I'd heard OF quarter tone music but never LISTENED to any...I think Marshall McLuhan said something about how artists are probes into the realm of new experience...keep up the fascinating and enjoyable work
I agree. I'm not impressed by Haba. It sounds like he puts no structure into his music. You, on the other hand, make pristine musical compositions. Very well done!
I freaking love this! it blows my mind... i really want to start looking at quarter tones but i dont even know how to go about doing so. are there any music type programs where you can work with quarter tones?
One of my more enduring memories of music school was to hear a concert with the piano tuned to perfect fifth rather than the Bach endorsed (Galileo's dad also promoted it) well tempered arrangement, a compromise that allow a composer to modulate far from the original key. So I imagine that tuning a 1/4 tone piano to be quite an adventure. (Note that modulations in the perfect fifth system start to howl as one departs from the home key.)
I have just discovered quarter-tone and micro-tone music and I love it, hope to find some quarter-tone bass guitar videos on youtube, oh and this piece is great.
Thanks for sharing it sounds quite nice, some good ideas and ofcourse interesting texture but it seems like too much of an experimentation(less though than much other quartertonal music). Maybe this is just my interpretation but it seems you move away from thinking too much about the compositional value rather than the textural value. You can make so much more, do it.
My colleagues and I have discussed for some time now that quarter-tone composition is in large part under-explored. Your work presented here is a step in the right direction to more fully explore the enormous possibilities which lie within this system of tonality. Please continue to produce more of this lovely music. We've been enjoying it very much!
ear BENDING, more like. i can appreciate different systems of music but when it sounds like an improvisation (complete with thumbs) for a silent horror movie shot through a keyhole with the cap on the lens and the piano on fire, i think you lost me. no music of any description should amount to simply an EXERCISE. which reminds me, someone fetch a priest, this piano is haunted!
@5qu4wk And what makes this sound like an exercise? I wonder if when we used mean tone tunings in Europe music in 12-tone equal temperament sounded like an exercise to them? (Yeah, western music didn't always use 12 equal tones to the octave, shocker) You don't have to like this music, but don't put down a composer who legitimately composed this according to his artistic vision. (I can assure you it's not an exercise)
@5qu4wk By the way, I refuse to call microtonal music experimental. People in the west have been composing microtonal music for over 100 years, the experimentation is done, now we are just composing.
@ClarityDivine Wow, "anxiety and fear, beautiful". Its obvioius that youre just an incompetent listener that cant understand what the music says but you just go on to be part of the elitism or the avant garde so you say its beautiful. Its sounds awkward, ie, makes you anxious because you are trying to interpret it with a 12 tone function. The moment that you stop trying to you will notice its quite playful and happy, and a bit quirky, perhaps like Satie, not like anxious/fear music.
@Hero0fSilence A bit harsh to immediately call him an elitist out of such a short comment. He may not interpret it as you do (i.e. the correct way), but he's one of the few who is open-minded enough to enjoy this without making a complete hipster out of himself. Besides, the comment probably doesn't even say exactly what he wants it to say; English is clearly not his primary language. You do make a good point, but I disagree as far as seeing him as a mere poser.
@Hero0fSilence Oh because you, a 'competent' listener can interpret it correctly can you? It's subjective you idiot, the interpretation is justified by the individual listener, and cannot be wrong, incorrect, right, or correct. Come back when you've stopped talking rubbish -.-
@TheModCon I wasnt saying that Im better than him, dont make this personal. Im talking about the willingness of people to adore something that everyone adores. Take for instance, some guys are riding bike and a kid comes and says "i like riding bike cuz I fall every feet". Sure, I agree with you, riding bike can be many things, no 'correct' form, we can ride backwards, on the forest, on ramps, etc. But when you say you like falling its because you dont know how to ride bike. Ives is not noise.
@omgtkseth You implied his interpretation was WRONG and yours was CORRECT. In a subjective field, I will say again, that is fucking NONSENSE. We're not talking about objective truth, in which riding a bike is actually riding a bike. Music is not binary, riding a bike is. You're being so ignorant, seriously, think about what you're saying, and then get back to me.
@TheModCon you know what? I think i agree with you, and i take it back. Mozart and haydn were never composing good music, they made the most boring and tedious they possily could, intentionally, because it was a satyr of noility and christianism. Or maybe not, but thats why >I < think they are genious, for being intentionally untalented, as a form of musical joke. The same for stravinsky, he was intentionally gross in all his music, to tell the world that music should stay tonally traditional.
@omgtkseth You obviously are too stupid to understand what I'm saying, thus resulting in talking bollocks. Did I say the music you like and/or thought was better isnt? No,you idiot. Did I say you weren't allowed and entitled to your opinion? Again, NO I didn't, you idiot. My point is, YOU cannot say that someone else's opinion is wrong and yours is right. On what BASIS is that assertion made on?Just because you know? Well, you don't. That's simple. Don't say what's right, in subjectivity. Idiot.
