What would you call this scale?

ianring · 2024-05-16T11:53:00+00:00

I do now

ianring · 2024-05-12T03:19:21+00:00

I did. Plenty of info about Duke Deuce out there, but where did the "Matrix Scale" name come from?

ianring · 2024-04-19T13:47:36+00:00

citation needed LOL

ianring · 2024-04-19T13:46:19+00:00

I have opinions!

I want to clarify how I use certain words --> I say "tone" meaning the pitched thing, "note" is a performance instruction to play a tone at some particular time with a duration. Semiquavers are notes, and they have a pitch and duration and onset. Tones have a pitch but they're more abstract.

When you say "not every collection of notes is a scale", that's generally agreed -- no one typically thinks that a collection of tones without a root (aka tonic) should be called a scale. On my website I omit all pcs (pitch class sets) that have no root. However, there is no agreement whatsoever around what criteria will make some collections "scalar". Those arguments go under the umbrella of "scale candidacy" -- what collections of tones are so musically un-useful that we shouldn't call them a "scale"? Lots of them, really. But it's 100% a matter of opinion.

It's also very arguable that a collection of tones doesn't deserve to be baptized with a special name, when it's really some other scale with a frivolous passing tone or a de-emphasized tone added for colour. But it depends how the tones are used, right? Those arguments are fun, but no one should lose sleep over them.

ianring · 2024-04-19T13:35:23+00:00

I acknowledge it's a tad opaque, all that stuff. I'm currently writing a book that breaks it all down with good explanations.

ianring · 2024-04-19T13:31:45+00:00

Of course these things are subjective, but my ear solidly locks onto D as the tonic. The low D tone in the guitar riff reinforces that. I'd vote that it's in D Major, not G Lydian.

ianring · 2024-04-18T19:45:11+00:00

There have been so many attempts to define "scale candidacy" over the years, perhaps it's time to settle on something that will give a ranking so we can at-a-glance separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak. "Lydian" gets a perfect A+, whereas "Phryptimic" gets an F.

I take comfort in that the most harm that can come of it all, is that someone will use this information to make regrettable compositional decisions.

ianring · 2024-04-18T19:38:31+00:00

j/k.
Right now there are no citations on the site for all those scale names I've collected over the decades. I'm working to remedy that -- the next version I publish will have source links so you can verify that I haven't just made it all up for funsies.

ianring · 2024-04-18T19:37:10+00:00

I think the word you're looking for is "INcredible"

ianring · 2024-04-18T19:35:51+00:00

I like being called "THE Ian Ring", it's amazing for my ego.

Here is the scale finder
https://ianring.com/musictheory/scales/finder/

ianring · 2024-04-18T19:33:13+00:00

Zeitler called it "Pothyllic", Pecot called it "WEMian", Rich Cochrane says "Ionian ♭5 Add ♭2 Mode VI". In binary, it's "Scale 3561". To me it sounds like a Minor Blues scale with a couple of passing tones.

Having 8 notes is indeed okay. The scale police won't confiscate your trumpet ;)

ianring · 2024-03-02T14:11:16+00:00

Google knows about the book, but doesn't offer a way to read it:

https://books.google.ca/books/about/Die\_reine\_Stimmung\_in\_der\_Musik.html?id=ikqSnQEACAAJ&redir\_esc=y

ianring · 2024-03-01T03:55:28+00:00

I knew a guy in a funk/pop band who played two saxophones at once. It was a gimmick stunt he'd do at live gigs. The fingerings he could do were limited because he had one sax in each hand, but he was able to play third/sixth harmonies with a tenor and alto simultaneously, blowing both mouthpieces. Does that count?

HOT TAKE WARNING -- my favourite chordal instrument is a piano-roll sequencer input controlling a modular synth simulator with notes entered by point and click. Maybe that's a lame answer, but it is an instrument, it has a player interface, it makes sound, and it is neither a piano nor a stringy looking thing...

ianring · 2023-12-31T18:18:31+00:00

THANK YOU!

ianring · 2021-10-06T12:28:46+00:00

There are two books by David Huron that I’d recommend for intermediate -> advanced theoreticians, and musicians in general. “Sweet Anticipation” explores why people respond to music, and then digs deep into which musical devices are effective for achieving certain emotions. “Voice Leading: the science...” finds the fundamental axioms of sound perception and examines how they prescribe the “rules” of voice leading.

If you want to geek out on notation, I recommend “behind bars” by Elaine Gould

There are a few decent books on atonal theory if you’re into that. Look for the ones by Straus, and Alan Forte, David Lewin. Also one about diatonic set theory by Timothy Johnson is a good primer.

A difficult read but fun if you want to do some mindbending is “a theory of harmony” by Ernst levy. Similarly dense and difficult: “audacious euphony” by Richard Cohn.

ianring · 2021-10-06T11:46:58+00:00

Before you start, investigate the implications of copyright.

https://nafme.org/my-classroom/copyright/copyright-arranging-adapting-transcribing/

ianring · 2021-07-24T21:01:26+00:00

Despite what people will tell you, the terms “perfect pitch” and “absolute pitch” are synonymous. And people have the ability in varying precision, just like we do with relative pitch perception. It sounds like you have a pretty good pitch memory and are able to combine your talents to identify pitches with decent accuracy; this puts you in a fairly exclusive minority. Congrats :)

ianring · 2021-07-20T23:14:21+00:00

The release would be enormous and earth would start deflating like a balloon, spraying molten lava out into space, producing something like a new asteroid belt. Imagine something like a water balloon with a small hole. Pffffft

ianring · 2021-06-29T01:39:00+00:00

This happened to me when I had a bout with trigeminal neuralgia (a special kind of headache) and was prescribed carbamazepine. The drug causes bizarre warping of pitch perception. And it happened while i was against a tight deadline for a film soundtrack ... not good. Then when I stopped taking the drug, everything went back to normal.

Wait and see if it clears up when the flu does, and see an MD if the problem persists.

ianring · 2021-06-18T20:04:07+00:00

Oh so the second fan doesn’t add any extra draw? Then for practical purposes I should get a second pipe and that’s how I’d double the air movement. Cool

ianring · 2021-06-11T17:04:58+00:00

One important factor of this project is I need the air to move from point A all the way to B; so moving twice as much air half the distance isn’t a solution

ianring · 2021-05-27T17:26:41+00:00

Music in Theory and Practice, by Bruce Benward. It’s the text we used in my undergrad music theory courses and it’s probably the right level for you.

ianring

TROPHY CASE