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Structural Properties and Compositional Processes in Microtonal Equal Temperaments

Ayers, William R
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin153570341690339

Abstract Details

2018, PhD, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music: Theory.
This dissertation provides analytical and theoretical models for the understanding of music in microtonal equal temperaments, specifically focusing on nineteen-tone and thirty-one-tone equal temperaments. It provides a conceptual basis for the study of these equal temperaments and displays the applicability of tonal, atonal, and serial constructs in non-twelve-tone contexts. The first two chapters provide a conceptual, structural, and historical background for the dissertation. Chapter I draws a distinction in microtonal practice between composers using just intonation and those using equal temperaments. This chapter indicates some correspondences between these schools of thought and provides a structural basis for the equal temperaments examined in the rest of the dissertation. Chapter II offers a conceptual history of microtonal equal temperaments, specifically focusing on precursors to this practice in extended meantone temperaments. This history outlines two tuning lineages, one from quarter-comma meantone temperament to thirty-one-tone equal temperament and the other from third-comma meantone temperament to nineteen-tone equal temperament. The final three chapters examine modern applications of microtonal equal temperaments. Chapter III considers Joseph Yasser’s concept of the supra-diatonic scale, which contains twelve regular scale degrees and seven auxiliary scale degrees, and applies his theories to the analysis of nineteen-tone music. The chapter introduces a modified version of Steven Rings’s tonal generalized interval system to model intervallic relations in nineteen-tone equal temperament, using Yasser’s scale-degree functions as guides. This supra-tonal GIS is then used to analyze a piece by Easley Blackwood written in nineteen-tone equal temperament. Chapter IV provides a gestural/transformational model for the generalized thirty-one-tone keyboard and its music. This model coordinates physical performance gestures and musical transformations using a modified Tonnetz that models the notes of thirty-one-tone equal temperament. By considering the perspectives of both the performer and the listener, I use this model to analyze two miniatures by Joel Mandelbaum written for the thirty-one-tone archiphone keyboard. The three sections of Chapter V are focused on separate concepts of serial practice in microtonal contexts. The first section deals with the concept of subset serialism in microtonality, comparable to nondodecaphonic serialism in the context of twelve-tone equal temperament, using serial rows containing only a subset of the complete content of a pitch-class space. The second section deals with the concepts of generative cycles and near bisection as applied to non-twelve-tone equal temperaments and categorizes the aggregate generators that most nearly bisect a pitch-class space, taking cues from the literature on diatonic set theory. The third section deals with the concepts of serial multiplication, serial rotation, and all-interval row forms in non-twelve-tone equal temperaments. These concepts are then applied to three original etudes using serial techniques in nineteen-tone equal temperament. This dissertation details the diverse compositional strategies that can be applied in microtonal equal temperaments.
Cristina Losada, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Samuel Ng, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Christopher Segall, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
317 p.
Music
Microtonal; Equal temperament; Music; Transformational theory; Tuning; Microtonality

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ayers, W. R. (2018). Structural Properties and Compositional Processes in Microtonal Equal Temperaments [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin153570341690339

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ayers, William. Structural Properties and Compositional Processes in Microtonal Equal Temperaments. 2018. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin153570341690339.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ayers, William. "Structural Properties and Compositional Processes in Microtonal Equal Temperaments." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin153570341690339

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin153570341690339
364
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.
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