Familiar melodies in unfamiliar tunings
This is a page where people can post links to familiar pieces that have been retuned to make them xenharmonic (as opposed to completely original xenharmonic compositions). Retuning existing pieces can make xenharmony much more accessible since many pieces remain recognizable even in different tunings, making it possible to relate the "typical" Western (meantone/12edo) melodies and harmonies to the xen ones they are mapped onto.
Is it easier to write a xen piece from scratch or to convert an existing piece into a xen tuning? The answer is probably "it depends", especially depending on the tuning being used and how closely related it is to meantone (or 12edo). Converting a pop song into Bohlen-Pierce, while still having it being recognizable as its original self, is probably very difficult, even more so than writing an original Bohlen-Pierce piece (where there are fewer rules and you don't have to worry about it sounding like anything else). But going from 12edo to 31edo could be very easy depending on the style of music. In the case of classical pieces, 31edo is actually closer to what these works were originally performed in anyway; so I would not consider 31edo Baroque or classical pieces to be xenharmonic enough for this list. But modern pop/rock tunes translated into 31edo might still qualify, given 31edo's distinctly more sedate sound which doesn't adapt as easily to some styles of pop, and the flat fifths which make "power chords" not sound as good, making this more of a challenge.
The most famous examples are probably the warped canons, but there are other examples as well; Mike Battaglia has rearranged a number of common-practice works into mavila (specifically, 9edo); see for example his version of Fur Elise. Both of these are classical pieces, but I'd also be interested in seeing if anyone has ever tried covering folk or pop tunes in xenharmonic styles.
In addition to actual links; I'd also like this page to be a place where people can post requests (in the comments section) for things they'd like to hear but aren't necessarily in a position to record. Other artists who are up to the challenge could tackle it if they wanted.
List of pieces
Classical
- Mavila Experiments: Fur Elise (9EDO) - Mike Battaglia
- Categorical Experiments - Mike Battaglia
- Western Art Tradition Historically Tuned - Johnny Reinhard and friends. Is very good performances of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Ives, more; in Dowland temperament, Werckmeister III, Kirnberger II & III, Vallotti temperament, & extended Pythagorean tuning)
Folk/Traditional
- Lucy Tuned Lullabies (buy link but has audio clips to hear free)
- Video about Lucy Tuned Lullabies
- Frere Jacques in 19-edo on guitar
Pop/Rock covers
- Tom Sawyer (intro) in 19-edo on guitar