1998. Lou Harrison Composing a World. Oxford
  University Press.
• Larry Polansky
• 1987. Item Lou Harrison as a Speculative
  Theorist. In A Lou Harrison Reader. Santa Fe
  Soundings Press, edited by Peter Garland.
• 1987. Paratactical Tuning An Agenda for the
  Future Use of Computers in Experimental
  Intonation, Computer Music Journal, 11(1).
• 1987. HMSL Intonation Environment, 1/1 The
  Journal of the Just Intonation Nework, 31.
• Ezra Sims
• 1987. Letter to CMJ, Computer Music Journal,
  11/4
• James Tenney
• 1987. About Changes Sixty-four Studies for Six
  Harps, Perspectives of New Music, 251/2
• Harold Wagge
• 1985. The Intelligent Keyboard, 1/1 The
  Journal of the Just Intonation Nework, 14.