A Rondo in Minor Modes for Two Pianos in Nineteen Tone Equal Temperament

Nineteen tone equal temperament (nineteen equally spaced notes per octave instead of the usual twelve) is a popular choice for microtonal composers. It has major and minor triads that are closer to just intonation than in twelve tone equal temperament. It is generally regarded as a more consonant tuning than standard twelve tone equal temperament.

Personally, I find Nineteen tone equal temperament to be somewhat unsettling to work with. Its fifth and major third are both flatter than purely tuned intervals and I usually prefer major thirds that are sharper than purely tuned (5/4) and closer to the Pythagorean major third (81/64).

In any case, I wanted to experiment with this temperament. I came up with a piece for two pianos that could actually be played in real life if the two pianos were tuned to share the 19 tones per octave. I know this is an awkward way to perform, but this is actually done successfully on occasion during concerts. I decided to explore this temperament's darker side. Here is my Rondo in minor modes for two pianos in nineteen tone equal temperament.

See also my Nocturne for two pianos in seventeen tone equal temperament.

Revelation for Piano

Here is Michael Harrison performing his innovative "revelation tuning", a form of just intonation that makes use of small tuning differences that are generally avoided in other types of purely tuned music.

Revelation for Piano (Michael Harrison)

See also Michael Harrison's website.

Nocturne for Two Pianos in Seventeen Tone Equal Temperament

I wrote this piece for a concert in Texas last year. It was phase three of the seventeen tone piano project. Two pianos were retuned so they shared the notes of seventeen tone equal temperament (seventeen equally spaced notes to the octave instead of the usual twelve). This is often regarded as a rather challenging tuning. It's major and minor thirds are more dissonant than what we are accustomed to. This can result in a somewhat harsh sound. Despite these difficulties, I enjoy this tuning. I challenged myself to try to compose a piece that highlights its softer side. I came up with this nocturne. (Click on the link to hear it.)

The entire concert was archived here. Phase two of the project was videotaped and can be seen here. You might also enjoy this page about the project at Xenharmonic Wikispaces.

Nose Music

It's marvelous that a simple piece of plastic can employ the nose to produce a continuous microtonal range of pitches. The infamous nose whistle (sometimes called a nose flute) owes its success to using the nose as a source of wind, freeing the mouth to serve as a flexible resonating chamber that can adjust to produce the required notes. If that sounds confusing, this video should help clear things up.

Nose Whistle Demonstration

Other kinds of nose flutes are used throughout the world, as shown in the following video.

Vietnamese Nose Flutes

It should be pointed out that the nose has other musical uses besides the mere blowing of air. Notice the subtle and delicate use of the nose as a temporary substitute for the fingers while they are employed elsewhere.

Shnozzage (Etude # 23 by David Rakowski)

Unusual Microtonal Instruments, Part 4

So far, we have examined a large variety of microtonal instruments. We have yet to discuss the keyboard and its role in producing microtonal music. In some ways the piano style keyboard is the victim of its own success. Its twelve keys per octave arrangement has become so common that many have forgotten that there are other alternatives, but imagine what you could do with this alternative keyboard controller from H-Pi Instruments.

Tonal Plexus

This keyboard features an impressive 211 keys per octave. I can't imagine a situation where this wouldn't be sufficient. This same company also sells the Tuning Box, the world's first microtonal midi converter. You can use it to retune electronic keyboards or software synthesizers. It can store over 500 tunings. This is a great idea. This could save a person a lot of time and money shopping for equipment with microtonal capabilities.

If this all sounds new and unusual, you might enjoy visiting their instrument galleries that feature a long history of keyboards capable of playing more than 12 notes per octave. For example, here is a modern reconstruction of a sixteenth century harpsichord that has 36 keys per octave split between two manuals.

Archicembalo

Here is a 31 tone to the octave pipe organ.

Fokker organ

Here is a closeup of a 22 tone just intonation harpsichord keyboard with unusual split keys.

Just Intonation harpsichord

See also:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 5

Quarter Tone Piano

Normally, a piano has notes that are a half tone apart. If you take two pianos and tune one of them a quarter tone sharp, you can use them to play 24 tone equal temperament. These videos demonstrate 3 quarter tone piano pieces by Charles Ives.

24 tone equal temperament is a somewhat controversial tuning. It's similarity to 12 tone equal temperament makes it an obvious choice for study, but many people don't like it. They point out that the in between notes tend to be rather dissonant. This tuning is regarded by some as one of the least interesting. Well, I haven't formed any strong opinions about it myself. I have had very little success with it, so far, but I recently had some ideas that may be productive. I can say that I like these pieces and hope you will enjoy them, too.

Charles Ives-3 Quarter Tone Pieces-Largo

Charles Ives-3 Quarter Tone Pieces-Allegro

Charles Ives-3 Quarter Tone Pieces-Chorale

Many thanks to Daniel Stearns for bringing these to my attention. See this page for more information on these pieces.

The Seventeen Tone Piano Project

The seventeen tone piano project is an ambitious undertaking that involves tuning two pianos to share the notes of seventeen tone equal temperament (seventeen equally spaced notes to the octave instead of twelve). This is an unique and exotic tuning. It is characterised by fifths that are somewhat sharper than purely tuned fifths. (Twelve tone equal temperament and mean-tone tunings have somewhat flat fifths.) It also has a neutral third in addition to versions of major and minor thirds.

That's enough theory, it's better to listen to it, so I have included this video of phase two of the project.

Seventeen Tone Piano Project, Phase Two

Phase three is scheduled to be performed this coming Monday. I'm excited because I have submitted one of my own pieces for the concert. It's a gentle nocturne. I tried to write a piece that contrasts with the reputation of 17ET as being somewhat rough sounding. Time will tell if I succeeded or not.

Update: Recordings of phase 3 are archived here.

Two Gamelan Transcriptions for Piano

It can be pretty difficult, at times, to perform microtonal music on certain acoustic instruments. This video results from an ambitious yet rewarding process of retuning a piano to a gamelan scale. I love this pairing of tuning and timbre. It might not be authentic, but it sure is interesting.

Two Gamelan Transcriptions

See also Microtonal Music Videos