The Arithmetic of Listening

The Arithmetic of Listening PDF Author: Kyle Gann
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252051424
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
"Tuning is the secret lens through which the history of music falls into focus," says Kyle Gann. Yet in Western circles, no other musical issue is so ignored, so taken for granted, so shoved into the corners of musical discourse. A classroom essential and an invaluable reference, The Arithmetic of Listening offers beginners the grounding in music theory necessary to find their own way into microtonality and the places it may take them. Moving from ancient Greece to the present, Kyle Gann delves into the infinite tunings available to any musician who feels straitjacketed by obedience to standardized Western European tuning. He introduces the concept of the harmonic series and demonstrates its relationship to equal-tempered and well-tempered tuning. He also explores recent experimental tuning models that exploit smaller intervals between pitches to create new sounds and harmonies. Systematic and accessible, The Arithmetic of Listening provides a much-needed primer for the wide range of tuning systems that have informed Western music. Audio examples demonstrating the musical ideas in The Arithmetic of Listening can be found at: https://www.kylegann.com/Arithmetic.html

The Arithmetic of Listening

The Arithmetic of Listening PDF Author: Kyle Gann
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252051424
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Get Book

Book Description
"Tuning is the secret lens through which the history of music falls into focus," says Kyle Gann. Yet in Western circles, no other musical issue is so ignored, so taken for granted, so shoved into the corners of musical discourse. A classroom essential and an invaluable reference, The Arithmetic of Listening offers beginners the grounding in music theory necessary to find their own way into microtonality and the places it may take them. Moving from ancient Greece to the present, Kyle Gann delves into the infinite tunings available to any musician who feels straitjacketed by obedience to standardized Western European tuning. He introduces the concept of the harmonic series and demonstrates its relationship to equal-tempered and well-tempered tuning. He also explores recent experimental tuning models that exploit smaller intervals between pitches to create new sounds and harmonies. Systematic and accessible, The Arithmetic of Listening provides a much-needed primer for the wide range of tuning systems that have informed Western music. Audio examples demonstrating the musical ideas in The Arithmetic of Listening can be found at: https://www.kylegann.com/Arithmetic.html

How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and Why You Should Care)

How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and Why You Should Care) PDF Author: Ross W. Duffin
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393075648
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
"A fascinating and genuinely accessible guide....Educating, enjoyable, and delightfully unscary."—Classical Music What if Bach and Mozart heard richer, more dramatic chords than we hear in music today? What sonorities and moods have we lost in playing music in "equal temperament"—the equal division of the octave into twelve notes that has become our standard tuning method? Thanks to How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony, "we may soon be able to hear for ourselves what Beethoven really meant when he called B minor 'black'" (Wall Street Journal).In this "comprehensive plea for more variety in tuning methods" (Kirkus Reviews), Ross W. Duffin presents "a serious and well-argued case" (Goldberg Magazine) that "should make any contemporary musician think differently about tuning" (Saturday Guardian). Some images in the ebook are not displayed owing to permissions issues.

Listen, Buddy

Listen, Buddy PDF Author: Helen Lester
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544003225
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
A lop-eared rabbit named Buddy finds himself in trouble with the Scruffy Varmint because he never listens.

Charles Ives's Concord

Charles Ives's Concord PDF Author: Kyle Gann
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252099362
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
In 1921, insurance executive Charles Ives sent out copies of a piano sonata to two hundred strangers. Laden with dissonant chords, complex rhythm, and a seemingly chaotic structure, the so-called Concord Sonata confounded the recipients, as did the accompanying book, Essays before a Sonata . Kyle Gann merges exhaustive research with his own experience as a composer to reveal the Concord Sonata and the essays in full. Diffracting the twinned works into their essential aspects, Gann lays out the historical context that produced Ives's masterpiece and illuminates the arguments Ives himself explored in the Essays . Gann also provides a movement-by-movement analysis of the work's harmonic structure and compositional technique; connects the sonata to Ives works that share parts of its material; and compares the 1921 version of the Concord with its 1947 revision to reveal important aspects of Ives's creative process. A tour de force of critical, theoretical, and historical thought, Charles Ives's Concord provides nothing less than the first comprehensive consideration of a work at the heart of twentieth century American music.