@TheModCon Did I eve say I was right? No you idiot. I said Mozart and haydn were never composing good music, they made the most boring and tedious they possily could, intentionally, because it was a satyr of noility and christianism. Or maybe not, but thats why >I < think they are genious, for being intentionally untalented, as a form of musical joke. The same for stravinsky, he was intentionally gross in all his music, to tell the world that music should stay tonally traditional.
@projectbaum Seriously, Ives WANTED to make people anxious with his music, he wanted to creep everyone out! And mozart wanted to make everyone bored as criticism to nobility! I think Mozart is boring, and Ives', eek! °end of sarcasm° I am defending Ives, his music isnt horror music, his music isnt noise, his music isnt chaos. His music is as graceful as Satie's, as Mozart's, as Stravinsky's. Those who say that Ives' music makes them anxious, and Mozart makes them bored, yet they like it, ugh
Why is it beyond comprehension that someone's interpretation of a piece may vary from another's, and that how they comprehend it is pleasing to them? Is there any particular reason why being anxious or bored is not something appealing to some people?
@sephirothdun ~ Either with additional staves to write the Quarter-tones on, or better yet, if playable on a single instrument, using the accidentals that have been created for the non-12-TET notes.
@JamesMichaelStClair ~ Sorry, James. I don't have them available at this time. I'm hoping to have that change at some time in the future, but at present time I don't have them available for distribution.
most quarter tones compositions (like haba) have absolutely no musicality, it seems just like an study. but yours really sounds like music, and it is beautiful! keep playing quartertonal, you are awesome
@DieselBodine just so you know, this song inspired me to create a quarter-tone guitar tuning. i've been missing out on so much! thank you for the inspiration.
Our ears dont appreciate this as much as others would because our ears are use to hearing half tone changes. The lack of space between the frequensies of the notes is different for americans.
Some of the chords sound really and not dissonant some of them do though. But it's a really good composition, but seiously dude, how the heck are you making these? Quarter tone pianos are very rare and you can't buy reguraly them as far as I know, and it doesn't sound like a midi, AND WHY WON'T YOU FILM YOU PLAYING ONE, I'D LOVE TO SEE THE INSTRUMENT BEING PLAYED INSTEAD OF ALL THESE OLD PICTURES!
@xcracer2 Well that would be good for expierementation but not preformance so much, you couldn't reach an octave at all! I think digital quarter tone pianos is a good idea though agree?
The key point about 24tet is that the two twelve note scales clash pretty badly, so alternating them is probably one of the better ways of handling it. But these compositions show that it can be done, and done well at that.
how does the harmony work in quarter-tone music? is it similar to traditional harmony, or an entirely different system? Maj, min, dim, aug chords and the like or....? i'm very interested, it's intriguing stuff.
This requires an unlocking of the Western ear, but it is well worth the effort. After a few listenings, one begins to hear the nuances in the melody that the quarter tones present. You have a whole new pallette of emotional colors to work with. Terrific!
this is excellent. I'm studying composition, so I'm interested in how you went about this... did you get two pianos to play this, or did you actually have a piano with two "manuals" set a quarter tone apart?
I love this! Would it be possible to make a video showcasing some of your compositonal technuiqes for quarter tone music? I've learned a few tricks while messing arround with scala and my quarter tone guitar tuning, but I would love to get some tips.
HOLY BLESSED SH- A DOUBLE STAIR-PIANO! must weight a TON , its hugely scarily amazing! how much time would it need to have the two sets of strings? plus...the strings number should be...omg..more than 120?
@awfulguitarplucker actually a normal piano has 88 notes and 218 strings (higher notes have 2 or 3 string tuned in unison to make them louder), so this one more has more like 440!!
This is beautiful! It takes time to comprehend this type of music and it is certainly an acquired taste. But after you got used to it, you will find it mesmerizing.
I, having an absolute pitch, have always imagined, and even felt there was "something in between the usual tones and semitones"... well, here it is. And "quarter tone" is its name.
This music is purely terrifying! No music can make me feel uncomfortable and scared like this! Which is why it is amazing. Now I want to know why there are no videos of these things actually being played! I'd really like to see how it works with all of those manuals...
very much John Cage! The point is that if you have not an harmonic theory behind, so that the audience could understand, it will always sound as an untuned piano.
Very good piece. As Ives would say "ear stretching." Some of the responses tell me that these people need to give their ears a "work out" more often. Is this the piano that Ives assisted in designing?
I have become programmed in my environment and society to certain perceptions, especially in music, philosophy, literature, etc. I do not care for dissonance in Schonberg's 12 tone scale but really enjoy Bach's chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. I do not care for quarter tone music either as well as anything noisy and unharmonic. But that's just my perception in my corner of the world.
This is one of the coolest things I've ever heard. I havn't ever heard of 24 tone music before this video. Can you post a video of you playing the piano yourself so we can see how it's played?
