User:Aura/Aura's Ideas on Functional Harmony (Part 1): Difference between revisions
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One construct from Western Classical music with potential implications for Microtonalists is '''[[Wikipedia:Function (music)|harmonic function]]'''- especially as it pertains to the [[5L 2s|diatonic]] MOS scale and its various relatives. In Mainstream Music Theory there were once two prevailing schools of thought in regards to diatonic functional harmony- '''German Theory''' and '''Viennese Theory'''- however, in a conversation with [[User:Mousemambo|Mousemambo]] on Discord, it has been revealed to me that in modern practice, the old ideas of functional harmony have largely disintegrated due firstly to the conviction that after around 1900 CE, art music took a turn away from Common Practice Period foundations and those old analyses just don't work anymore as originally formulated, and secondly due to a suspicion that they never really existed beyond the pareidolia of minds trying to see patterns in noise. Mousemambo has also pointed out to me that modern writers have moved away from the convoluted depths of the two Germanic schools, now more often simply identifying scale degrees and the chords for which they are root as either Tonic; Dominant, which is basically anything leading to Tonic; and Predominant, which is basically anything leading to Dominant. However, upon listening to the ways in which Plagal cadences get used, and how the chords on the perfect 4th above the Tonic get used as a sort of "home away from home", it is obvious to me that the stance taken by modern writers is an oversimplification, and that there are more remnants of the ideas of the two schools in modern music than one would initially think. Furthermore, the genres of music I write call for a reconstruction of at least some of the ideals of the old Germanic schools from the ground up. Thus, ideas from both schools, as well as a number of other ideas, find a home in my microtonal theory and practice. If the reader will bear with me, I shall use narrative set-ups and character metaphors to describe how the various harmonic functions act in composition and the way they relate to one another, and, furthermore, I'll be looking at ways to extend this reconstruction of functional harmony into the microtonal realm. | One construct from Western Classical music with potential implications for Microtonalists is '''[[Wikipedia:Function (music)|harmonic function]]'''- especially as it pertains to the [[5L 2s|diatonic]] MOS scale and its various relatives. In Mainstream Music Theory there were once two prevailing schools of thought in regards to diatonic functional harmony- '''German Theory''' and '''Viennese Theory'''- however, in a conversation with [[User:Mousemambo|Mousemambo]] on Discord, it has been revealed to me that in modern practice, the old ideas of functional harmony have largely disintegrated due firstly to the conviction that after around 1900 CE, art music took a turn away from Common Practice Period foundations and those old analyses just don't work anymore as originally formulated, and secondly due to a suspicion that they never really existed beyond the pareidolia of minds trying to see patterns in noise. Mousemambo has also pointed out to me that modern writers have moved away from the convoluted depths of the two Germanic schools, now more often simply identifying scale degrees and the chords for which they are root as either Tonic; Dominant, which is basically anything leading to Tonic; and Predominant, which is basically anything leading to Dominant. However, upon listening to the ways in which Plagal cadences get used, and how the chords on the perfect 4th above the Tonic get used as a sort of "home away from home", it is obvious to me that the stance taken by modern writers is an oversimplification, and that there are more remnants of the ideas of the two schools in modern music than one would initially think. Furthermore, the genres of music I write call for a reconstruction of at least some of the ideals of the old Germanic schools from the ground up. Thus, ideas from both schools, as well as a number of other ideas, find a home in my microtonal theory and practice. If the reader will bear with me, I shall use narrative set-ups and character metaphors to describe how the various harmonic functions act in composition and the way they relate to one another, and, furthermore, I'll eventually be looking at ways to extend this reconstruction of functional harmony into the microtonal realm. | ||
== Facets Derived from German Theory == | == Facets Derived from German Theory == | ||
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'''Primary Adpositive Purity''' - This rule is that for every chord root located one step away from either the Tonic, Dominant or Serviant along the Circle of Fifths, there is a demand for the fifth of the chord in question to be within 3.5 cents of a just 3/2. This means that the Tonic, Dominant, Serviant, Supertonic and Subtonic chords all demand a perfect fifth as the fifth of the chord, whether you are building the Tonality upwards or downwards. One of the obvious applications of this is that chords built with wolf fifths must have roots located three or more steps away from the Tonic along the Circle of Fifths, and that when two notes within a given Diatonic system are separated by a wolf fifth, they both must likewise be located three or more steps away from the Tonic along the Circle of Fifths. | '''Primary Adpositive Purity''' - This rule is that for every chord root located one step away from either the Tonic, Dominant or Serviant along the Circle of Fifths, there is a demand for the fifth of the chord in question to be within 3.5 cents of a just 3/2. This means that the Tonic, Dominant, Serviant, Supertonic and Subtonic chords all demand a perfect fifth as the fifth of the chord, whether you are building the Tonality upwards or downwards. One of the obvious applications of this is that chords built with wolf fifths must have roots located three or more steps away from the Tonic along the Circle of Fifths, and that when two notes within a given Diatonic system are separated by a wolf fifth, they both must likewise be located three or more steps away from the Tonic along the Circle of Fifths. | ||
