Multiverse
Multiverse is a four-part round in 17edo by Jacob Barton.
Why a round?
In Jacob's microtonal journeying, he finds composing and performing rounds useful in a few ways:
- Rounds have a built-in repeat, which means less starting and stopping in the course of rehearsing
- Rounds require multiple people or groups, standing on their own in counterpoint, which means every round is yet another opportunity to need your friends
- Rounds are "not-yet-music" – they have flexible instrumentation and form, which means more creative decisions to be made by the performing group in the course of rehearsing
- Rounds enable adventures in paradoxical listening – multiple instances of a single melody gradually unfold a counterpoint, then a harmony
- Rounds enable collaboration between different levels of musicianship.
Why 17?
This round is born of looking at what two systems – 17edo and just intonation – do to each other. 17edo becomes a way of looking at just intonation, and vice versa. The harmony of this round is based on an understanding of the 6:7:9:11 tetrad (degrees 0-4-10-15 of 17edo, measure 1), which he sometimes call the "train whistle" chord.
Fun fact: This round was written as a preliminary exercise for The Elitism Rumba.
Visit SeventeenTheory for information about the notation used below. There are other ways to notate this.
Score
Also in PDF: multiverse.pdf
Recordings
Newer, orchestrated minus-one version:
Translations
Ideally, this would be sung in multiple languages. French, Korean, Estonian translations forthcoming.