Hmm, interesting to know. I know that some people get really locked in by perfect pitch, and experience quite a bit of discomfort from things that are out of tune.
@ndosg15: I'm curious. What exactly do you mean when you say you have perfect pitch? Can you identify any note in any tuning? 12TET, 24TET, whatever-TET? :-) What about just intonation? What about tunings that use different reference frequencies for A (iso 440Hz)?
Putting it simply, people with perfect pitch can name the pitch of any note they hear, and sing any note on the spot, it's all internalized. I'm guessing by 24-TET you mean quarter tones, so yes that too, but they dont register as immediately as the 'in tune' pitches
Yes, I mean quarter tones and other tuning systems. There are many ways to define what 'in tune' actually is. (largely culture dependent) What if A is 415Hz, like modern Baroque ensembles use? What if a choir sings a Dom7 chord on C using just intonation? Compared to a 12TET tuned piano, that would sound quite different. (Try "The Harmonic Series vs.its approximation in 12TET" on Google) Would someone with perfect pitch be able to switch between tuning systems, perhaps after some training?
A415 just sounds like an A-flat. As for the whole just intonation vs. equal temperament thing...i can't really hear a difference. I'm not that good, sorry.
Wow - this piece might have finally snapped my mind around the concept of quarter-tones - it really does sound like an independent note rather than a hideously out of tune "regular" note.
Hi Scott. Bravo! Not just gimmicky, but well-composed and well-thought out music. Sounds a bit "Sonatas and Interludesy". Is that the instrument you played, in the pic? Stroke of genius to use the 2 keyboards as you do in the opening, alternating upper and lower. I don't think 1/4 tone music will hit it big (few instruments!), but it should have a presence on recording and in concert. Great work!
This is super interesting and my mind is still trying to wrap itself around an unfamiliar scale. I suppose it's like the numbering system, if we had 9 fingers and grew up with the base 9 numbering system, it would seem natural.
It's going to take some time to get used to this - It seems I'm half tone deaf.
There is an old song called "Spectrum" that has the same effect. Very experimental, modern and cool. Think it was recorded in the 1960s. For multiple instruments I believe.
Hello, mwest. Not sure if I've heard ''Spectrum'' before. Quarter-tone Music has been around for a long time, but most people aren't familiar with it.
The Italian Renaissance composer and theorist Nicola Vicentino (1511-1576) experimented with microintervals and built a keyboard with 36 keys to the octave, known as the archicembalo.[citation needed] However Vicentino's experiments were primarily motivated by his research (as he saw it) on the ancient Greek genera, and by his desire to have beatless intervals (when played with near-harmonic-series timbres) available within chromatic compositions.
im searching the web but cant find a place were to buy a quarter tone piano D: someone has an idea !! ?? :) thanks !!
hjiuhfhrehui 1 week ago
I'd heard OF quarter tone music but never LISTENED to any...I think Marshall McLuhan said something about how artists are probes into the realm of new experience...keep up the fascinating and enjoyable work
verstengenericks 1 week ago
where is he
theearlynovember2011 4 weeks ago
I agree. I'm not impressed by Haba. It sounds like he puts no structure into his music. You, on the other hand, make pristine musical compositions. Very well done!
CasusUniversum 1 month ago
You should offer your compositions in FLAC.
retrotails 1 month ago
I freaking love this! it blows my mind... i really want to start looking at quarter tones but i dont even know how to go about doing so. are there any music type programs where you can work with quarter tones?
NonEcrit 1 month ago
One of my more enduring memories of music school was to hear a concert with the piano tuned to perfect fifth rather than the Bach endorsed (Galileo's dad also promoted it) well tempered arrangement, a compromise that allow a composer to modulate far from the original key. So I imagine that tuning a 1/4 tone piano to be quite an adventure. (Note that modulations in the perfect fifth system start to howl as one departs from the home key.)
WJE37FCSM 1 month ago
Sei stato un genio
TheBeatlesrollingsto 2 months ago
Comment removed
TheBeatlesrollingsto 2 months ago
@TheBeatlesrollingsto ~ Grazie! 8-)
DieselBodine 2 months ago
quarter-brain
wrestpinpeace 3 months ago
I have just discovered quarter-tone and micro-tone music and I love it, hope to find some quarter-tone bass guitar videos on youtube, oh and this piece is great.
