 |
| your blogger |
Since early in my composing life I had been intrigued by the idea of inventing
a tonal system of my own, as Scriabin was rumored to have done with his system
"based on fourths". My problem was that what that might mean, technically, was
not clear to me. The first constructive step I took toward an eventual
solution was to start working with mod-17 structures overlain on the familiar
mod-12 pitch universe. I had a breakthrough in this regard with
Slow Blues, for solo piano. Several tracks of thought converged
therein, of which the most crucial was the realization that a tonal system
could reveal itself under transformations - particularly, for my purposes, the
"M-transforms" or "Multiplicative Operations". In mod-12 arithmetic
(arithmetic on a clock face, for instance, with a "0" in the place of "12")
these transforms reveal symmetries inherent to the number 12, i.e. while M1
transforms a set into itself, M2 converts a chromatic scale of 12 notes into a
whole-tone scale of 6, M3 into a minor-third scale of 4 notes, M5 into a
Major-third scale of 3 notes, etc. But because 17 is prime, under mod-17 (like
a clock face with 17 hours: 0 - 16) each transform yields a unique ordering of
the same size - a two-note set yields a two-note set, a six-note set yields a
six-note set, etc. - except M0 of course, which flat-lines no matter what your
modulus. In addition, a whole slew of relations within derived pitch sets
remains intact, mutatis mutandis. It should also be noted that notes 17
semi-tones apart are not always the "same" acoustic note - C-natural is the
"same" pitch class as F-natural an octave and a fourth above it - which tilts
acoustic pitch-geometry in what I have found to be an interesting way.
 |
| Karen Eisenbrey |
I had also been thinking about what I would now call the stanzaic
structures of American demotic music such as the blues, and wanted to see what
framing a composition within such an harmonic rhythm as, for instance, a basic
"I I I I / IV IV I I / V V I I" 12-bar blues, might allow for metrical
cross-relations among like-situated segments of music.
Putting this all together, the opening 12 bars of Slow Blues (echoed in the
closing 12 bars) is based on an "M0-transform", a single mod-17 pitch class
represented acoustically as D-natural below middle C (for I), A-natural 17
semi-tones below that (for IV), and G-natural 17 semi-tones above the D (for
V), in a punning inversion of the usual
tonic-dominant-subdominant relationship among those three notes. The next
12-bar stanza was M1, using both "minor" and "Major" versions of the triads
freely; the next was M2, etc. all the way back around to M16 and M0 at the
end. Beyond that my method was to compose each stanza under a new figuration
regime, as in a classical theme and variations, which schema remains one of my
go-to favorites.
 |
| Anna K and Neal Kosály-Meyer |
What gratified me most was how well it all seems to hang together through all
the pitch shenanigans. I have performed it and recorded it several times over
the years, both as a solo piece and as a trio with improvised accompaniment by
Neal Kosály-Meyer on cornet and Karen Eisenbrey on drums. A solo performance
of it served, in November of 1999, as my introduction to the Washington
Composers' Forum. I was active in the group until 2010, much of that time
serving as Treasurer.
Entracte is, so far, my only piece for piano 4-hands. The original idea
was that it could be paired with another composer's 4-hand piece of the same
size, so that the parts could be cross-matched with each other. A few years
later Gavin Borchert came through and we performed all the versions during a
joint recital at Polestar Music Gallery (the precursor to Gallery 1412).
Musically, its material is salvaged from The Abyss (1998).
 |
| Aaron Keyt at the piano, with Karen and Neal |
Depth of Mercy is my first attempt at writing a hymn. The melody is
broadly diatonic and is matched squarely with the syllables of its text, which
is by Charles Wesley. The accompaniment is heavy on open harmonies, so as not
to alarm a congregation. Karen sang it for a service at United Churches in
Olympia, where her dad as serving as an assistant pastor. I recall one
congregant telling me afterwards that it sounded like Hovhaness, a remark that
puzzled me at the time. I don't deny a certain surface similarity of affect,
but I imagine now that Hovhaness was one of the few living composers that they
may have had some experience of.
Banned Rehearsal wound up the century, and began the next, with a somewhat
inebriated two-hour session that straddled midnight.
Banned Playout:
Numbered: (518-555): 27:10:08
Peripherals: (one session): 00:20:06
Total 1999: 27:31:04
Grand Total: 642:28:20
Scores:
Slow Blues
Entracte
Depth of Mercy
Recordings:
Slow Blues
Entracte
Depth of Mercy
