Scales is a layered project surrounding the different “scales” in the world and their initial influence on the development of harmony and melody. A connection is made to the visual arts as well.
Western music has based its scales on the distribution of the string according to Pythagoras. It is, accordingly, a system built on proportions.
The same does not apply to Arabic music. Even though they were familiar with Pythagoras' work, the Arabic world employs an aliquot distribution: a distribution of the string in equal parts, based on the placement of fingers on a string.
This resulted in the following:
Western music was able to develop harmony. Proportions can be shifted or transposed. Even distributions, however, cannot be shifted.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Arabic world has incredibly refined melodies with much smaller intervals than ours. With these, they determine the emotion of their music, whereas we mainly do so through harmony.
The Arabic or non-Western scales are repressed by the imperialism of mass media. Across the globe, Western tonal systems are becoming increasingly predominant, while the others are at risk of disappearing.
This constitutes the cultural/sociological part of the project. The scales were defined a long time ago. This initial “choice” has had an enormous influence on their development.
Parallels can also be found in the visual arts.
Western art is built on proportion. The golden ratio.
If you look at Moorish mosaics, however, you'll notice that they are based on the aliquot distribution. EQUAL PARTS. REST, NO TENSION. Or tension in a different way.
The intent is to address each of these different facets, working with various partners. There is a lot of interesting research to be found on various subjects such as just-intonation, Arabic scales (Sorbonne) etc, but the historical and sociological contexts have been glossed over. The full picture, in which all aspects are combined, is sure to be interesting and meaningful.
Music performances – Musicology – History – Music theory – Mathematics – Visual arts – Aesthetics – Sociology
The project's wide scope allows for the establishment of a European collaboration.
It would also be opportune to integrate it into the programming of a cultural center. After all, the project offers the possibility to unite many different music genres from different parts of the world – without having to resort to the wanton terms of world music or non-Western music styles. This ensures that they are treated as equal, as opposed to being the subject of a patronizing Western vision.
Some considerations:
Cross-overs are, of course, a thing.
This could perhaps be considered: Debussy (and, at a later stage, Messiaen) already laid hold to oriental scales in his work. Terry Riley employed the repetitions of Indian music … The Western music world is, as such, indebted. Much like the Arabic music world uses beats from the Techno scene. Cross-over (even though I've always thought it was a bit of a hollow term), then. We don't think Western music should still be played on “authentic” instruments! We don't stil play the Flemish Rommelpot after all! Paternalism/colonialism is, evidently, still a factor.
Western music has based its scales on the distribution of the string according to Pythagoras. It is, accordingly, a system built on proportions.
The same does not apply to Arabic music. Even though they were familiar with Pythagoras' work, the Arabic world employs an aliquot distribution: a distribution of the string in equal parts, based on the placement of fingers on a string.
This resulted in the following:
Western music was able to develop harmony. Proportions can be shifted or transposed. Even distributions, however, cannot be shifted.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Arabic world has incredibly refined melodies with much smaller intervals than ours. With these, they determine the emotion of their music, whereas we mainly do so through harmony.
The Arabic or non-Western scales are repressed by the imperialism of mass media. Across the globe, Western tonal systems are becoming increasingly predominant, while the others are at risk of disappearing.
This constitutes the cultural/sociological part of the project. The scales were defined a long time ago. This initial “choice” has had an enormous influence on their development.
Parallels can also be found in the visual arts.
Western art is built on proportion. The golden ratio.
If you look at Moorish mosaics, however, you'll notice that they are based on the aliquot distribution. EQUAL PARTS. REST, NO TENSION. Or tension in a different way.
The intent is to address each of these different facets, working with various partners. There is a lot of interesting research to be found on various subjects such as just-intonation, Arabic scales (Sorbonne) etc, but the historical and sociological contexts have been glossed over. The full picture, in which all aspects are combined, is sure to be interesting and meaningful.
Music performances – Musicology – History – Music theory – Mathematics – Visual arts – Aesthetics – Sociology
The project's wide scope allows for the establishment of a European collaboration.
It would also be opportune to integrate it into the programming of a cultural center. After all, the project offers the possibility to unite many different music genres from different parts of the world – without having to resort to the wanton terms of world music or non-Western music styles. This ensures that they are treated as equal, as opposed to being the subject of a patronizing Western vision.
Some considerations:
Cross-overs are, of course, a thing.
This could perhaps be considered: Debussy (and, at a later stage, Messiaen) already laid hold to oriental scales in his work. Terry Riley employed the repetitions of Indian music … The Western music world is, as such, indebted. Much like the Arabic music world uses beats from the Techno scene. Cross-over (even though I've always thought it was a bit of a hollow term), then. We don't think Western music should still be played on “authentic” instruments! We don't stil play the Flemish Rommelpot after all! Paternalism/colonialism is, evidently, still a factor.
CREDITS