Interval listening sessions
Next intervals:
Wednesday, May 15, 2018. 3:00pm
Room 365, CPMC, UCSD
Line 4 (see below)
Basics
Each session will focus on a small set of justly tuned intervals.
We will find out what we can hear
(in contrast to what we think we should be able to hear)
the unique sound of each interval, as well as secondary pitches:
shared overtones, shared fundamentals, difference tones, sum tones, etc.
And then we will try to determine why we hear what we hear.
Hopefully we will slowly expand our perception and our understanding.
Specifics
Each sonority will sustain as an electronic drone
for 4 minutes and transition to the next sonority for 1 minute.
(sometimes we can hear things more clearly when intervals are slightly out of tune.)
The drone will cycle through the day's set of sonorities for an extended listening session.
The wave form will begin as a sawtooth for maximal overtone content,
but will be adjustable for listening in different timbres.
It is advisable to have a personal frequency generator available to help identify what secondary pitches you are hearing,
(for use on a smartphone, for example: link)
We will make a list of audible secondary frequencies and note their relationships to the drone fundamentals.
Everyone is encouraged to sing with the drone or bring a tunable instrument and quietly play along.
We may also notate what we hear in extended Helmholz-Ellis notation
and perhaps discuss possible practical applications of the intervals in tonal and experimental music.
Interval sets:
