First Original Song Post!

Alrighty! So, this is my first post of an original song of mine. I wrote "To Let You Go" a little less than a year ago. I plan for it to be released on my first album "Soundtrack of My Life". Check it out on soundcloud.com.
Here's the link: http://soundcloud.com/shep-gibson/to-let-you-go

The Lexicon of Musical Invective

The "Lexicon of Musical Invective" is a collection of critical reviews on well-known composers' works since Beethoven. All texts are shown in their original language, then translated. Contained in this Lexicon are pot shots like this one (about the overture to Beethoven's opera "Fidelio") "... all impartial musicians and music lovers were in perfect agreement that never was there anything as incoherent, shrill, chaotic, and ear-splitting produced in music. The most piercing dissonances clash in a really atrocious harmony, and a few puny ideas only increase the disagreeable and deafening effect" (August von Kotzebue - in Vienna, Sept. 11, 1806). This book, compiled by Nicolas Slonimsky and published by Norton in 2000, offers a rather hilarious view into the sometimes not-so-great reception what are now thought to be great compositions. Mr. Kotzebue apparently got especially riled up in the previous description. So, what to do? Find a copy and read on!

McJackson?

An unlikely two musicians to be buddies. Yes, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney collaborated on several songs like the song "Say Say Say" and "The Girl is Mine." Both are an interesting fusion of the two artists' styles. I suppose people already knew about these collaborations, but I just found this picture quite funny upon first seeing it. Two artists from such different paradigms comming together through song. It's quite amazing that music can bring people together like that. However, I feel like these collaborations brought us a little close to ending up with songs like "Don't Stop 'Til you Buy Me Love" and "Hey Jude: Beat It!" You know the world's gone crazy when...

So, anyway, you should comment on this. Yeah... definately.

Not All That Glitters Is at the Golden Section

Want to know more about Compositional Techniques? Here's one that might blow your mind.

The following is a great article about the golden section and its application in nature and in the arts. Many composers have used this ratio to craft their compositions. You might want to analyze something yourself. Check and see where the most musical tention is (whether it be by dissonance, dynamics, distance from tonal center, etc.) Then add up the number of measures (or beats if you want to be more precise) and devide by 1.618. See if the point of musical tention is at the measure or beat number that you just calculated according to the golden section. Why 1.618? Read on to find out more. 

(This article presented with some errors; visit the actual article at the link below)

http://www.jonathandimond.com/tafe/documents/Intro%20to%20Golden%20Section.pdf

Theory of Music – Jonathan Dimond

Golden Section

(version September 2008)

INTRODUCTION

Golden section, Golden ratio, Golden proportion, sectio aurea (Latin),

divine proportion, divine section – these are all similes for the same

phenomenon.

In its simplest expression as a line segmented into two parts, Golden

section (GS) is the point at which you divide the line such that the ratio of

the length of the first part to the second is the same as the second to the

whole.

I.e. a:b = a+b:a

Or b:a = a:a+b

The resulting figure is represented by the Greek letter Phi - .

Numerically speaking, Phi – like Pi, is an irrational number. That is, the

Golden ratio creates a number with a never-ending series of decimal

places.

(1 + √5) / 2 = 1.618033987…

We tend to round this number to three decimal places. The way we work

with the numerical expression of this number is by multiplying by 1.618 (to

produce a larger number in GS) or 0.618 (to produce a smaller one). Also,

we tend to refer to the “negative GS” as the remainder from the unit of 1

once 0.618 is taken away. I.e., 1-0.618=0.382. This is sometimes

symbolized by the capital letter version of phi.

Since about 400 B.C. mathematicians, artists, biologists, architects, and

astronomers have been attracted to the proportions that Phi represents,

have pondered its universal appearance in the structure and organization

of almost all living and natural things, and consciously employed it in the

design of their art and work. We even have evidence of its use in the

pyramids of ancient Egypt as far back as 2500 B.C. (Madden, p. 1.)

Golden section’s proportions seem to create an aesthetic which is naturally

appealing.

Theory of Music – Golden Section – www.jonathandimond.com - 2 -

Golden proportion can be applied to create geometrical shapes. The

following method is used to construct a Golden rectangle:

1. Draw a square, 1x1 unit wide/long.

2. From the midpoint of one side draw a line to the opposite corner.

3. Continue that line as a radius to sweep an arc beyond the square.

This defines the new rectangle’s length.

The ratio of the rectangle’s added length to the square’s is the same as the

square’s to the whole of the rectangle’s length.

Measure the business cards and credit cards in your wallet. The international

standard size for credit cards, which is widely used for business cards also is

85.60 × 53.98 mm (3.370 × 2.125 in). Divide the width by the length and you

will always come up with the result around 0.618. This is a common ratio

which is found even in the more unusual sizes found in the USA, Japan and

Italy. Why? It is a pleasing proportion and fits neatly into our hand.

The earliest major record of GS and the Golden rectangle surviving today

dates from around 490 B.C. with the Greek Parthenon in Athens. (The Greek

mathematician Pythagorus and his followers are said to have developed GS

theories from around the same time.) As seen below, the façade fits into a

Golden rectangle, and inner Golden rectangles dictate the proportions of the

structure including the slope of the roof.

Theory of Music – Golden Section – www.jonathandimond.com - 3 -

A more contemporary example of GS and Golden rectangles is in the design

of page sizes and text layout in books. In the 16th Century, the following

format for a 2-page spread emerged:

A scholar named Tschichold found the ratio 34:21 to be prevalent, which is

0.617, and this proportion organizes not only the page size but the placement

and proportion of the margins. Many books produced between 1550 and 1770

show these proportions exactly, to within half a millimetre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

Other “Golden” proportioned geometric shapes include triangles, pentagons

and pyramids. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

Most interesting is Golden sections role in creating natural spirals.

