Natural Harmonic Music

Natural harmonic music is distinguished from other types of music by its profound Resonance, which makes chords blend better while also expanding the materials that can be used for creating melodies and harmonies with additional flavors or moods which are not otherwise possible. This is due to the additional pitches made available by basing the musical scale on the infinitely expandable Natural Harmonic Series.

This article covers three parameters of music that are treated rather uniquely in what is referred to here as Natural Harmonic Music. These Parameters include Pitch, Rhythm and Timbre.

Pitch

The music created and promoted by World Harmony Project uses a scale which is different than the one in common use throughout Europe and America. It is an enhanced version of the scale from which the common scale originated, before it was modified in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in response to the limitations of early keyboard instruments. The scale we use is also more developed and extended than the historical European scale system, in order to meet the demands of twenty first century life.

The scale used by the World Harmony Project is more resonant than the common (twelve tone equal tempered) scale, because all of its pitches are part of the complex sound that we hear when a single tone is struck on a vibrating string. Thus all of the pitches blend well with each other, while providing a variety of tonal relationships. In contrast, all of the pitches of the common scale are compromised averages of approximately 30 different pitches which they are intended to represent, and none of them have the subtle acoustic properties of the original pitches. Twenty first century technology has overcome the limitations possessed by early keyboard instruments, so there is no reason to continue suffering those compromises.

Historically, the scale we use has been described as Extended Just Intonation, and we have used that term in the past. However, as microtonality and tuning theory has been further explored over recent decades, this term no longer seems to be descriptive enough. There are so many forms of just intonation in current use that using that term now would be equivalent to describing a polar bear solely as a " furry mammal".

The current term, Natural Harmonic Music (though perhaps sounding simplistic at first) is descriptive on both technical and literal levels. It is technically accurate since it denotes the Natural Harmonic Series, a term used in both music and physics. It is accurate literally as well, since it denotes a scale in its unprocessed form, exactly as it appears in vibrating systems throughout nature.

Another virtue of this scale, based upon the Natural Harmonic Series, is that it is infinitely expandable. A composer may utilize as many pitches as desired by simply selecting a range, or subset of the infinite number of pitch relationships that are available in the Natural Harmonic Series.

An in-depth look at this scale and its possibilities are described in my New College Thesis, THE NATURAL HARMONIC SERIES AS A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO JUST INTONATION.

Rhythm

Rhythm may be seen as a low frequency vibration that can be described by the Frequency of pulses, the Duration of each of the pulses, Groupings of pulses and the Loudness characteristics of the individual and groups of pulses. If the Frequency (Meter in musical terms) were increased enough to bring it into a range above twenty pulses per second, the rhythm would be heard as a pitch.

Similarly, if a recording of musical sound were played back slowly enough, the pitches would be heard as pulses.

Combinations of simultaneous pitches are heard as chords. If a recording of musical chords is played slowly enough, it may be heard as combinations of rhythms (multiple frequencies of pulse trains played simultaneously) which are called Polyrhythms. This suggests that polyrhythmic textures may be composed according to the same harmonic considerations as combinations of pitch. This concept was proposed in 1920 by Henry Cowell in his book NEW MUSICAL RESOURCES, and discussed in my New College Thesis, THE NATURAL HARMONIC SERIES AS A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO JUST INTONATION.

Timbre

Harmonic Content of individual sounds is another parameter for the application of principles of extended Harmony. A complete chord progression can be expressed by modulation of the Timbre of a single sustained tone and this may be done rhythmically. Timbre modulation may also be accomplished through sequences of tones generated by different instruments. This is most easily done with electronically produced sounds, such as with a Ring Modulator. Denny Genovese uses a Ring Modulator to do this with his Theremin.

I had the extremely good fortune while Visiting Erv Wilson in the late 1970s, to sit at the side of George Secor's custom Scalatron, while he played it for me. He started with a demo of his then-new 17+2 unequal temperament. The music was fascinating and as I followed his various ingenious modulations, my head moved around in space to follow them. Then suddenly, he pressed one of the tuning buttons and began playing a different kind of music in a different tuning. Immediately, without intending to do so, I sat up straight with perfect posture. My breathing became deep and effortless. My vision and mind became crystal clear. I felt fantastic! I said "George, what did you do?" He smiled and said "Oh, that's Helmholtzian Just" and then he switched to yet another tuning and musical idiom. I involuntarily slumped in the chair, My breathing became constricted, my eyes crossed and I had trouble thinking clearly. With effort, I said "George, push the other button!" He went back to Helmholtz and I got instant relief. This was my initiation into what Ivor Darreg called the "moods" of different tunings.

