Interlude

This is something I knocked up a couple of years ago... https://soundcloud.com/western-sub/western-sub

What imagery do you gravitate toward... Mars perhaps?

Posted March 16, 2013 4:54 PM

Good stuff JM, really. I'm much more of a Beethoven and Bluegrass fan myself, but I get along with most music. Got any more info on the microtones used? I like to fiddle around in that area on occasion (lots of microtonal stuff in ancient Greek music).

Lots of music/astronomy/mars relationships - Fascinating stuff. I'm a big fan of Johannes Kepler who uses loads of musical theory to get to his Three Planetary Laws, and the story of 'The Harmony of the Spheres' from Pythagoras to the present day is literally out of this world.

Don't get any particular 'image' of specific planet, but I did enjoy the ride. Funnily enough, I was just thinking about a Chat entry called 'Astronomers of Mars' or something so I could make mention of the music/astronomy associations. Well done for getting in first. So, are we great minds thinking alike, or are we two fools thinking the same? (Probably no need to answer that!).

Posted March 16, 2013 5:14 PM

by JellyMonster

Glad you had a listen. I'm not a musician as such - the stuff I do is normally rushed and just one take.

I heard you either play or listen to Greek music (sorry, lost the link). I have an album called 'Le Mystére des voix Bulgares' which I think you might like (contemporary arrangements of old Bulgarian music). JM.

Meant to say that there were several microtonal scalings used in the piece but have no idea which ones, sorry.

Posted March 16, 2013 7:40 PM

by AUricle

What imagery do you gravitate toward...?

Ahhh.....nice,JM. You seem to be a 'waveform' guy. Playing with the signatures of both color and sound. Imagery? Wow, I sampled a number of offerings. Are all "Sub Western" yours? Let's see now. For me it was more interstellar than planetary. Like this;
enter image description here

or this;
enter image description here

I tend to enjoy this sot of thing as the time between courses of a meal. I guess I like a little "meat on the bones" so to speak. Such as they way Pink Floyd or say, Radiohead use sounds to enhance the music. I consider them masters of the space between the notes, using both tones and silence to stretch and shape of their songs.

Last impressions....I was waiting to see the "starchild" from Kubrick's "2001 ASO".....

Posted March 16, 2013 9:32 PM

by Kitharode moderator

JellyMonster. If you play music at any level, then to me you're a muso. After step one you're just somewhere on the never ending journey that is Music. No, don't play or listen to ancient Greek music, I study the subject and focus sharply on the mysterious notation system used. Deep stuff, not for the faint hearted (or disinterested) but at least as fascinating as the stuff we're doing here.

My study, over almost 20yrs, has produced some startling results; some of them potential valuable and important. In short, we rely on a manuscript by Alypius which is the only surviving copy of the complete set of scales used and their notation. I say this document is badly flawed and I put forward a 'new, improved' manuscript. http://ancientgreekmusicalnotation.co.uk/

AUricle. 'Masters of the space between the notes' - I like that. And silence too, moves us into John Cage territory, but I can never remember how long his silent piece lasts. 2min 48sec ish?? Answers on a postcard to.....

Pretty sure that's Orion nebula on top (M42)? But I've not seen that image before. Gorgeous colours. The 'fingers' I know but know nowt about them. If they're not Hubble images, I'd make a guess that David Malin was involved somewhere. Good stuff. Music with an astronomical background - Now there's an about face. Good thread.

Posted March 17, 2013 1:03 AM

by AUricle in response to Kitharode's comment.

Kith,

Right you are about M42. The 'fingers' ....popularily called the "pillars of creation", are in the Eagle Nebula (M16 or NGC 6611. The images I used were indeed Hubble images, but there are a series of photo's of the region by the ESA's Herschel Space Telescope in many wavelengths which are quite spectacular http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/eagle-nebula-new/

That is admirable work you've done on ancient Greek musical notation. I've read a ways into it, but I'm more 'visceral'. Seeing it on paper leaves it in the "it's all Greek to me" category. If i could actually hear it, I'd be much more likely to understand its construction. Like abstract mathematics, I admire those who can work with the 'idea' without needing a working model or physical prototype to understand what's behind it all.

Posted March 17, 2013 3:11 AM

by Kitharode moderator in response to AUricle's comment.

Pillars of Creation, eh? I'll leave it at that. 😮

Thanks for compliment. Yes, hearing it is better and it makes more sense. My diagrams really need a monochord or two, or a 'tempered' guitar or something similar - then you've half a chance!!

Thanks for looking. Sorry for snappy remarks. 3.26am in UK .... fading fast ... A BREW, GET A BREW and have another hour. Yeaaah, why not.

Posted March 17, 2013 3:28 AM

by Kitharode moderator in response to AUricle's comment.

PS. If you see your paragraph (somewhere recent) with 'yardangs blew me away' in it, would really like to dig into the dust/wind thingy if you post your paragraph, as mentioned in my following post there. Cheers.

Posted March 17, 2013 3:30 AM

by AUricle in response to Kitharode's comment.

Burning the midnight oil, are ya'? Sunrise is coming soon, my friend. Time to commit or retreat!

Posted March 17, 2013 3:43 AM

by Kitharode moderator

Yes indeed. I could hang an all-nighter tonight because I'm on a late clock at the minute. (What a strange sentance). But I'd not be in fit state to do any thinking stuff. And what would I do when you went away? I don't know much about the daytime traffic on here so I'd have to do the washing up, which I'm hoping to put off for another day. That's like tomorrow, 24hrs, not 'another day' like 'some time next week'. I'm not that tired. 😉

Posted March 17, 2013 4:23 AM

by Kitharode moderator

PS to previous post: 1980ish to 1985 were my 'hippy hillbilly' days. Me on vocal and guitar (Rocky Top) and just me (as an old guy with stiff fingers and voice gone) doing Raglan Road. On the latter, even if the music's trash Patrick Cavanagh's poem is very enigmatic. I think that might be the right word.
https://soundcloud.com/john-g/rocky-top

Posted March 17, 2013 4:32 AM

by Kitharode moderator

PPS: It's 4.48 and I've just passed ou.......zzzzzzzzzz

Posted March 17, 2013 4:49 AM

by JellyMonster in response to Kitharode's comment.

(...ah, they're both asleep... here's my chance)

PPS: It's 4.48 and I've just passed ou.......zzzzzzzzzz

That's the time I have to get up!

AUricle, yes 'Western Sub' is another one of my many aliases. You might find 'Ice cream man...' is to your liking... hehe.

Posted March 17, 2013 9:00 AM

by Kitharode moderator

9.05am. Well that was a waste of time!! Four hours of tossing and turning. Might as well eat something, get a brew, and do some astronomy. Ho Hum ... morning JM.

Inter-Interlude: I'll start with the easy ones....

Dark Side of the Moon

Mars by Gustav Holst

Bill Haley and the Comets

Rocket Man

Stars and Stripes Forever

Then there's.....erm,....

Posted March 17, 2013 9:15 AM

by JellyMonster

Hey, that banjo playing is immense (on Rocky Top)! I also had a quick look on your Greek music notation site - as Mr. Spock might say... 'fascinating'.

Inter-Interlude: I'll start with the easy ones....

I can't think of any (hopeless)

Posted March 17, 2013 9:26 AM