Re: Mathematics, Prime Numbers, & Looping with the EDP

[David Trenkel <improv@peak.org>]

On Tuesday, June 21, 2005, at 09:22 AM, Todd Pafford wrote:

> Love this discussion.  What I wonder, though, is would it be possible
> to weave a melody using the prime sequence (or, ooh, the Fibonacci
> sequence) as note intervals?  And, what would be better, using the
> sequence numbers as scale intervals or as frequency ratios?  Then
> combine that with the rythmical divisions.
>
> I don't know how it'd sound, but it'd be an interesting exercise. :)
>
> Todd
>
Elliott Sharp did some early pieces with his band Carbon where the 
tuning ratios of his homebrew string instruments and the rhythms of the 
pieces were derived from the Fibonacci sequence. I'd have to dig 
through my lp's to find which record it's on, it was one of his early 
discs for SST, from when Carbon was a large ensemble, before morphing 
into the kick-ass rock band they later became.

As I recall, the music was loud, aggressive and very chaotic, as 
Elliott's music tends to be...