Denny Genovese

History of Natural Harmonic Music

Natural harmonic music began as vocal music since the natural intervals are the easiest and most fluid ones for singing. The pitches naturally favored by singers were first measured by Pythagoras, who discovered the relationship between pitch and the vibrating length of strings. Through experimentation, he found that pitch is inversely proportional to the vibrating length of a string. He also found that the pitches related by small numbered ratios blended more readily with each other than those with large number ratios.

Instruments such as the violin and others with variable pitch naturally used the same intervals, especially when following or accompanying vocals. As music progressed through time, more pitches became accepted as normal through adoption of higher numbered harmonics (According to Ivor Darreg, there were about 24 actual pitches in common use at the time of J.S. Bach).

Throughout the Middle Ages in Europe, musical scales were conceived as various combinations and sequences of pitches related by the ratios of 1, 2, and 3 (the first three harmonics of the Natural series). Music produced with those pitch materials had a relatively somber mood (even when the object was to express joy), where octaves fifths and fourths were the most consonant, while thirds and sixths were dissonant! This was because the formulas used for those intervals were derived by compound ratios of two and three, which multiplied successively produced very high numbered ratios of frequencies. Failure to exert the discipline required to sing the so-called "Pythagorean" intervals, and inadvertently singing the much more natural thirds by intoning the 5th harmonic, was considered a sin. This era was characterized by the Inquisition.

In the 1500s, singers in England began to intone their thirds and sixths using frequency ratios that included the number five (enter the fifth harmonic). This interval was simpler than the medieval thirds and so the sound was sweet, rather then harsh. On the continent, the sweet music was called the "English Sound" and became very popular, very fast. Within a Century, European culture was flowering as never before, and we now call that era the Renaissance.

The seventh harmonic found its way into American Music via African songs, sung by slaves. This brought yet another quality into Western Consciousness that might be called frankness, or even Spiciness.

At the same time however, the popularity of keyboard instruments grew. These early instruments were rigid in pitch and were not capable of playing all of the pitches used by vocalists and violinists in the increasingly sophisticated music of the times. There were not enough keys on the keyboard for that. Though other choices might have been made, the problem was approached by compromise: This led to the practice of tempering: the use of smaller numbers of pitches to represent those of a larger group. While none of the tempered pitches had the resonant qualities of the pitches they represented, they were deemed to be close enough to get by, especially if the music was played quickly so that the listener had less time to notice.

All the pitches in 12 Tone Equal Temperament were slightly detuned from the natural pitches, so that while none of them retained the psychoacoustic qualities of the Harmonic ratios from which they had been derived, the scales sounded the same, no matter what key they were played in. The subtle beauty of seven limit tonality, which had been developed over such a long course of time, was quickly replaced by the subtle tension of the compromised "Tempered" tuning which pretends to be "normal", while fitting into a rigid and limited set of artificial possibilities, none of which offer the undisturbed strength of small number ratios of frequencies.

By the dawn of the 20th century, these tempered pitches became standardized in Western Music to include only 12 pitches, all of which were tempered except for the octave. As a result, most people living today have never heard the profound resonance of Natural Harmonic Music, though unaccompanied singers, string ensembles and certain wind ensembles continue to intone the true Harmonically derived pitches.

Innovators in the 20th Century

At the turn of the 20th century it was thought by many composers that Tonality had reached a dead end, since everything that could be done with the 12 pitches of the common scale available on the piano had been used in every acceptable combination and sequence. What did not occur to those composers was that it was not tonality itself, but the resources of the 12 tone equal tempered scale that were exhausted.

Similar crises have occurred throughout history, and the solution has always been to add new pitches to the existing resources by adopting intervals from higher levels of the Natural Harmonic Series into the musical framework, allowing music to evolve along with the consciousness of listeners. Another strategy, utilized by several contemporary artists is to divide the octave into other equal or unequal divisions with numbers of tones per octave other than 12. Some of these alternate temperaments offer close approximations of the natural intervals for some intervals, though not for all.

While ARNOLD SCHOENBERG knew about the Harmonic Series and wrote about it in his book, STYLE AND IDEA he chose not to treat the Tonality Crises by expanding the pallet of 20th century music to include higher numbered intervals from the harmonic series. Instead he chose to accept the 12 tone equal tempered scale as a given and abandon Tonality completely. Thus began the discordant "cerebral" music of Atonality and Serialism that dominated "serious" music throughout the 20th century.