Coal48 3 months ago in playlist Liked
it's ok, i wasn't planning on going to sleep tonight anyways...
metallicais1337 4 months ago 2
This piece is so incredible! You have opened my eyes to the possibilities of micro-tonal music. I am definitely going to start writing some.
gamexprt1 4 months ago
I would play this if I had a castle, when the victims walk through the main gate... :3
ZIggyX200 4 months ago
Very beautiful pieces! Out of curiosity, how can you exploit the quarter-tones to create more modalities beyond just "major" and "minor"?
briankaz 4 months ago
Thanks for sharing it sounds quite nice, some good ideas and ofcourse interesting texture but it seems like too much of an experimentation(less though than much other quartertonal music). Maybe this is just my interpretation but it seems you move away from thinking too much about the compositional value rather than the textural value. You can make so much more, do it.
vincentizghra 5 months ago
My colleagues and I have discussed for some time now that quarter-tone composition is in large part under-explored. Your work presented here is a step in the right direction to more fully explore the enormous possibilities which lie within this system of tonality. Please continue to produce more of this lovely music. We've been enjoying it very much!
gossamerandbelvedere 5 months ago
It confuses me. ._.
twilightz0ne1 6 months ago
Bravo!
musicusblau 6 months ago
Mathcore may get a second breath by going quarter-tone - check out 1:42
a5urbanipa1 6 months ago
Brilliant! I loved your work man.
eseman13 6 months ago
ear BENDING, more like. i can appreciate different systems of music but when it sounds like an improvisation (complete with thumbs) for a silent horror movie shot through a keyhole with the cap on the lens and the piano on fire, i think you lost me. no music of any description should amount to simply an EXERCISE. which reminds me, someone fetch a priest, this piano is haunted!
5qu4wk 7 months ago
@5qu4wk And what makes this sound like an exercise? I wonder if when we used mean tone tunings in Europe music in 12-tone equal temperament sounded like an exercise to them? (Yeah, western music didn't always use 12 equal tones to the octave, shocker) You don't have to like this music, but don't put down a composer who legitimately composed this according to his artistic vision. (I can assure you it's not an exercise)
kratanuva725 7 months ago
@5qu4wk By the way, I refuse to call microtonal music experimental. People in the west have been composing microtonal music for over 100 years, the experimentation is done, now we are just composing.
kratanuva725 7 months ago
00:24 -- some imps from Chopin's Scherzo 1. Genial!!!
And the one who thumbed this down is still seeing nightmares right now.
f1f1s 8 months ago
omg. When you listening this music, you get house with mirrors and ghosts. It conjures up anxiety and fear. she is beautiful! Thank you!
ClarityDivine 9 months ago
@ClarityDivine Wow, "anxiety and fear, beautiful". Its obvioius that youre just an incompetent listener that cant understand what the music says but you just go on to be part of the elitism or the avant garde so you say its beautiful. Its sounds awkward, ie, makes you anxious because you are trying to interpret it with a 12 tone function. The moment that you stop trying to you will notice its quite playful and happy, and a bit quirky, perhaps like Satie, not like anxious/fear music.
Hero0fSilence 7 months ago
@Hero0fSilence A bit harsh to immediately call him an elitist out of such a short comment. He may not interpret it as you do (i.e. the correct way), but he's one of the few who is open-minded enough to enjoy this without making a complete hipster out of himself. Besides, the comment probably doesn't even say exactly what he wants it to say; English is clearly not his primary language. You do make a good point, but I disagree as far as seeing him as a mere poser.
SyluxLockjaw 6 months ago
@Hero0fSilence Oh because you, a 'competent' listener can interpret it correctly can you? It's subjective you idiot, the interpretation is justified by the individual listener, and cannot be wrong, incorrect, right, or correct. Come back when you've stopped talking rubbish -.-
TheModCon 4 months ago
@TheModCon I wasnt saying that Im better than him, dont make this personal. Im talking about the willingness of people to adore something that everyone adores. Take for instance, some guys are riding bike and a kid comes and says "i like riding bike cuz I fall every feet". Sure, I agree with you, riding bike can be many things, no 'correct' form, we can ride backwards, on the forest, on ramps, etc. But when you say you like falling its because you dont know how to ride bike. Ives is not noise.
omgtkseth 3 months ago
@omgtkseth You implied his interpretation was WRONG and yours was CORRECT. In a subjective field, I will say again, that is fucking NONSENSE. We're not talking about objective truth, in which riding a bike is actually riding a bike. Music is not binary, riding a bike is. You're being so ignorant, seriously, think about what you're saying, and then get back to me.
TheModCon 3 months ago
@TheModCon you know what? I think i agree with you, and i take it back. Mozart and haydn were never composing good music, they made the most boring and tedious they possily could, intentionally, because it was a satyr of noility and christianism. Or maybe not, but thats why >I < think they are genious, for being intentionally untalented, as a form of musical joke. The same for stravinsky, he was intentionally gross in all his music, to tell the world that music should stay tonally traditional.
omgtkseth 3 months ago
@omgtkseth You obviously are too stupid to understand what I'm saying, thus resulting in talking bollocks. Did I say the music you like and/or thought was better isnt? No,you idiot. Did I say you weren't allowed and entitled to your opinion? Again, NO I didn't, you idiot. My point is, YOU cannot say that someone else's opinion is wrong and yours is right. On what BASIS is that assertion made on?Just because you know? Well, you don't. That's simple. Don't say what's right, in subjectivity. Idiot.
