Techniques of Polytempic Polymicrotonal Composition

  A Few Thoughts On Spectral Techniques for Polytempic, Polymicrotonal Music For the sake of discussion, let's imagine that we have a perfect ability to realize or perform any sounds that we can imagine. We can create any sound and in any tuning or temperament, laid out in time in any fashion that we desire. We can shape the timbre and texture of our music in such a way as to cause people to hear voices where there are none, to transform the sound of rain into a percussion trio, into a crowd of people shouting. This can be done today with computers using a plethora of techniques. It can also be done with acoustic instruments by using “instrumental synthesis” techniques, with the help of computer-aided audio analysis and composition tools. In instrumental synthesis, the composer uses the computer to aid the composing process. She does a spectral analysis of a recording of a stretch of sound, and asks the computer to produce a score to simulate that, using a set of acoustic instrumen...

     There are many precedents in music history regarding multiple versions of one piece of music. First of all, there is the case of different interpretations by different performers of a piece of music. Yes, it is the same score, but there are subtle differences in various parameters of the musical mechanics and phrasing. No two performers will ever perform the same piece the same way. In fact, there is no single performer who will perform the same piece the same way over time. There will always be differences in length, tempo, dynamics, articulations, phrasing, and even intonation. However, we know it is the same piece of music because of its most basic and inherent qualities, such as melody, harmony, and rhythm.  Take Glenn Gould's renderings of Bach. They are so idiosyncratic that they may be considered Gould's pieces. This goes for conductors, such as von Karajan conducting Beethoven's Third Symphony versus Klemperer's interpretation: fast and brilliant versus ...