Meanwhile in 1920 HENRY COWELL wrote his book, NEW MUSICAL RESOURCES, in which he outlined a path that could be taken by adopting more of the natural intervals of the Harmonic Series into music, not only to expand the pallet of musical Pitches, but to extend the same principles into the dimension of Rhythm. In addition he proposed innovations in Notation that would simplify the use of both of these aspects of music. Unfortunately, he did not follow through with these ideas in the realm of Pitch, though he did introduce Rhythmic innovations in his compositions.

In the following years HARRY PARTCH developed an innovative scale system that used higher numbered harmonics in a matrix that included complimentary intervals from the Subharmonic Series as well. This matrix, which he called the Tonality Diamond included 43 unique pitches within each octave. Partch treated the problem of getting these pitches onto instruments in various ways, developing several unique new instruments in the process. He also developed several approaches to Notation. The music he composed was primarily based on the subtle intonations of speech in the English language.

LOU HARRISON, a contemporary and friend of Partch brought the musical traditions of Indonesian Gamelan to America. Collaborating with instrument builder BILL COLVIG, he developed scales, instruments and music that utilized higher numbered harmonics and introduced the concept of starting a scale on the 12th harmonic. The music that he produced became known as American Gamelan and some of his students developed their own American Gamelan orchestras.

Ivor Darreg with his Megalyres

Still another innovator was IVOR DARREG. More technically oriented than Partch and Harrison, Darreg developed and discovered numerous scale systems using various scientific principles and invented several acoustic, electronic and electro-acoustical instruments with which to play them. Darreg developed the 1st portable electronic music synthesizer (utilizing vacuum tubes) in 1929 and played it with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, substituting for oboe parts. This synthesizer was capable of playing in Natural Intonation as well as 12 tone equal temperament. Darreg was also a net-worker and developed a long list of correspondents which he named the Xenharmonic Alliance, to whom he sent his hand typed and mimeographed (later photocopied) publication, the Xenharmonic Bulletin.

Erv Wilson and Denny Genovese Los Angeles, California 2001.

Erv Wilson was a music theorist who specialized in microtonal music, which includes Natural Harmonic Music. He developed numerous scale and tuning systems, keyboard layouts, charts and 3-D models of Harmonic relationships.

Jonathan Glasier with his PentaHarp

Jonathan Glasier YouTube Interview

Jonathan Glasier, a former member of the Partch Ensemble has been at the center of the growth of Microtonality and Just Intonation for many years. He is an innovative music teacher, instrument builder, and performer, specializing in microtonal improvisation with many varied instruments, including vocal harmonics. He is the founder of Interval magazine, which was instrumental in connecting microtonalists around the world, long before the Internet existed. From there, he founded the Interval Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization and is currently involved in establishing a museum of microtonal instruments, with an archive of the works of many microtonal artists.

Many other musicians, composers, theorists and instrument builders have contributed to the development of microtonal music, which has allowed for new sounds and effects not possible with the 12 tone equal tempered scale, and their absence here is not intended to slight or minimize their contributions. More will be added regularly.

Associates of World Harmony Project

Beginnings of the World Harmony Project

DENNY GENOVESE was an electronic musician and analog synthesizer builder living in Hawaii in the 1970's. While sweeping a Resonant Filter over a Sawtooth Wave, he played melodies by picking out the individual harmonics of that rich sound-wave. He quickly discovered that his melodies could not be completely duplicated by playing the keyboard and this spurred him to learn more about these unusual pitches and why they were not all to be found on the keyboard.

Soon after that Denny found an article by Ivor Darreg, describing guitars that he had re-fretted to alternative scales in Guitar Player magazine. The Article ended with Darreg's mailing address and an invitation to interested parties to contact him. Denny wrote to him and received a reply which led to a trip to Glendale, to meet him.

While Denny was in California, Ivor introduced him to JONATHAN GLASIER, who was about to publish the 1st issue of INTERVAL Magazine, a periodical devoted to the promotion of microtonal music and musicians . Jonathan in turn introduced Denny to numerous artists and instrument builders in the growing network including Microtonal Theorists Erv Wilson, Dr. John Chalmers Jr. as well as Instrument builders and microtonal artists, George Secor, Prent Rodgers, David Canright, Chris Forster, John Gibbon and others. Thus began Denny's education in Microtonality, the term commonly used among network members to describe music outside of the 12 tone equal tempered system.

