4 ms·

> to compose music out of the beat frequencies that exist as harmonic dissonances between two or more notes Do you have any links regarding this?

dahart 10y ago
Yeah, I was thinking of "Spectral Music": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_music Tristan Murail is a well known composer of spectral music. http://www.tristanmurail.com/en/outils.html http://www.tristanmurail.com/en/outils.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Murail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Murail Also worth exploring in terms of modern music theory are microtonal music and atonal music, both of those are playing with incorporating the physics of notes, overtones and harmonic relationships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtonal_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtonal_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality Apologies for only bringing Wikipedia links, but they are pretty good launching points for learning more.
- Bromskloss 10y ago
  > Yeah, I was thinking of "Spectral Music" Oh. It has not been my understanding that spectral music is about beat frequencies. Beside the point: My experience of spectral music has been that it's a neat idea that seems worthy of trying out. Then, when you do it – test the hypothesis, so to say – it turns out that nope, didn't work, sounds awful.
  - dahart 10y ago
    Yes. Spectral is a bit more about composing using overtones than beat frequencies. I know the latter has been done, but I mixed them up a little, I would have described it as overtones were I to write my initial comment again. I agree that it's not producing pleasant music to the masses. It's more of an academic exercise, but it is influencing modern music theory and bridging classical music theory with a more recent understanding of harmonics.
AnthonyNagid 10y ago
Here is good example of some one with proven jazz and classical mastery to trancend the theory he clearly knows and improvise with beat frequencies. Keith Jarrett, 'Spheres / Hymns'. He especially uses this technique between 20:00 and 30:00. See my thread below if you'd like to read more about why this composition is relevant to the parent thread. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXymPInuMkM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXymPInuMkM
rhizome 10y ago
Alvin Lucier and Giacinto Scelsi have both worked extensively with this concept.
squeaky-clean 10y ago
I can't give any links, but I've done something similar during a live show. I use a laptop and several keyboard controllers to play and loop music live, the computer providing precise timing that would otherwise make this impossible with a live band (unless everyone was on a metronome). I've got a piece in C#m at 87 bpm [0]. I'll play a piano instrument which is being fed into a distortion (the distortion makes the beat frequency much more apparent) and slam an Ab1 and A1 at the same time. That's 55.00hz - 51.91hz [0], which gives a 3.09 hertz beating. Or a period of 323.6ms [0]. So you have two notes close together, which sounds very dissonant, they're bass notes which makes it muddy, and it's so distorted, you can barely tell what the actual notes are. But it swells up and down on the tempo like a rhythmic device. [0] Anyone who looked up a tempo -> ms chart is going to say "WTF, that's not in time with 87 bpm." Which is correct, but because pianos are stretched tuned (and so is the virtual instrument I use), the numbers I provided aren't exactly true. I never bothered to measure the exact frequencies, but I kept adjusting things until everything sounded right by ear.
whiddershins 10y ago
Not remotely a canonical example, but this piece (of mine) uses Linnstrument to create rhythms and structure by detuning and retuning unison sine waves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRQk7TWndBw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRQk7TWndBw

dahart 10y ago

Yeah, I was thinking of "Spectral Music": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_music Tristan Murail is a well known composer of spectral music. http://www.tristanmurail.com/en/outils.html http://www.tristanmurail.com/en/outils.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Murail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Murail Also worth exploring in terms of modern music theory are microtonal music and atonal music, both of those are playing with incorporating the physics of notes, overtones and harmonic relationships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtonal_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtonal_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality Apologies for only bringing Wikipedia links, but they are pretty good launching points for learning more.

Bromskloss 10y ago
> Yeah, I was thinking of "Spectral Music" Oh. It has not been my understanding that spectral music is about beat frequencies. Beside the point: My experience of spectral music has been that it's a neat idea that seems worthy of trying out. Then, when you do it – test the hypothesis, so to say – it turns out that nope, didn't work, sounds awful.
- dahart 10y ago
  Yes. Spectral is a bit more about composing using overtones than beat frequencies. I know the latter has been done, but I mixed them up a little, I would have described it as overtones were I to write my initial comment again. I agree that it's not producing pleasant music to the masses. It's more of an academic exercise, but it is influencing modern music theory and bridging classical music theory with a more recent understanding of harmonics.

AnthonyNagid 10y ago

Here is good example of some one with proven jazz and classical mastery to trancend the theory he clearly knows and improvise with beat frequencies. Keith Jarrett, 'Spheres / Hymns'. He especially uses this technique between 20:00 and 30:00. See my thread below if you'd like to read more about why this composition is relevant to the parent thread. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXymPInuMkM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXymPInuMkM

rhizome 10y ago

Alvin Lucier and Giacinto Scelsi have both worked extensively with this concept.

squeaky-clean 10y ago

I can't give any links, but I've done something similar during a live show. I use a laptop and several keyboard controllers to play and loop music live, the computer providing precise timing that would otherwise make this impossible with a live band (unless everyone was on a metronome). I've got a piece in C#m at 87 bpm [0]. I'll play a piano instrument which is being fed into a distortion (the distortion makes the beat frequency much more apparent) and slam an Ab1 and A1 at the same time. That's 55.00hz - 51.91hz [0], which gives a 3.09 hertz beating. Or a period of 323.6ms [0]. So you have two notes close together, which sounds very dissonant, they're bass notes which makes it muddy, and it's so distorted, you can barely tell what the actual notes are. But it swells up and down on the tempo like a rhythmic device. [0] Anyone who looked up a tempo -> ms chart is going to say "WTF, that's not in time with 87 bpm." Which is correct, but because pianos are stretched tuned (and so is the virtual instrument I use), the numbers I provided aren't exactly true. I never bothered to measure the exact frequencies, but I kept adjusting things until everything sounded right by ear.

whiddershins 10y ago

Not remotely a canonical example, but this piece (of mine) uses Linnstrument to create rhythms and structure by detuning and retuning unison sine waves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRQk7TWndBw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRQk7TWndBw