TheModCon 3 months ago
@TheModCon Did I eve say I was right? No you idiot. I said Mozart and haydn were never composing good music, they made the most boring and tedious they possily could, intentionally, because it was a satyr of noility and christianism. Or maybe not, but thats why >I < think they are genious, for being intentionally untalented, as a form of musical joke. The same for stravinsky, he was intentionally gross in all his music, to tell the world that music should stay tonally traditional.
omgtkseth 3 months ago
@TheModCon
Dude, he's a fucking idiot. Not worth your time.
projectbaum 3 months ago
@projectbaum Seriously, Ives WANTED to make people anxious with his music, he wanted to creep everyone out! And mozart wanted to make everyone bored as criticism to nobility! I think Mozart is boring, and Ives', eek! °end of sarcasm° I am defending Ives, his music isnt horror music, his music isnt noise, his music isnt chaos. His music is as graceful as Satie's, as Mozart's, as Stravinsky's. Those who say that Ives' music makes them anxious, and Mozart makes them bored, yet they like it, ugh
omgtkseth 2 months ago
@omgtkseth
Why is it beyond comprehension that someone's interpretation of a piece may vary from another's, and that how they comprehend it is pleasing to them? Is there any particular reason why being anxious or bored is not something appealing to some people?
projectbaum 2 months ago
@omgtkseth Oh, and you do know it's riding >>A<< bike don't you? Not riding bike? THAT is something that is wrong.
TheModCon 3 months ago
I love the music you created!
FiatObscuritas 9 months ago
First quartertone piano piece I have really liked. I have wanted to try my hand at some quartertone music but I don't even know how to approach it.
hitglenwithmycar 9 months ago
reminds me of aphex twin SAW2. great stuff.
MrJohnpilchard 9 months ago
Very interesting. Im sure my harmony teacher would have a blast listening to this. Good job!
SpagEddy 10 months ago
How does sheet music work for equal temperament music, like quarter tone notes?
sephirothdun 10 months ago
@sephirothdun ~ Either with additional staves to write the Quarter-tones on, or better yet, if playable on a single instrument, using the accidentals that have been created for the non-12-TET notes.
DieselBodine 10 months ago
Beautiful! So different to normal preludes, but its so dreamy. Loved it! :)
jessparkerrrr 10 months ago
@jessparkerrrr ~ Thank-you, Jess. 8-)
DieselBodine 10 months ago
Any way of obtaining the sheet music for these preludes? I'd be very interested in studying them this semester.
JamesMichaelStClair 1 year ago
@JamesMichaelStClair ~ Sorry, James. I don't have them available at this time. I'm hoping to have that change at some time in the future, but at present time I don't have them available for distribution.
DieselBodine 10 months ago
most quarter tones compositions (like haba) have absolutely no musicality, it seems just like an study. but yours really sounds like music, and it is beautiful! keep playing quartertonal, you are awesome
ericoschmitt 1 year ago 8
@ericoschmitt ~ I'm glad you've enjoyed my work. 8-)
DieselBodine 10 months ago
Amazing, sounds really great. Serial music is much harder to appreciate than this.
billbonham 1 year ago
@billbonham ~ Thank-you, Bill. 8-)
DieselBodine 10 months ago
Very cool. I'm gonna have to listen to the rest of them. (:
missbee725 1 year ago
this is so beautiful.
calvinscheuerman 1 year ago
@calvinscheuerman ~ Thank-you, Calvin! 8-)
DieselBodine 1 year ago
@DieselBodine just so you know, this song inspired me to create a quarter-tone guitar tuning. i've been missing out on so much! thank you for the inspiration.
calvinscheuerman 10 months ago
@calvinscheuerman ~ That's awesome, Calvin. Enjoy yourself! 8-)
DieselBodine 10 months ago
Our ears dont appreciate this as much as others would because our ears are use to hearing half tone changes. The lack of space between the frequensies of the notes is different for americans.
w343vaughn 1 year ago
Fantastic!
newwerther 1 year ago
@newwerther ~ Thank-you! 8-)
DieselBodine 1 year ago
My God, that is one mamoth thing.
I've never seen a picture of a quarter-tone piano.
HAve you ever listened to Enno Poppe's rad for 2 quarter-tone pianos?
mahler151 1 year ago
Been using this in my music app. classes I teach at the HS level...the kis love it!!
kcbari89 1 year ago
@kcbari89 ~ That's awesome of you to do that! 8-)
DieselBodine 1 year ago
my ears are used to quater tones after replaying this several times. It doesn't give me chills anymore
iBurnedCookies 1 year ago
i get chills from listening to this.
It's so cool tho xD
iBurnedCookies 1 year ago
Some of the chords sound really and not dissonant some of them do though. But it's a really good composition, but seiously dude, how the heck are you making these? Quarter tone pianos are very rare and you can't buy reguraly them as far as I know, and it doesn't sound like a midi, AND WHY WON'T YOU FILM YOU PLAYING ONE, I'D LOVE TO SEE THE INSTRUMENT BEING PLAYED INSTEAD OF ALL THESE OLD PICTURES!
