Xenharmonic Wiki

User:Mousemambo/Workbench

< User:Mousemambo

Mousemambo's workbench for ideas and projects. Questions? Please use his Talk page or contact him through XenHarmonic Alliance's Discord server #wiki channel (though he frequently takes weeks-long breaks from participating there).

Created or substantially revised pages

Project ideas

  • "Tuning methods" Project
    • User:Mousemambo/Tuning methods. Add this new major page (or set of pages). I will note that there are excellent existing resources, like the Making Microtonal Music is Easier Than You’d Think page archived here from its original source. The problem with these is that they go out of date easily. Therefore, I am proposing a wiki solution that will be available for community maintenance including significant updates as appropriate.
    • See the section "Practical tuning for beginners pages" below for a list of what's currently available on the topic at this wiki and a few outside links.
    • To better understand how the "Tuning methods" document would work with a(the) planned how-to guide(s), I have started one example how-to guide tentatively titled "Guide to Tuning a Software Synth in a DAW" using Surge XT and Reaper as (primary) examples.
    • New article Scala tuning system. It's currently a draft outline that needs to be filled in, in part with material from the significantly flawed, sometimes simply wrong, material in User:Mousemambo/Document 2 draft. Lots of work.
    • Edit and move content from the stream-of-consciousness "Tuning base, tuning center, and tonic" (Document 2 draft) user-space page into the Scala tuning system article that's currently an outline.
    • The existing "Anamark tuning file format" page should be replaced with a redirect to a "File format" section in a new "Anamark tuning file" page.
    • Add "See: Tuning file" (or See: Tuning methods) as appropriate in the articles that currently reference them.
    • Add some "how to" information for people just beginning their journey, either as additions to existing pages or by creating new ones as appropriate. E.g. How to use tuning files, how to select which ones, how to get your electronic or software instrument to use one. These types of pages live in Category:Guides.
    • Category: Tuning methods. A category that would encompass all articles about how electronic instruments are made to adhere to alternative (non-12-EDO) tunings. "Practical tuning" or "Tuning practices" or Tuning mechanisms" or "Tuning technique" (currently in use but deprecated with redirect) or "Tuning practice" are alternatives perhaps? I note that the current Category:Tuning is about the theoretical side and not at all the practical side. However, it might instead be best to stick everything in Tuning, practical and theoretical, although that's not the direction I currently lean toward. I'd rather see "Tuning methods" offered as a category on the Category:Tuning page, and hide all the "methods" pages in there.
  • Indian music (User:Mousemambo/Indian music). Replace the existing article "Indian" which, by the way, has a strange and dismaying page title (see below). Provide some history and current usage of tuning selections in the various branches of Indian music, and links to outside information. See the "Indian music" section below for a review of what this wiki already has on the topic.
  • Scale naming. How are scales named? Are there existing conventions in the Xen community. Note a Discord discussion regarding square brackets used in scale names. Note the existing Temperament names page. Some related pages are:

Practical tuning for beginners pages

Below is a list of existing Xen wiki pages (still expanding by search, as of August 2023) relevant to beginners who want to set their electronic instruments to other than 12-EDO tuning. Synth/sampler manuals frequently don't provide enough background information, instead assuming you already know something about tuning files.

It's useful to consider the trajectory of beginners newly arriving at the wiki. The wiki's front page has a section "If you are new to musical tuning" that doesn't get into practical how-to issues, but the page also has a very appropriate and helpful section "Practical xenharmonics" (Useful Tools, List of microtonal software plugins, Microtonal instruments). "Useful tools" simply redirects to the "List of music software" page, which seems sensible if inconsistent.

Related to that visitor's initial likely trajectory, note that the wiki's main sidebar also includes a section "Practice" with links underneath to some essential starting points for people seeking practical tuning guidance, especially "Software" and (of less relevance to this work) "Pedagogy." Also in that sidebar, "Useful Tools" (redirects to List of music software) is listed under "Theory" which is odd unless you know how useful the "practice" tools are for better understanding theory.

Also, there are some not (yet) totally outdated pages out beyond the Xenharmonic wiki that are worth learning from:

Indian music

Existing pages addressing microtonality in various branches of Indian music (e.g. Hindustani classical, Hindustani semi-classical, Carnatic classical, Sikh, Odissi, filmi, etc.):

There is some movement in the music world for moving away from referring to "Indian music" as a broad category, and toward instead referring to South Asian music. This is to distinguish the music primarily or entirely found within the country of India from (admittedly closely related) traditional/classical/artistic, folk, and contemporary music found in the South Asia region but outside India itself. I wouldn't say that movement is strong, but it has a point.

