Buried Forest

"This piece is one of my more ambiguous projects. The whole piece is microtonal, but not in a limited way that we can interpret as 'just effects'. The whole structure is created in an expanded xenharmonic base. I was experimenting with this newly developed colour palette, trying to create some sort of 'microtonal harmony'."

Microtonal Innovation

I originally wanted to use multiple xenharmonic systems in a single piece. I wanted to create a fully xenharmonic music just like Ben Johnston. Sadly, I would ask for the impossible from the performers who already struggled with the 24TET.

Aesthetic Philosophy

Another task I spent much time on was the aesthetics of the music. In the process of writing contemporary, there will be some expected aesthetic limitations. However, I did not want to algorithmically write this piece. I am already taking away an important comfort zone, equal temperament, from the audience. Also, I full-heartedly believed that microtonality could be very fun and enjoyable to listen to if applied correctly. So, I documented everything and researched the aesthetics in philosophy. "What do we enjoy in a piece of music?". Patterns? Surprise? Loudness? Cool sounds? Bass frequencies? Dynamicity? World-building? New and unheard-of things? So, I tried to organise those thoughts in a system, a matrix, and used them on this piece.

Ancient Greek Scales & Hybrid Systems

In the same semester, I got curious and decided to learn the ancient Greek scales. Later, this challenge turned into a full academic research project. I created my own scale grouping system. Later, this led to the creation of hybrid/complex scales, which I have used widely on this piece. For example, NWN-W-WWh is called Mijor and has its own distinct characteristics (naming was just a joke among my friend group). (N is neutral second (0.75 whole tone, or 150cents)). You can see the same kind of influence among the other 15 pieces I have created in the same semester.

Compositional Techniques

This piece uses 3 intentional-different types of microtonal composition techniques. The first one is the harmonic-series-based composition. Some segments of the piece have root notes which decide the harmonic scale. This creates some natural-sounding, timbrally nice series, but it is later compromised (simplified) in favour of helping the performers, so every microtonal sound is rounded to the 24TET system. The second technique uses the casual 24TET microtonal scale's tones to create unique, colourful microtonal chords. Some chords sound very nice, but the experience threshold required to have a "good" sounding chord is very high. It becomes impossible if the chord is made out of more than 4 notes. But I will compose a DAW-based microtonal music which uses the fullest potential of this. The third method uses horizontal space in microtonality to create microtonal melodies. Polyphony and such can sound very nice, but not practical.

Reflections After Performance

So, thanks to all the performers. It was a hard project, and they all gave their best effort to perform such a piece. But I can't help but wonder; how much potential this music holds, and how many great pieces we lose just because of the hardship of performance... I wonder.