Oh and, why is there a top row of tiny keys?
akamarutv 1 year ago 10
@akamarutv Midi sounds have improved immensley over the last decade.
kratanuva725 1 year ago
@akamarutv im sure you could tune a piano in quarter tones, but it won't have full range of a "typical" piano made specifically for that
xcracer2 1 year ago
@xcracer2 Well that would be good for expierementation but not preformance so much, you couldn't reach an octave at all! I think digital quarter tone pianos is a good idea though agree?
akamarutv 1 year ago
@akamarutv first row for half-semi tone, second row for quarter semitone
jghcky 1 month ago
The key point about 24tet is that the two twelve note scales clash pretty badly, so alternating them is probably one of the better ways of handling it. But these compositions show that it can be done, and done well at that.
dasmikey1964 1 year ago
It feels worse than minor and diminished chords, and yet I somehow feel drawn to it. Oh dear.
bsharpmajorscale 1 year ago 3
fantastic! beautiful! yay for quartertone music!
MrLabMan 1 year ago
how does the harmony work in quarter-tone music? is it similar to traditional harmony, or an entirely different system? Maj, min, dim, aug chords and the like or....? i'm very interested, it's intriguing stuff.
kleinball 1 year ago
@kleinball: It's simple. A traditional ocatve has 12 halftones. So the quartertone octave has twice as much tones per octave: 24
You can play extra tones that are in the middle between of every two neighboring standard piano keys.
albedoshader 1 year ago
This is sweet.
butthemeatwasbad 1 year ago
wowowowowowowow. that is all.
Zebeldarebel 1 year ago
This is incredible...my mind is blown...
GoodPieToGoGo 1 year ago
This requires an unlocking of the Western ear, but it is well worth the effort. After a few listenings, one begins to hear the nuances in the melody that the quarter tones present. You have a whole new pallette of emotional colors to work with. Terrific!
RecitalGuitarist 1 year ago 3
really, these are great!
been reading the comments and yes, you looked into putting some of this out? i really like it.
could you reccomend some music for me to listen to in this vein please?
jtiney 1 year ago
this is excellent. I'm studying composition, so I'm interested in how you went about this... did you get two pianos to play this, or did you actually have a piano with two "manuals" set a quarter tone apart?
rofklaw 1 year ago
fascinating
blindleroygarnett 1 year ago
this sounds like my piano
faldarazzo 1 year ago
I love this! Would it be possible to make a video showcasing some of your compositonal technuiqes for quarter tone music? I've learned a few tricks while messing arround with scala and my quarter tone guitar tuning, but I would love to get some tips.
kratanuva725 1 year ago
there is something profoundly unholy about this. i don't even have the vocabulary to describe how fucked up this makes me feel.
aurinkona 1 year ago
It sounds so eerie, yet awesome
GallopingPints 1 year ago
Scott: congrat!. I´m from méxico ando youre pieces are great!. please don´t stop
arturojobrah 1 year ago
HOLY BLESSED SH- A DOUBLE STAIR-PIANO! must weight a TON , its hugely scarily amazing! how much time would it need to have the two sets of strings? plus...the strings number should be...omg..more than 120?
awfulguitarplucker 1 year ago
@awfulguitarplucker actually a normal piano has 88 notes and 218 strings (higher notes have 2 or 3 string tuned in unison to make them louder), so this one more has more like 440!!
hydrael1 1 year ago
This is beautiful! It takes time to comprehend this type of music and it is certainly an acquired taste. But after you got used to it, you will find it mesmerizing.
ch25252518plus 1 year ago
where can i get a quarter tone piano?
pyrodeath3x3 1 year ago
Imagine putting wierd delay and reverb petals into one of these digital pianos
BenUriyahMay 1 year ago
Very intense. LOVE the quarter-tone feel. Very "warbled" and watery. I'm clicking "subscribe".
wfly81 1 year ago
Oh wonderfully chilling and haunting. Otherworldly to our diatonic ears!
nostradamusguy 1 year ago 2
@nostradamusguy Perhaps alien races practice in quarter tones... or even eighth!! But perhaps, thirds? Otherworldly is definitely right!
WGSen 1 year ago
amazing sound. was this recorded with an actual quarter-tone piano, and if it was, how the heck did you come across such an instrument?
missinformationage 1 year ago
This is so cool! Yet kind of disturbing, it sounds like something from a horror movie or something.
SeanKecherson 1 year ago 18
@SeanKecherson ~ Thanks for listening! I have more posted as well. 8-)
DieselBodine 1 year ago
Powerful and interesting. And amazing how digital/computer-gamey this sounds.
Where on earth did you get this instrument?
xxxxFORTRESSxxxx 1 year ago
Beautiful - I'm very impressed.
liquidrunning 1 year ago
@liquidrunning ~ Thank-you! 8-)
DieselBodine 1 year ago
I, having an absolute pitch, have always imagined, and even felt there was "something in between the usual tones and semitones"... well, here it is. And "quarter tone" is its name.
