Free style JI: Difference between revisions

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[[Lou Harrison]] invented this term from a technique he applied first in the middle section of his piece "[https://soundcloud.com/center-21stcentury-music/lou-harrison-at-the-tomb-iof-charles-ives At The Tomb of Charles Ives]" (see also [http://web.archive.org/web/20190408152307/https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/pitchrecs3 Archived page on CD Baby]); Instead of working with a set of fixed pitches, his concept was instead to use a set of fixed intervals regardless where this lead one. [[David Doty]] realized a midi version of a Symphony in Free Style That Mr. Harrison wrote.
In '''Free Style JI''', pitches are not chosen from a fixed just scale, but
instead determined by their ratio with the previous melody note or with a note
in the current harmony.<ref name="polansky1987harrison" />


In adding freedom you may be sacrificing a 'safety' of familiarity, tonality, simplicity of materials, etc. It is a dangerous and rewarding world out there. Another consideration is that unless an effort is made to restrict the range of tonalities, the numerators and denominators grow with time and become unwieldy and eventually impossible to manage. If no such effort is made, they grow linearly. One possible solution is nanotempering--using an equal temperament so high it cannot be distinguished from JI.
== Definition ==


[[Toby Twining]]'s ''Chrysalid Requiem'' makes local use of subharmonic, harmonic, 3s-and-7s, and other subsets of JI; however its large-scale modulations wander far and never return precisely to the 1/1 begun with.
Lou Harrison defines the Free Style in his Music Primer<ref name="harrison1970primer" />:


[[Chuckk Hubbard]]'s [http://rationale.sourceforge.net/ Rationale] is offered as a tool, with which Chuckk himself has composed several works.
<blockquote>
After only a brief study of intervals it becomes clear that there are two ways
of composing with them: 1) arranging them into a fixed mode, or gamut, & then
composing within that structure. This is Strict Style, & is the vastly
predominant world method. However, another way is possible — 2) to freely
assemble, or compose with whatever intervals one feels that he needs as he goes
along. This is Free Style, & I used this method first in my Simfony in Free
Style. Lovely new devices & expressions are possible in this style...
</blockquote>


Two pitch calculators which could also be helpful: [http://jjicalc.sourceforge.net/ JJICalc] and [[jim altieri]]'s [https://web.archive.org/web/20120728192437/http://tweeg.net/software.html interval calculator].
Lou Harrison's use of Strict and Free Style is discussed in <ref name="dalton2017freedom" />.


<ul><li>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111104013325/http://www.justintonation.net:80/ Just Intonation network]</li></ul>
== Music ==
 
Harrison composed three pieces in Free Style, the first being his 1955 ''Simfony in Free Style''.
An [https://johnnyreinhard.bandcamp.com/track/lou-harrison-simfony-in-free-style-premiere American Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM) recording]
is available online.
 
Harrison's second piece in Free Style is his 1963 ''At the Tomb of Charles Ives''. There is an
[https://johnnyreinhard.bandcamp.com/track/lou-harrison-at-the-tomb-of-charles-ives AFMM recording] as well as an excerpt
of a [https://soundcloud.com/center-21stcentury-music/lou-harrison-at-the-tomb-iof-charles-ives performance by the Slee Sinfonietta].
 
The third piece is Harrison's 1974 ''A Phrase for Arion's Leap'', for which there is an
[https://johnnyreinhard.bandcamp.com/track/lou-harrison-precision-piece-a-phrase-for-arions-leap-babin-tsuda-reinhard-yallech-2 AFMM recording].
Also see [https://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~larry/scores/other_peoples_scores/lou_harrison/arions_leap_recopied.4.pdf Larry Polansky's transcription],
which gives the stepwise intervals in the original score in bold and the absolute intervals below.
 
Larry Polansky's 1986 ''B’rey’sheet'', for singer and live interactive
computer, uses Free Style JI through a computer program written in
[https://github.com/philburk/hmsl HMSL].<ref name="polansky2018words" />
There is a [https://newworldrecords.bandcamp.com/track/breysheet-in-the-beginning recording on Bandcamp].
 
James Tenney's 2006 string quartet ''Arbor Vitae'' makes algorithmic use of
Free Style JI.<ref name="winter2008arbor" /> There is a
[https://collectionqb.bandcamp.com/album/arbor-vit recording by Quatuor Bozzini] on Bandcamp.
 