The Birth of Music Theory

The Birth of Music Theory PDF Author: Richard Dumbrill
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781716478253
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book is a full revision of the essential cuneiform texts of Ancient Near-Eastern Musicology. It covers a period from around 2600 to 500 BC in Sumerian, Akkadian and Hurrian languages. It is the most recent re-evaluation of these texts which are explored in a new light and replace previous obsolete analyses.

Microtonality and the Tuning Systems of Erv Wilson

Microtonality and the Tuning Systems of Erv Wilson PDF Author: Terumi Narushima
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317513428
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This book explores the emerging area of microtonality through an examination of the tuning theories of Erv Wilson. It is the first publication to offer a broad discussion of this influential theorist whose innovations have far-reaching ramifications for microtonal tuning systems. This study addresses the breadth and complexity of Wilson’s work by focusing on his microtonal keyboard designs as a means to investigate his tuning concepts and their practical applications. Narushima examines materials ranging from historical and experimental tunings to instrument design, as well as musical applications of mathematical theories and multidimensional geometry. The volume provides an analysis of some of Wilson’s most significant theoretical ideas, including the Scale Tree, Moments of Symmetry, Constant Structures, and Combination-Product Sets. These theories offer ways to conceptualize musical scales as patterns with structural integrity and whose shapes can be altered to produce infinitely varying forms. The book shows how these structural properties can be used to map scales onto a microtonal keyboard by providing step-by-step guidelines and clearly illustrated examples. Most importantly, it brings together theoretical and practical methods of tuning to enable composers, performers, and instrument designers to explore previously uncharted areas of microtonality, making a significant contribution to the fields of music theory, composition and music technology.

The Music of James Tenney

The Music of James Tenney PDF Author: Robert Wannamaker
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252052560
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
Parsing the works of the experimental music pioneer Robert Wannamaker's monumental two-volume study explores the influential music and ideas of American composer, theorist, writer, performer, and educator James Tenney. Delving into the whole of Tenney's far-ranging oeuvre, Wannamaker provides in-depth, aurally grounded analyses of works linked to the artist's revolutionary theories of musical form, timbre, and harmonic perception. Volume 1, Contexts and Paradigms, chronologically surveys Tenney's creative development and output. Wannamaker begins each section with biographical, aesthetic, and technical context that illuminates a distinct period in Tenney's career. From there, he analyzes a small number of pieces that illuminate the concerns, characteristics, and techniques that emerged in Tenney's music during that time. Wannamaker supplements the text with musical examples, graphs, and diagrams while also drawing on unpublished material and newly available primary sources to flesh out each work and the ideas that shaped it. A landmark in experimental music scholarship, The Music of James Tenney is a first-of-its-kind consideration of the experimental music titan and his work.

The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics)

The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics) PDF Author: Jane Yolen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0142401099
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
30th Anniversary edition with a new introduction from the author Hannah is tired of holiday gatherings−all her family ever talks about is the past. In fact, it seems to her that's what they do every Jewish holiday. But this year's Passover Seder will be different−Hannah will be mysteriously transported into the past . . . and only she knows the unspeakable horrors that await. Winner of the National Jewish Book Award "A triumphantly moving book." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale

Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale PDF Author: William A. Sethares
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1447141776
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale focuses on perceptions of consonance and dissonance, and how these are dependent on timbre. This also relates to musical scale: certain timbres sound more consonant in some scales than others. Sensory consonance and the ability to measure it have important implications for the design of audio devices and for musical theory and analysis. Applications include methods of adapting sounds for arbitrary scales, ways to specify scales for nonharmonic sounds, and techniques of sound manipulation based on maximizing (or minimizing) consonance. Special consideration is given here to a new method of adaptive tuning that can automatically adjust the tuning of a piece based its timbral character so as to minimize dissonance. Audio examples illustrating the ideas presented are provided on an accompanying CD. This unique analysis of sound and scale will be of interest to physicists and engineers working in acoustics, as well as to musicians and psychologists.

Number Talks

Number Talks PDF Author: Sherry Parrish
Publisher: Math Solutions
ISBN: 1935099116
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
"A multimedia professional learning resource"--Cover.