February 2014 – Microtonal Music by Prent Rodgers

Bonfires & Illuminations #1

This is a work in progress. Today is just the vamp. Based on the same chord changes as the previous piece, Bells.

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Or download here: Bonfires & Illuminations.

This is a completed version of my ambient piece in the Second of July collection based on John Adams remarks on July 2, 1776. It’s scored for 128 Baritone Guitars and bass finger piano. I make liberal use of the following envelope to mask the initial guitar transients.
f272 0 1025 6 0 64 .5 64 1 256 1 512 1 64 .5 64 0 ; e26 slow rise, sustain, slow drop
Which looks like this:

The notes have a wide variety of slides available to them, but they always slide to another of the six notes in the six note scales, or to one of the notes in the next scale in the series. Sort of E minor, A minor, D minor, G major, C major, F major, C major and out. This is the progression I have used in the past. It’s a typical rock intro vamp for some forlorn song about love lost and then found.

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Or download here: Bells.

Bells #2

This is a work in progress. I’ve boosted the number of baritone guitar strings that play simultaneously. It’s up to as many as 128 at a time now, creating a wall of sound. I varied the tempo a bit, which lengthened some sections.

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Or download here: Bells.

Bells #1

This is a work in progress. Today’s entry is guitar chords and bass finger piano and baritone guitar samples. It’s a common progression:

E_min+F_maj
A_min+B-neu
D_min+E_min
G_maj+A+sub
C_maj+D_neu
F_maj+G_neu
C_maj+D_neu

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Or download here: Bells.

Guns #8

This is a completed version of Guns, another in a series based on John Adams statement of the Declaration of Independence made on July 2, 1776. The piece is scored for flutes, vibraphones, baritone guitars, marimbas, and finger pianos. The tuning is based on the following six note scales in the Adams-12 subset from 72-EDO.

The piece switches between the pink and the white scales, then after a while moves to the next pair of pink and white scales, eventually ending where it began. There is a melody that is repeated with many variations, including slides, tremolo, trills, and harmonizations. With only six notes at a time, this tends towards triadic harmony in the melody. The guitars and finger pianos on the other hand have their pitches chosen using the Markov Chain Drunkard’s Walk randomizing algorithm. They chose the next note in a chord by moving either one up or one down the following list of choices:

.one-A1 &pre-&n1..
.one-A4 &pre-&n4..
.one-A2 &pre-&n2..
.one-A5 &pre-&n5..
.one-A3 &pre-&n3..
.one-A6 &pre-&n6..

When I need an eight note chord, I pick eight of those, and what I get is probably related by how close the notes are to each other. For example, the randomizer might pick the 2nd element of the list, &pre-&n4.., which is the fourth note in the scale. It must pick next either the 1st or 3rd element, either &pre-&n1.. or &pre-&n2.., which are either the first or second in the scale. The next one picked is dependent on the prior choice, but it could go up or down the list of choices. There is a predominance of fourth chords using this scale layout. In my last piece, Sports, I built the list of choices based on a preponderance of thirds. Fourth chords using these odd scales have a clangy effect.