Denny's interest in using the Natural Harmonic Series as a scale turned out to be relatively unique in the Microtonal music community. While Partch, Harrison and Darreg sought to expand the diatonic and chromatic scales with additional pitches from the harmonic series (a practice defined by Ben Johnston as EXTENDED JUST INTONATION) Genovese sought to use the Natural Harmonic Series itself as a scale. He noted that this was the scale that appears in nature, not only as the components of Sawtooth Waves in Synthesizers but also in the resonating modes of everything that vibrates, including strings, bars, air columns, engines and even the Earth itself. This is the scale naturally produced by the bugle, a valveless trumpet and the trombone (without moving the slide) though these techniques were hardly ever used or even recognized in contemporary Western music. Ordinarily when musicians inadvertently played these natural pitches they were thought to be wrong or out of tune.

And so, like Partch, Harrison and Darreg before him, Denny built his own acoustic instruments (as well as electronic ones) to play his ideal scale and he developed his own notation for them in order to discover the scale's unique musical properties.

His goal was to compose music that would be enjoyed by live audiences, allowing them to relax away the tension they carried from modern life (and from listening to 12tet music), as well as to energize those parts of a person that are dormant, prior to experiencing the higher Harmonics. This quest became the foundation for the creation of his Exotic Music Ensemble, the Southeast Just Intonation Center and the World Harmony Project, which continues to serve as the host for this website.

More Microtonal Musicians of the 20th Century

George Secor, a master of microtonal music commissioned Motorola to build a custom model of the Scalatron, an organ/synthesizer able to precisely resolve up to 1024 pitches per octave, utilizing the theories of Wilson and Chalmers and a microtonal keyboard design by Wilson.

Easley Blackwood Produced an album in the 1980's in which he composed and performed one scholarly piece of music for each of the Equal temperaments between 13 and 24 tones per octave. Here, he is pictured with his Scalatron. Denny Genovese interviewed Dr. Blackwood about the album, in a two-part article in Interval magazine, the Summer of 1985.

(L) Dean Drummond, Curator of the Partch Instruments in the early years of the 21st century in New Jersey. He was a member of the Harry Partch Ensemble, when Partch was alive and kept it active during his tenure at .

Prior to Dean assuming this responsibility, the instruments were held by Danlee Mitchel, at San Diego State University. Danlee had been Partch's assistant, and kept the music alive with periodic performances in several countries.

(R) Denny Genovese

Johnny Reinhard

One of the original members of Ivor's Xenharmonic Alliance, Johnny is the founder of the American Festival of Microtonal Music in New York. Johnny uses Mode 128 of the Harmonic Series as a musical scale.

Toby Twining

A very successful composer and Performer, uses Natural Harmonic Series in vocal and Instrumental Music.

Buzz Kimball

A builder of Microtonal instruments, associated with WHP, studied and worked with Ivor Darreg.

Associates of World Harmony Project

World Harmony Project currently serves the music of Denny Genovese, Ralph David Hill, Jules Siegel and Norman Henry, who collaborated in the work of the World Harmony Project in the 1990's and who lived and breathed their ideals and dedication to the Restoration of Harmony and Tonality in an expanded form suitable to the sophistication of the 21st century through their use of the Natural Harmonic Series as their scale material. This website preserves their music and writings and makes them available to those who are interested. We plan to expand these offerings to include more Natural Harmonic and Microtonal Music composers and musicians in the future.

Denny Genovese, founder of World Harmony Project, the Southeast Just Intonation Center and the Exotic Music Ensemble

Ralph David Hill Composer, Educator, Music Historian, Psycho-acoustician, and an early developer of microtonal Music software and hardware. His primary Musical expression was Just Intonation with an emphasis on the Natural Harmonic Series. He also explored the Meantone Piano.

Jules Siegel was a composer, player of the acoustic bass and a software engineer. He developed unique software, that enabled him to compose his unique Electronic Music, using the Natural Harmonic Series as his scale.

Norman Henry built a harpsichord with a special keyboard that allowed it to be played in Partch's 11 Limit Tonality diamond scale in the early 1980's. He later built an 11 limit piano with a similar matrix keyboard.

Associates of World Harmony Project

For a more thorough treatment of the history, theory and practical application of the principles of Natural Harmonic Music see:

THE NATURAL HARMONIC SERIES AS A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO JUST INTONATION by Denny Genovese.