Whisper Song in 53 EDO

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I think this one is finished for now. This is a piece for Finger Piano, Bass Flute, Cello, and Dry Spring. The Dry Spring is an amplified percussion instrument I made back in the 1970’s for live performance. All the sounds are made with Csound as a sample based synthesizer. Tuning is 53 tone to the octave equal divisions of octave (53-EDO)

The structure is kind of like a theme in C major, with a bridge in E minor, A minor, D minor, G minor. The E is a 5:4 above the C at 1:1, so a circle of fourths ends up on a G that is slightly flat. I solve that one by sliding up a step from 30 to 31. See the notes in Sagittal notation in the chart on the right. Each is moved around by the 53rd root of 2, the single step of 53 EDO, a ratio of 77:76. These steps are so small that it is hard to notice that the key has modulated by one, two, or three steps, and then back down.

One section at the end includes a longer bridge that includes the keys shown on the left. They start at kind of an A flat, and move up by fourths until they hit the G a 3:2 above the C at 1:1.

The finger piano samples are from an instrument I made in the 1970’s also, when I was playing more live. It has a nice solid base and piano like middle, and harp like highs. By truncating the envelope, I can make it sound more like a Fender Jazz Bass with plastic strings. This envelope is shown below.

The end includes arpeggios of the finger piano with an envelope like the chart at the bottom.

Changing the volume levels

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This is a work in progress…

There is an arpeggio melody that Flute, Finger Piano, and Cello play. Each instrument can choose how loud to play each three note portion of the melody. It lets the melody float from one to another.

Round and Round

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The circle of fourths starts with G flat, and ends with G
14 36 05 27 49 18 40 09 31

Repeatability variations

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The first 30 seconds have repeatability set high: 18 out of 32 for the finger piano, and flute. Then in the middle I set it low: 2 out of 32 for three measures. Then it’s back to 18 for the last 30 seconds.

Drift

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This one is about testing the crescendo and decrescendo technique, and also drifting up by the 53rd root of 2 (one step in 53 tone equal temperament). Actual from 0, to 1, to 2, to 1, back to 0 for each measure. So three steps.

Arpeggios in Opposite Directions

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I changed the finger piano envelope to something like that chart, and then fed each note of some opposite direction arpeggios through it.

More Variations in the Variability

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The piece offers each part a variety of measures to choose from. Sometimes I push one of the instruments to keep choosing the same measure, sometimes to try very hard not to choose the same one. Or it can sequence through them in a series. Variability is set for each instrument to a number from 0 (never pick the same thing again) to 32 (always pick the same thing again). The higher the number, the more likely it will pick the same measure twice in a row. In this section I vary the variability a bit.