Theory of Music – Golden Section – www.jonathandimond.com - 4 -

Spirals are naturally occurring in nature, and we find them throughout the

universe and within natural living things. [See drawings and photos in Doczi]

Musical Harmony

In musical harmony, and the development of temperament (tuning systems),

we discovered early on that it was pleasurable to listen to strings tuned in

relations of small integers – i.e. using the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4…

The following lists ratios and their interval equivalents:

1:1 unison

1:2 octave (diapason)

2:3 perfect fifth (diapente)

3:4 perfect fourth (diatessaron)

4:5 major third (ditone)

Theory of Music – Golden Section – www.jonathandimond.com - 5 -

Expressed as a decimal, the perfect fifth is 2/3 = 0.666… which approximates

GS. No wonder it is the next most consonant-sounding interval after the

unison and octave, and is such a common place to modulate. Furthermore,

we find these intervals early on in the natural harmonic series.

For further reading on the historical usage of these intervals in theory and

composition, refer to translations of the book “Micrologus” by Guido of Arezzo.

Guido was a Frenchman living in Italy as a monk, and established the fixed-do

system of solfege.

Fibonacci Series

Closely related to GS is the Fibonacci series. Named after the 12th Century

Italian mathematician of the same name, the Fibonacci series is a sequence

of numbers generated by adding together the prior two numbers in the

sequence. (Evidence of the series also exists in Indian literature and music of

around 300 B.C.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

The first 14 Fibonacci numbers are:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377

The series was first used to describe proliferation of mating rabbits, bees, and

in the design of Indian rituals involving prosody (chants/utterances concerned

with intonation, rhythm and focus in speech.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosody_%28linguistics%29

In terms of Golden Section, the result of dividing any two adjacent numbers in

the Fibonacci series is that we approximate Phi. The series tends towards true

Phi the further along the series we progress.

Consider the piano keyboard. We have two groups of black notes – a group of

2 and a group of 3, totalling 5. In one octave, C to C, we have 8 white notes,

giving the grand total of 13 notes. 2, 3, 5, 8, and 13 are all from the Fibonacci

series.

Try this math game.

1. Choose a number

2. Square each of its digits

3. Add the resulting new numbers together to create a new number

4. Repeat the process (back to step 2)

The sequence will either descend to 1 (the first Fibonacci number) or loop

around to 89 – the 11th Fibonacci number. (Spencer, 2000, p.184.)

Theory of Music – Golden Section – www.jonathandimond.com - 6 -

BIBLIOGRAPHY & DISCOGRAPHY:

• Doczi, Gyorgy. The Power of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in

Nature, Art, and Architecture. Shambhala, Boston, 1994.

• Lendvai, Erno. Bela Bartok : an analysis of his music. Kahn &

Averill, London, 1971. [780.924 BAR:L]

• Spencer, Adam. Book of Numbers. Penguin Australia, 2000.

• Madden, Charles. Fib and Phi in Music - The Golden Proportion in

Musical Form. Salt Lake City: High Art Press, 2005. [781.2 MAD]

Inconvenient Store

OK people. I just realized, after much confusion, that I had comments turned off for new posts. I just turned them back on, so you all should be able to comment again. It's kind of ironic, actually; I ask you to comment and then make it impossible. On top of that, no one could comment about that problem, as there was no way to comment about the fact that one cannot comment. Yeah... kind of convoluted. But, anyway, now that it is fixed,  comment away! Have a very blessed and very musical evening.

Yours truly,
The Comment Snatcher ;)

Rehab

Album artwork with yellow triple-R symbol

On September 28, "Reach Records" released rap-artist Lecrae's new album "Rehab." The album lands on the cutting edge of today's sound. Lecrae, like in his previous album "Rebel," collaborates with Trip Lee and Tedashi (as well as others including Sho Baraka, Sonny Sandoval, and Anthony Evans.) One of the favorite songs on the album, coming in at 45.41% in a blog vote, is"Just Like You" featuring J Paul. 


The newest post by Rehab Squad on Rehab Center is this:
"Anger, depression, addiction, and discontentment: just a few of the ills that plaque many a man. The solutions: join a group, read a book, basically, YOU can win this battle! But what about the war? In solely attacking the behaviors or the external problems in our lives, the origin of our issues is overlooked. Essentially, we try to alter effects, instead of exploring and tackling the cause. Some don’t realize the root of their problems is internal. Others recognize, but underestimate how serious their problems are. And even still, most of us trust in ourselves to overcome whatever is plaguing us by our own strength. Out of a burden to encourage and challenge others, while also confessing his own struggles in this area, Lecrae offers REHAB. On his long-awaited fourth album, Lecrae informs listeners that because of our inherent nature we all need rehabilitation, healing, and restoration."


Get excited about the new album and pray for our brother Lecrae as he stands back and lets God rock this world!

Wow... Nothing to Post...

Allow me to say that it is a busy, busy world. That is all. God bless!

First Recommendation!

I recieved my first listening recommendation from Abbi! Here's the piece she recommends. It's quite beautiful. Here's the link: http://www.beckenhorstpress.com/audio/1688.mp3
Send in some recommendations of your own in the comment for any post. Just leave me a link!

Lookin' Good?

How's the look? Like it? Don't like it? Does it work well for your mobile device? Let me know :D

Good Morning Music Loving People!

I hope you all had a restful night sleep. If you would, please leave a link to two of your favorite pieces (one that you would consider to be in the pop paradigm and one that you would consider to be in the formal paradigm,) in a comment below this post. I just wanna get an idea of everybody's musical perspectives so far. "Good mornin'; Good mornin'! It's great to stay up late!"