== | == Going Beyond the 5-limit == | ||
In addition to all the aforementioned Diatonic and Chromatic functions, as well as the detemperings of diatonic functions, there is an additional set of categories for dealing with the notes in between the various Diatonic scale degrees. | In addition to all the aforementioned Diatonic and Chromatic functions, as well as the detemperings of diatonic functions, there is an additional set of categories for dealing with the notes in between the various Diatonic scale degrees. | ||
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The way I see it, paradiatonic quartertones are analogous to diatonic semitones in that they are denoted as seconds, albeit inframinor seconds by default, while parachromatic quartertones are analogous to chromatic semitones in that they are denoted as primes, albiet as ultraprimes by default. However, the distinction goes further than that- a parachromatic quartertone and a paradiatonic quartertone add up to a diatonic semitone, while two parachromatic quartertones add up to a chromatic semitone. Given both these definitions for "paradiatonic" and "parachromatic", and given that a diatonic semitone and a chromatic semitone add up to a whole tone when paired correctly, it can be deduced that a whole tone can be assembled from three parachromatic quartertones and one paradiatonic quartertone. Because there are sometimes multiple correct options for assembling parachromatic and paradiatonic intervals to make a 9/8 whole tone, I ended up choosing the simplest configuration of paradiatonic and parachromatic intervals to assemble in order to create a 9/8 whole tone- a configuration that only requires one type of parachromatic quartertone and one type of paradiatonic quartertone. As a result of multiple factors, I ended up choosing the combination of three 33/32 parachromatic quartertones and one [[4096/3993]] paradiatonic quartertone as the JI basis for this in regards to both Diatonic theory and [[Alpharabian tuning]], and, through interactions with others in the Xenharmonic community, I was later influenced by others on Discord to take [[MOS]]-based structural considerations into account. This eventually resulted in the first formal definition of a "'''parachroma'''" (an interval that can be easily tempered to equal half of a MOS-chroma), and later, the "'''parastep'''" (the interval that remains after subtracting as many parachromas from a Major MOS-step as possible without resulting in a negative interval). Finally, drawing from the concept of "parachromas" as applied to MOS-based contexts, I was able to finally give a formal definition of terms like "paramajor" (the result of adding a parachroma to either a MOS generator or its period-inverse) and "paraminor" (the result of subtracting a parachroma from a MOS generator or its period-inverse), which I had previously come up with on an informal basis. | The way I see it, paradiatonic quartertones are analogous to diatonic semitones in that they are denoted as seconds, albeit inframinor seconds by default, while parachromatic quartertones are analogous to chromatic semitones in that they are denoted as primes, albiet as ultraprimes by default. However, the distinction goes further than that- a parachromatic quartertone and a paradiatonic quartertone add up to a diatonic semitone, while two parachromatic quartertones add up to a chromatic semitone. Given both these definitions for "paradiatonic" and "parachromatic", and given that a diatonic semitone and a chromatic semitone add up to a whole tone when paired correctly, it can be deduced that a whole tone can be assembled from three parachromatic quartertones and one paradiatonic quartertone. Because there are sometimes multiple correct options for assembling parachromatic and paradiatonic intervals to make a 9/8 whole tone, I ended up choosing the simplest configuration of paradiatonic and parachromatic intervals to assemble in order to create a 9/8 whole tone- a configuration that only requires one type of parachromatic quartertone and one type of paradiatonic quartertone. As a result of multiple factors, I ended up choosing the combination of three 33/32 parachromatic quartertones and one [[4096/3993]] paradiatonic quartertone as the JI basis for this in regards to both Diatonic theory and [[Alpharabian tuning]], and, through interactions with others in the Xenharmonic community, I was later influenced by others on Discord to take [[MOS]]-based structural considerations into account. This eventually resulted in the first formal definition of a "'''parachroma'''" (an interval that can be easily tempered to equal half of a MOS-chroma), and later, the "'''parastep'''" (the interval that remains after subtracting as many parachromas from a Major MOS-step as possible without resulting in a negative interval). Finally, drawing from the concept of "parachromas" as applied to MOS-based contexts, I was able to finally give a formal definition of terms like "paramajor" (the result of adding a parachroma to either a MOS generator or its period-inverse) and "paraminor" (the result of subtracting a parachroma from a MOS generator or its period-inverse), which I had previously come up with on an informal basis. | ||
In January of 2022, Quartertone Harmony posted a video in which he grouped together a series of functions he | == Functional Harmony in the 7-limit and 11-limit == | ||
In January of 2022, Quartertone Harmony posted a video in which he grouped together a series of functions he refered to in the video as the "shadow scale"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6WJryxB_0Y Quartertone Harmony - Harmonic Functions of Quartertones SD 480p]</ref>, which I will refer to here as a '''paradiatonic scale''' since there are technically two of these, and this in turn led to the separation of Paradiatonic and Parachromatic harmonic functions for me. This whole concept of a "shadow scale", in addition to everything else discuss in this section, paves the way for the my idea of [[MOS-Shadow theory]], but, aside from how it applies to Diatonic-scale based functional harmony, MOS-Shadow theory is another whole discussion for another time. | |||
=== The Paradiatonic Scales === | === The Paradiatonic Scales === | ||