== Software ==
* [[Chuckk Hubbard]]'s [http://rationale.sourceforge.net/ Rationale]
* [https://jird.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ Jird]
 
== Notations ==


Notations which are capable of notating the whole of free-JI:
Notations which are capable of notating the whole of free-JI:
Line 16: Line 54:
* [[Color notation]]
* [[Color notation]]
* [[Sagittal notation]]
* [[Sagittal notation]]
== References ==
<references>
<ref name="harrison1970primer">
  Lou Harrison, [https://www.scribd.com/document/672011588/Lou-Harrison-s-Music-Primer Music Primer], Edition Peters, 1970
</ref>
<ref name="polansky1987harrison">
  Larry Polansky, [https://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~larry/misc_writings/out_of_print/harrison_item.pdf Item: Lou Harrison's role as a speculative theorist], A Lou Harrison Reader, Soundings Press, 1987
</ref>
<ref name="dalton2017freedom">
  James Dalton, [https://zurnalai.lmta.lt/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/MKP-17-Dalton.pdf The Freedom of Control and the Control of Freedom: Free Style vs Strict Style Just Intonation in the Works of Lou Harrison], Principles of Music Composing: ratio versus intuitio XVII, 2017
</ref>
<ref name="polansky2018words">
  Larry Polansky, [http://archive.soundamerican.org/sa_archive/sa20/sa20larrypolanskyafewwords.html A Few Words About Tuning], Sound American (SA20), 2018
</ref>
<ref name="winter2008arbor">
  Michael Winter, [https://www.sacredrealism.org/artists/catherine-lamb/the-interaction-of-tone/articles/On_Arbor_Vitae.pdf On James Tenney's Arbor Vitae for String Quartet], Contemporary Music Review 27.1, 2008
</ref>
</references>
== Further reading ==
* David B. Doty, [https://www.dbdoty.com/Words/LHInterview_01.html Interview with Lou Harrison]


[[Category:Just intonation]]
[[Category:Just intonation]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Terms]]

Latest revision as of 00:50, 19 June 2026

In Free Style JI, pitches are not chosen from a fixed just scale, but instead determined by their ratio with the previous melody note or with a note in the current harmony.[1]

Definition

Lou Harrison defines the Free Style in his Music Primer[2]:

After only a brief study of intervals it becomes clear that there are two ways of composing with them: 1) arranging them into a fixed mode, or gamut, & then composing within that structure. This is Strict Style, & is the vastly predominant world method. However, another way is possible — 2) to freely assemble, or compose with whatever intervals one feels that he needs as he goes along. This is Free Style, & I used this method first in my Simfony in Free Style. Lovely new devices & expressions are possible in this style...

Lou Harrison's use of Strict and Free Style is discussed in [3].

Music

Harrison composed three pieces in Free Style, the first being his 1955 Simfony in Free Style. An American Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM) recording is available online.

Harrison's second piece in Free Style is his 1963 At the Tomb of Charles Ives. There is an AFMM recording as well as an excerpt of a performance by the Slee Sinfonietta.

The third piece is Harrison's 1974 A Phrase for Arion's Leap, for which there is an AFMM recording. Also see Larry Polansky's transcription, which gives the stepwise intervals in the original score in bold and the absolute intervals below.

Larry Polansky's 1986 B’rey’sheet, for singer and live interactive computer, uses Free Style JI through a computer program written in HMSL.[4] There is a recording on Bandcamp.

James Tenney's 2006 string quartet Arbor Vitae makes algorithmic use of Free Style JI.[5] There is a recording by Quatuor Bozzini on Bandcamp.

Software

Notations

Notations which are capable of notating the whole of free-JI:

References

  1. ↑ Larry Polansky, Item: Lou Harrison's role as a speculative theorist, A Lou Harrison Reader, Soundings Press, 1987
  2. ↑ Lou Harrison, Music Primer, Edition Peters, 1970
  3. ↑ James Dalton, The Freedom of Control and the Control of Freedom: Free Style vs Strict Style Just Intonation in the Works of Lou Harrison, Principles of Music Composing: ratio versus intuitio XVII, 2017
  4. ↑ Larry Polansky, A Few Words About Tuning, Sound American (SA20), 2018
  5. ↑ Michael Winter, On James Tenney's Arbor Vitae for String Quartet, Contemporary Music Review 27.1, 2008

Further reading

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