I note that under Category:Traditions all the cultural traditions (not just Indian) are named with strange and somewhat dismaying names that omit the word "music" that should follow. E.g. Indian, Arabic and Greek should sensibly be Indian music, Arabic music, and Greek music. The words "Indian," "Arabic," and "Greek" by themselves can mean a people, a culture, or (except for Indian) a language. I believe that these page names and category names should specify "music" or "microtonality" or something else specific. Wikipedia (which this is not) follows WP:Noun.

Xenharmonic music: An introduction to 21st century tuning systems

This outline of links can be used as a self-guided introductory course through the Xenharmonic Wiki for people interested in understanding, playing or composing what's termed microtonal or xenharmonic music. Although it consists only of links to Xen Wiki, Wikipedia, and other articles, it's carefully ordered to guide a growing conceptual understanding for people new to the subject. The intention is to help answer the question "Where should I begin learning about xenharmonic music?" for those who wish to go deeper than the more introductory texts provided on the Xen Wiki Guides page.

This course overlaps and extends from a prerequisite of Music Theory 101, a ubiquitous first-semester college course whose material is also commonly taught to high school piano, guitar and jazz musicians. There are several excellent free online comprehensive textbooks teaching conventional Music Theory 101 (Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom, Open Music Theory, Music Theory). If you work through one of those comprehensive courses, many of the links below to Wikipedia articles will be redundant.

This course begins by reintroducing some basic musicology terms but in a xenharmonic context. That may mean they have unusual definitions, or that they're explained in a way that points toward how they're understood and used in xenharmonic musicology and music. If there is corresponding English Wikipedia page, a link is provided here to help contrast the xenharmonic perspective with the one more commonly taught in conventional music theory. However, some Wikipedia pages were created with a partly or entirely xenharmonic perspective (e.g. Regular diatonic tuning).

This course draws a somewhat arbitrary line between "beginner" material that is included, and "intermediate" material that is not. A guideline for that distinction is that the material presented might fit within a one-semester college course. People who already have significant xenharmonic theory understanding may feel this course remains too superficial, and that much more could be added to the "Tuning system analysis and design" section (possibly a few items could be added). Unfortunately, hardly any standard introductions to music theory go deeply enough into tuning systems and temperament to provide enough of a foundation for exploring xenharmonic music theory. Therefore, this course recapitulates many introductory topics but with a xenharmonic perspective.

Some of the articles linked to by this outline start with useful introductory material but then go deeper than the level intended by this course. In these cases, readers are encouraged to use their judgement as they read to decide when a useful depth of understanding has been reached, and then return to this outline. Revisiting deeper material later is always possible! However, at the time of this writing (Sep. 2023) some of the Xen Wiki articles lack much of a basic introduction at all. In those cases, if there is a Wikipedia link provided you're encourage to visit there. But one reason for developing this outline is to identify and remedy those articles, so perhaps by the time you read this some helpful wiki editors will have remedied the problem.

There is no "listening guide" for this course but you will find links to YouTube videos that provide some of that useful experience. But note that links in the "Articles" and "Videos" sections are related and supporting, but outside the flow of the course.

Finally, some people prefer to "learn microtonal music" mostly by listening to music, so this outline will not be useful for them. That's OK! There are other resources for you. For many of us, though, this is how we learn best.

Foundations

Tuning systems and temperament

Tuning system analysis and design

Xenharmonic harmony

  • Dyad. Wikipedia: Dyad (music).
  • Interval quality
  • Consonance and dissonance. Wikipedia: Consonance and dissonance.
  • Diatonic functional harmony. Wikipedia: Function (music).
  • Just intonation harmony (or Harmony in just intonation). This needed article would present an introduction to creating harmony in just intonation (JI) tunings. It introduces ideas and strategies for harmony that also apply to other uneven tunings, and provides a foundation for understanding more extended xenharmonic harmonization. It should emphasize the important explicit and implicit harmonic qualities of arpeggiation, counterpoint, and dyadic harmony in JI and other non-regular tunings. Some ideas to include...
    • In ancient music, "pure" tunings based on lower harmonic series overtones (e.g. Pythagorean, aka 3-limit) were understood to mostly support only limited dyadic harmony, because few intervals in any purely JI tuning were considered acceptably consonant. Singing and playing in unison was typical. Interval table analysis of an example 3-limit JI tuning (see table; to be added) reveals how many of that tunings' dyadic intervals are unusable for harmony. Triads that are consonant — by traditional measure — are unavailable in ancient JI tunings.
    • However, many traditional cultural musics successfully integrated dyadic harmony, e.g. ancient Greek music and its early European descendants, traditional Middle Eastern music, traditional classical Chinese music, and some traditional African music. The commitment to 3-limit tunings at this time was essentially ideological, reinforced by the strong human tendency to hear unfamiliar tunings as "wrong."
    • The expansion of JI tunings from 3-limit (Pythagorean) to 5-limit (e.g. Ptolemaic) increased the number of intervals considered consonant, and therefore the harmonic possibilities in these tunings. Although options for triadic harmony were still limited compared to later developments, the strongly consonant Ptolemaic just major triad and some other consonant triads became available. Nevertheless, harmony through the European Medieval period remained mostly limited to fifths and fourths in parallel motion, with some experimentation.
    • Melodic arpeggiation, ostinato, and the introduction of early basso continuo accompaniment, provided composers with a conceptual doorway to more sophisticated harmonic ideas in early European JI music, without the more obvious dissonance of nearby-pitched notes sounded simultaneously. The developing popularity of counterpoint in Medieval melody also encouraged considering more complex harmony.
    • Subsequently, the abandonment of pure intonation for newly developed meantone temperaments in European Renaissance music greatly enlarged the set of acceptably consonant intervals (e.g. List of meantone intervals), while listeners also became more accepting of less pure intervals as consonant (continuing into the 20th century Emancipation of the dissonance). This allowed expansion and exploration of triadic and larger harmonies. These tempered tunings also permitted some key modulation on fixed-pitch instruments like piano.
    • Some contemporary composers have been rediscovering the attractive tonality of pure harmony and its deeply consonant quality. People only familiar with the advantages of ubiquitous equal temperament may initially find composing in just intonation is notably constrained because many intervals are unavailable due to dissonance, reducing its harmonic possibilities. However, constraints in artistic work can also inspire creative solutions. One of the charms of composing in a new tuning system is learning what works well in it, and expresses its tonality with enough beauty that the listener doesn't realize what the composer has worked to avoid. It's also worth considering that humans have composed music in just intonation for thousands of years, although nearly all of it has been lost.
  • Dyadic chord
  • Harmony in specific tunings
  • Articles
  • Videos
    • ... to be added

