Re: [looper's] RE: mathematic processes & tone clock

["Lance Chance" <lrc8918@louisiana.edu>]

Title: [looper's] RE: mathematic processes & tone clock

>>i definitely make the distinction between math and numerology in the same way i make the distinction between astronomy and astrology. apple and oranges. =-) PJ<<

>hmm.... I'd quite like you to elaborate, but fear we'd become unpopular w/ the list for veering OT into semantics.<

I think that we can keep this on topic quite easily.   I am not a numerologist.  I do not believe that I can either divine or affect my surroundings by numbers alone.   However, the spiritual phenomenon that has recurred throughout history that has been described as "numerology" is just as fascinating and inspirational as that of the Knights Templar, UFOs or the Catholic Church (no offence intended, I'm Catholic).   Honestly, Pythagoreanism as a concept is one of the things that charmed me into my recent math phase.   Math alone is nothing to me, numerology adds a richness of meaning to raw math that is akin to another relationship that is close to all of our hearts: music theory and inspiration (whether improvisational or compositional).  

Raw music theory is truly a mathematical set of concepts if there ever was one.   However, it is simply a set of theories used to describe what we already heard in our hearts.   As we developed our theories about music, our music developed to reflect these theories.   Hence the preoccupation in western Europe with the standard twelve tone.   I do not believe in the inherent mystical properties of the Dorian mode, but it sure doesn't hurt to know that someone did, and what they thought about it.   Math without culture is nothing because it is an abstract idea, so is music theory.   However, the phenomenon that the theory describes is inextricably linked to it because it informs and changes the phenomenon as it describes it.  

Think of your looper, you create a phrase and hit loop at the end, now you have a loop defined and you play along with it.   The impetus could be said to be an act of pure creation defining tempo and tone without any reference but the will of the creator.  However, from this point forward (until you kill the loop) all that is put in will be affected by what was there before.  If you play along then it harmonizes, if you ignore your previous input, it clashes, but it always interacts.   Even if you do not have your feedback on 100% and after many cycles the original content is lost forever, the subsequent loops reflected and responded to the content you can no longer hear and now you reflect and respond to that subsequent content.   If you play a song in 7/8 because that's your lucky number, you need not create the entire content to reflect that motive, however the motive will still be affecting the content.  

There, nice and on topic.   That's probably what looping is such an important music form for me; because it can always come back around to that. ;o)

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: goddard.duncan@mtvne.com

To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com

Sent: Friday, December 20, 2002 7:32 AM

Subject: [looper's] RE: mathematic processes & tone clock

>>i definitely make the distinction between math and numerology in the same way i make the distinction between astronomy and astrology. apple and oranges. =-) PJ<<

hmm.... I'd quite like you to elaborate, but fear we'd become unpopular w/ the list for veering OT into semantics.

for me, math(s) and numerology are related in the same way as, say, locomotive engineering and trainspotting. that is to say, one is a detailed knowledge of the nuts and bolts, the intimate workings, quite possibly at the expense of a sense of the purpose of that engineering- too close to the workings to see the bigger picture.... while the other is a great deal of enthusiasm and curiosity eclipsing the business of getting better acquainted with the facts.

returning to our musical context, I recall frank zappa's comments on the difference between a musician and a composer, and my own feelings about highly paid orchestral players who actually have a lot less to contribute musically than a kid with a strat who's learned three chords. somewhere in the middle is where the ideal lies- true understanding of one's subject, but without taking all the mystery/fun/soul/whatever out of it.

duncan/r.m.i.



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