Re: mathematic processes & tone clock

[Douglas Baldwin <coyotelk@optonline.net>]

Katja wrote:

> Dutch composer Peter Schat works with a tonal system visualised by the
> dodecahedron since long. He calls it 'Toonklok', Tone Clock. [snip]
>He
> promotes the system wherever and whenever he can, but seems to have 
>little
> succes. The trouble is, you have to listen to this kind of music quite
> often before you actually hear the interrelations. For the casual 
>listener
> it does not distinguish itself from other 'difficult' modern composed
> music.

What can this tell us about the purpose of music? The Western system of
twelve equally tempered pitches leads to all manner of patterning, largely
because twelve is such a rich number. But simply because a pattern exists 
on
a piece of paper does not mean that it has some inherently superior power.
That is certainly one of my little discoveries in using dodecaphonic
circles: what appears symmetric on the circle often sounds "cold" to our
ears. However, exploring these patterns can give us new material to work
with. Whether Peter Schat produced his music using the Tone Clock,
Schoenbergian 12-tone technique, or scattering rice on blank music paper,
the process is part of a larger world which needs to be considered as well.
But thank you so much for the link!
coyote