Elements of good Xenharmonic Wiki article writing

Here is an outline of some ideas about how to make the Xenharmonic Wiki more useful to musicians.

  • Introduction to good nonfiction writing (with an emphasis on exposition)
    • Why are you writing?
    • What is "good" in good nonfiction writing?
      • Clarity of purpose: Strong focus on the idea being presented.
      • Clarity of statement: Intelligibility in the contexts of reader and meaning.
      • Clarity of structure: A nonfiction narrative arc.
    • How to write an effective nonfiction paragraph or "paragraphic" section (a section functioning like a paragraph).
      • Each paragraph presents one idea.
      • Paragraphs include:
        • Always, an initial statement of the idea.
        • Optionally, the definition of a new term.
        • Almost always, how the idea connects to previously presented ideas (provides context).
        • Optionally, how the idea connects to related ideas outside this writing (provides context).
        • Always, sentence(s) that develop(s) the idea.
        • Always, sentence(s) that support(s) the idea.
        • Always, an explanation of why the idea is valuable.
        • Usually, a summary of what the paragraph has presented.
        • Optionally, a description of how this idea connects to the next idea(s) to be presented.
      • Edit your paragraphs to analyze what functions every sentence is providing (see above), simplify wording and phrasing, use natural speech, remove unhelpful redundancy, create powerful flow between paragraphs.
    • What is an explanation and what are some types of explanation?
    • Effective narrative structure in nonfiction writing.
    • Tone in writing: Encyclopedic, authoritative, monographic, conversational, informal, comedic, etc.
    • Recommended reading for learning how to write better nonfiction (to be added).
  • Every Xenharmonic Wiki article should include...
    • An introductory paragraph or two that:
      • Is accessible to the Wiki's yet-to-be-officially defined target audience: musicians with at least a basic introduction to music theory. This can be defined as first-semester, college Music Theory 101, but is also commonly introduced to high-school piano, guitar, and jazz musicians.
      • Provides links to beginner and intermediate-level articles on music theory as needed.
      • Clearly places the article's topic into the context of music.
      • Presents the purpose of the article in a way that will be understood by someone completely new to the article's concept, with links to articles about concepts that are necessary prerequisites.
      • Regardless of the topic (advanced or not), includes absolutely no math theory terminology beyond high school level, unless it is very commonly used in Xenharmonic music discussions, and links to/toward beginner-level articles are provided. If no such article exists, omit that terminology from the introduction, and present it later with a red link to create that article. There are certainly also alternative ways to address the serious Xenharmonic Wiki problem of inaccessible articles that understandably frighten off musicians without a higher math degree. There are occasional paired articles, one for beginners (e.g. Mapping) and one for advanced readers (e.g. Temperament mapping matrices). This can be an effective approach but requires substantially more work.
    • Sections that divide the article into different depths of understanding, i.e. that require the reader to have less or more preexisting understandings. More advanced understandings belong in sections later in the article. This is true even formore advanced articles, because in effective narrative nonfiction writing there is always a progression of understanding.
    • No list or table without an effective explanation of its contents.

Wiki Toolkit

All user sub-pages

Retrieved from "https://en.xen.wiki/index.php?title=User:Mousemambo/Workbench&oldid=123300"