User:Grady/Harmonic similarity: Difference between revisions

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The definition of brightness in wide use within the xenharmonic community is that a scale is brighter if its scale degrees are farther above the root. Most Western listeners will agree that brighter modes of the [[5L 2s|diatonic scale]] sound brighter and darker modes sound darker; however, in my experience and probably the experience of most other Western listeners as well, "brighter" modes (as per the xenharmonic definition) of the [[2L 3s|pentatonic scale]] actually sound darker, and "darker" modes sound brighter. This seems to indicate that the perception of brightness isn't actually determined by distances of scale degrees above the root. The theory of harmonic similarity provides an explanation for this, asserting that the reason brighter diatonic modes sound bright is because they contain more scale degrees of major quality, while darker modes sound dark because they contain more scale degrees of minor quality, and that there exists an actual reason that various scale degrees of the same interval quality should sound similar in character. This logic is of course inverted with the pentatonic scale, where brighter modes contain more scale degrees of minor quality and darker modes contain more of major quality.

In fact, this correlation in scale degree quality between modes of similar brightness levels is effectively only due to the special case where the period of the [[MOS scale]] in question is an octave and the generator is a tritave, as is the case for the diatonic and pentatonic scales. If the generator is any other interval, the new "bright" scale degrees introduced as you ascend the modal brightness order have little harmonic similarity to each other, and the old "dark" scale degrees that get removed also have little harmonic similarity to each other, and furthermore, the scale degrees within the scale at any time have little harmonic similarity to each other, which means that traversing the modal brightness order doesn't result in a gradual shift in emotional character in the same way. This certainly aligns with my experiences comparing different modes of xenharmonic MOS scales, where the brightest and darkest modes don't really feel very distinct in character from each other compared to, say, Lydian and Locrian, but it's unclear how much of this is due to the implications of the harmonic similarity theory versus simply cultural conditioning.

In fact, this correlation in scale degree quality between modes of similar brightness levels is effectively only due to the special case where the period of the [[MOS scale]] in question is an octave and the generator is a tritave, as is the case for the diatonic and pentatonic scales. If the generator is any other interval, the new "bright" scale degrees introduced as you ascend the modal brightness order have little harmonic similarity to each other, and the old "dark" scale degrees that get removed also have little harmonic similarity to each other, and furthermore, the scale degrees within the scale at any given time have little harmonic similarity to each other, which means that traversing the modal brightness order doesn't result in a gradual shift in emotional character in the same way. This certainly aligns with my experiences comparing different modes of xenharmonic MOS scales, where the brightest and darkest modes don't really feel very distinct in character from each other compared to, say, Lydian and Locrian, but it's unclear how much of this is due to the implications of the harmonic similarity theory versus simply cultural conditioning.

Revision as of 11:44, 4 August 2025 view source Grady (talk \| contribs) 55 edits →Brightness and darkness: Added info about xenharmonic MOS scales Tag: Visual edit ← Older edit		Revision as of 11:44, 4 August 2025 view source Grady (talk \| contribs) 55 edits m →Brightness and darkness: Added a word Tag: Visual edit Newer edit →
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	The definition of brightness in wide use within the xenharmonic community is that a scale is brighter if its scale degrees are farther above the root. Most Western listeners will agree that brighter modes of the [[5L 2s\|diatonic scale]] sound brighter and darker modes sound darker; however, in my experience and probably the experience of most other Western listeners as well, "brighter" modes (as per the xenharmonic definition) of the [[2L 3s\|pentatonic scale]] actually sound darker, and "darker" modes sound brighter. This seems to indicate that the perception of brightness isn't actually determined by distances of scale degrees above the root. The theory of harmonic similarity provides an explanation for this, asserting that the reason brighter diatonic modes sound bright is because they contain more scale degrees of major quality, while darker modes sound dark because they contain more scale degrees of minor quality, and that there exists an actual reason that various scale degrees of the same interval quality should sound similar in character. This logic is of course inverted with the pentatonic scale, where brighter modes contain more scale degrees of minor quality and darker modes contain more of major quality.		The definition of brightness in wide use within the xenharmonic community is that a scale is brighter if its scale degrees are farther above the root. Most Western listeners will agree that brighter modes of the [[5L 2s\|diatonic scale]] sound brighter and darker modes sound darker; however, in my experience and probably the experience of most other Western listeners as well, "brighter" modes (as per the xenharmonic definition) of the [[2L 3s\|pentatonic scale]] actually sound darker, and "darker" modes sound brighter. This seems to indicate that the perception of brightness isn't actually determined by distances of scale degrees above the root. The theory of harmonic similarity provides an explanation for this, asserting that the reason brighter diatonic modes sound bright is because they contain more scale degrees of major quality, while darker modes sound dark because they contain more scale degrees of minor quality, and that there exists an actual reason that various scale degrees of the same interval quality should sound similar in character. This logic is of course inverted with the pentatonic scale, where brighter modes contain more scale degrees of minor quality and darker modes contain more of major quality.

	In fact, this correlation in scale degree quality between modes of similar brightness levels is effectively only due to the special case where the period of the [[MOS scale]] in question is an octave and the generator is a tritave, as is the case for the diatonic and pentatonic scales. If the generator is any other interval, the new "bright" scale degrees introduced as you ascend the modal brightness order have little harmonic similarity to each other, and the old "dark" scale degrees that get removed also have little harmonic similarity to each other, and furthermore, the scale degrees within the scale at any time have little harmonic similarity to each other, which means that traversing the modal brightness order doesn't result in a gradual shift in emotional character in the same way. This certainly aligns with my experiences comparing different modes of xenharmonic MOS scales, where the brightest and darkest modes don't really feel very distinct in character from each other compared to, say, Lydian and Locrian, but it's unclear how much of this is due to the implications of the harmonic similarity theory versus simply cultural conditioning.		In fact, this correlation in scale degree quality between modes of similar brightness levels is effectively only due to the special case where the period of the [[MOS scale]] in question is an octave and the generator is a tritave, as is the case for the diatonic and pentatonic scales. If the generator is any other interval, the new "bright" scale degrees introduced as you ascend the modal brightness order have little harmonic similarity to each other, and the old "dark" scale degrees that get removed also have little harmonic similarity to each other, and furthermore, the scale degrees within the scale at any given time have little harmonic similarity to each other, which means that traversing the modal brightness order doesn't result in a gradual shift in emotional character in the same way. This certainly aligns with my experiences comparing different modes of xenharmonic MOS scales, where the brightest and darkest modes don't really feel very distinct in character from each other compared to, say, Lydian and Locrian, but it's unclear how much of this is due to the implications of the harmonic similarity theory versus simply cultural conditioning.