midi software and microtonal music

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Evening Rondo:

"Evening Rondo" is a piece for solo Kite guitar, part of Untwelve's Edition Zalzal.
Download the track here: EveningRondo.mp3 (192kbps) or EveningRondo.flac
Tuning: 41-equal, tonic is F+51¢
Performed by Travis Johnson on a converted Ovation Custom Elite
Published under the Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0





Evening Rondo was written for 41-edo Kite guitar, but is essentially in 7-limit just intonation. It begins in septimal harmonic minor, which is 1/1 9/8 7/6 4/3 3/2 14/9 27/14 2/1. This scale contains three subminor 2nds of only 59¢ (if 2\41) or 63¢ (if 28/27). The intro, theme 1 and transition 1 make heavy use of these 2nds, creating rather angular melodies.

The septimal harmonic minor scale uses only primes 2, 3 and 7, for a bleak sound. Prime 5 is used very sparingly at first, but becomes more prominent starting with theme 2, making a warmer sound.

The piece starts off mostly diatonic and progessively becomes more microtonal. The maj7sus4 chord in theme 2 is an innate-comma chord (Ruyoyo or 225/224). Theme 2 and verse 3 feature runs of subminor 2nds. Verse 4 has a run of comma-sized steps. Transition 2 has a comma pump (Latrizo or 1029/1024). The score indicates this with the equation vvF = ^E.

The score is written in the key of E, but the actual key on a Kite guitar might be vD or ^^F. The score is available in three notations: ups and downs, colorspeak and HEJI. Furthermore the tablature is available in both standard and KDF fret numbering. The ups and downs and colorspeak scores include chord names. The colorspeak and HEJI notations assume 7-limit JI not 41edo. This allows for non-41-equal performances. For example, to play this piece on a 31-equal guitar, ignore the pental (yo/gu) accidentals. For 22-equal, ignore the septimal (zo/ru) accidentals.

Playing notes:
The overall tempo is fairly flexible. The piece can be anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes long.
The first 4 measures can be played freely at a slower tempo.
Measure 34: one might change tempo such that the pulse speeds up but the beat slows down.
Measure 42 and/or 46: The last note could optionally be played a fifth higher, i.e. an F#.
Measures 53-54: the dynamic changes are optional.
One could add a cadenza to measure 78, or to measure 98 if it's short.
One could possibly return to 12:8 time for measures 79-99.


SCORES:
Evening Rondo in E (official Untwelve score, HEJI)
Evening Rondo in E (ups and downs)
Evening Rondo in E (ups and downs, KDF)
Evening Rondo in E (colors)
Evening Rondo in E (colors, KDF)
Evening Rondo in E (HEJI)
Evening Rondo in E (HEJI, KDF)

Piano arrangement by Praveen Venkataramana (midi demo)
Cello arrangement by Praveen Venkataramana
String quartet arrangement by Praveen Venkataramana (midi demo) (musescore file)
Orhestral arrangement (finale only) by Praveen Venkataramana (midi demo) (musescore file)
Wild multi-edo piano arrangement by Praveen Venkataramana (midi demo) (musescore file)


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