V00Rozen 1 year ago 4
This music is purely terrifying! No music can make me feel uncomfortable and scared like this! Which is why it is amazing. Now I want to know why there are no videos of these things actually being played! I'd really like to see how it works with all of those manuals...
fishwithoutwings 1 year ago 3
i feel so relaxed and at home when i listen to this
do this mean i have problems?
mikebagel27 1 year ago
@mikebagel27 maybe a little;D t his composition rocks! it is like incarnation of insanity
Fusion2222 1 year ago
@mikebagel27
If it does then we shall go to the asylum together :D
peachy901 1 year ago
sounds evil. i like it
Bpet18 1 year ago 2
Boy this was very intriguing and beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
LauraLikesBeethoven 1 year ago 2
very much John Cage! The point is that if you have not an harmonic theory behind, so that the audience could understand, it will always sound as an untuned piano.
1212625bear 1 year ago
interesting (lol it's a lot easier to play quarter tones on cellos
greenappleman7 2 years ago
After your piece, I decided to use the Quarter-tone in one of my pieces... Thank you very much for the impression and inspiration!
f1f1s 2 years ago
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ear-stretching? Ear bleeding rather...
creavtveheart68 2 years ago
I agree...this is very tough to listen to
FCO0710 1 year ago
lovely, not only interesting
haimcito 2 years ago 2
Very good piece. As Ives would say "ear stretching." Some of the responses tell me that these people need to give their ears a "work out" more often. Is this the piano that Ives assisted in designing?
tomestubbs 2 years ago 6
I have become programmed in my environment and society to certain perceptions, especially in music, philosophy, literature, etc. I do not care for dissonance in Schonberg's 12 tone scale but really enjoy Bach's chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. I do not care for quarter tone music either as well as anything noisy and unharmonic. But that's just my perception in my corner of the world.
Magisterludy 2 years ago 2
thanks for sharing
frankbillmatt 2 years ago
Nice.
TonyBtheEG 2 years ago
This is one of the coolest things I've ever heard. I havn't ever heard of 24 tone music before this video. Can you post a video of you playing the piano yourself so we can see how it's played?
BlackRain987 2 years ago
So each of the 3 key beds have diatonic tuning which would sound like any other piano, except they are just tuned just in between the bottom one?
pyromohanzed 2 years ago
beautiful melody
iorixs 2 years ago
Rare beauty... this is the sort of piece valuable to compose nowadays... onto hear the rest of the set.
mephyman 2 years ago
This piece is very nice and beautiful! Really great job!
yuastnav 2 years ago
what a beautiful sounding and looking instrument.
just drop the 'tuning speak' and dig it folks.
bonbonchanson 2 years ago 2
Comment removed
winterwind1810 2 years ago
Exactly!! It's a challenge.
ndosg15 2 years ago
You're still a tool.
cybertooth49 2 years ago
extrange sound... psichydelic... i love it!
leoesencial 2 years ago 4
I like. Five stars to you, sir.
179600 2 years ago
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No, you're just a tool.
cybertooth49 2 years ago
That's not how it works.
cybertooth49 2 years ago
I want one. Brilliant.
c0rv377 2 years ago
is the echo a post effect or do they really ring in that ethereal way?
jczcameron 2 years ago
I want one!
akamarutv 2 years ago
That thing must be a serious pain to tune...
MrNoelJMIS 2 years ago 5
Anyone with perfect pitch hates this thing probably.
cybertooth49 2 years ago
I have perfect pitch and i love it!! But i understand why you would think that, and for the record i did NOT 'thumbs down' your comment
ndosg15 2 years ago 5
Hmm, interesting to know. I know that some people get really locked in by perfect pitch, and experience quite a bit of discomfort from things that are out of tune.
Sucks for them.
cybertooth49 2 years ago 3
@ndosg15: I'm curious. What exactly do you mean when you say you have perfect pitch? Can you identify any note in any tuning? 12TET, 24TET, whatever-TET? :-) What about just intonation? What about tunings that use different reference frequencies for A (iso 440Hz)?
TimmermanV 2 years ago
Putting it simply, people with perfect pitch can name the pitch of any note they hear, and sing any note on the spot, it's all internalized. I'm guessing by 24-TET you mean quarter tones, so yes that too, but they dont register as immediately as the 'in tune' pitches
ndosg15 2 years ago
Yes, I mean quarter tones and other tuning systems. There are many ways to define what 'in tune' actually is. (largely culture dependent) What if A is 415Hz, like modern Baroque ensembles use? What if a choir sings a Dom7 chord on C using just intonation? Compared to a 12TET tuned piano, that would sound quite different. (Try "The Harmonic Series vs.its approximation in 12TET" on Google) Would someone with perfect pitch be able to switch between tuning systems, perhaps after some training?
TimmermanV 2 years ago
A415 just sounds like an A-flat. As for the whole just intonation vs. equal temperament thing...i can't really hear a difference. I'm not that good, sorry.
ndosg15 2 years ago
@ndosg15 i did, lol
zacebbflo 2 years ago
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Los invito a la nueva web de microtonalismo:
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Tambien hay musica y videos de microtonalismo a todo dar.
musicool 2 years ago
i wanna get me one of those!!!
Bogorosmerenylo 2 years ago
This is amazing, Scott. Brilliantly executed.
pi314too 2 years ago
I think my mind just exploded...
ReignOfPraine 2 years ago
I just simply love it!
GleenlyGladly 2 years ago
Wow - this piece might have finally snapped my mind around the concept of quarter-tones - it really does sound like an independent note rather than a hideously out of tune "regular" note.
ExVash 2 years ago 5
i wanna get me one of these...
goodridgewinners 2 years ago
Very interesting indeed ... Hard to put an emotion on what i just heard. Never heard anything like it before i guess.
But i'm wodnering, how did you play / record it ? Did you play whole piece at once, or bit by bit that you brang together later ?
Anyways lovely
Lagrattouille 2 years ago
Ah, the MOTU Digital Performer.
camaysar222 2 years ago
Or is it a computer-generated piece??
camaysar222 2 years ago
Hi Scott. Bravo! Not just gimmicky, but well-composed and well-thought out music. Sounds a bit "Sonatas and Interludesy". Is that the instrument you played, in the pic? Stroke of genius to use the 2 keyboards as you do in the opening, alternating upper and lower. I don't think 1/4 tone music will hit it big (few instruments!), but it should have a presence on recording and in concert. Great work!
camaysar222 2 years ago
Wov, nice composition.
The picture seems to have been taken in the Czech Museum of Music in Prague, haven't it?
ahrabe 2 years ago
This is super interesting and my mind is still trying to wrap itself around an unfamiliar scale. I suppose it's like the numbering system, if we had 9 fingers and grew up with the base 9 numbering system, it would seem natural.
It's going to take some time to get used to this - It seems I'm half tone deaf.
desertlight 2 years ago
My theory is the following. A note in between two regular ones is interpreted as a regular note as out of tune as it can be.
filthguy 2 years ago
We love this and this is our last video today
Goodnight and have a super weekend
Natasha & Ellen
4UandUTV 2 years ago
Man of many talents arent u Mr Bodine :) , i love the piano 5/5 and more stars
JustaDreamBeliever 2 years ago
What program/ thing do you use to record this?
mickyj300x 2 years ago
Hello, mickyj300x. MOTU Digital Performer
DieselBodine 2 years ago
So beautiful it actually hurts. Wonderfull stuff. I don't know how you do it. 6*
conn6m 3 years ago
Thanks, Andy. Once your ears and brain get used to it, it doesn't hurt quite as much. LOL & 8-)
DieselBodine 2 years ago
Was für eine wunderbare so schön Klavierstücke ist hier.
Mes félicitations cher Monsieur !
Marc Patch
gutpatch 3 years ago
Thank-you, Marc! 8-)
DieselBodine 2 years ago
Hey, this is very interesting !
I always wanted to know a way to get out of these 12 notes. I can see that a quarter-tone piano offers lots of possibilities !
FreeTheJambon 3 years ago
Hello, FreeTheJambon. There are other instruments as well that go beyond the 12-tone system.
DieselBodine 2 years ago
your preludes are amazing! I wonder, where did you found a quarter-tone-piano?
lorenzarthur91 3 years ago 2
Thanks, lorenzarthur91. Oh, I could never afford a quarter-tone piano.
DieselBodine 2 years ago
There is an old song called "Spectrum" that has the same effect. Very experimental, modern and cool. Think it was recorded in the 1960s. For multiple instruments I believe.
mwest1234 3 years ago
Hello, mwest. Not sure if I've heard ''Spectrum'' before. Quarter-tone Music has been around for a long time, but most people aren't familiar with it.
DieselBodine 3 years ago
The Italian Renaissance composer and theorist Nicola Vicentino (1511-1576) experimented with microintervals and built a keyboard with 36 keys to the octave, known as the archicembalo.[citation needed] However Vicentino's experiments were primarily motivated by his research (as he saw it) on the ancient Greek genera, and by his desire to have beatless intervals (when played with near-harmonic-series timbres) available within chromatic compositions.
scaleshort 3 years ago
Interest info, scaleshort. I've read a little about this, too. 8-)
DieselBodine 3 years ago
Perfectly amazing!!
suuzzee5 3 years ago
Thank-you, Suze! I'm getting enjoyment from exploring the Quarter-tone World. 8-)
DieselBodine 3 years ago
Very subtle.
Alexknobsob 3 years ago
Hello, Alexknobsob! In parts, and not so in other parts. 8-)
DieselBodine 3 years ago
always the best SCOTT ...joyeux noel et bonne année 2009
jazzobassoon 3 years ago