This is blowing my mind a bit. I had a system similar to this in my undergrad decades ago. I reorganized the Forte table in increasing dissonance by using the interval vectors and giving each interval a weight (referencing Hindemith). This way, I could control dissonance in a piece and create arcs similarly. I'd never heard of Ludmila Ulehla until now, but I'll definitely check out her music. Thanks for this video!
@patcupo Indeed, weighting the Interval-Class Vector elements allows dissonance ranking of Forte pitch-class sets. The Ulehla 10 level classification is more refined than the six Hindemith groups (in fact four, since the two contain symmetrical chords), and covers both tonal and atonal harmony, plus takes voicing into account. Other chapters from her book give a nice historic overview of the harmony domain. Thanks for the feedback.
@Ed Buller, You're welcome. Hopefully this tutorial helps making part of Ludmila Ulehla's book more accessible to the reader. For me the chord tension level classifier turned out a practical tool. Enjoy the reading.
@Mariano Mauro Thanks for the positive feedback. I recommend to start with PC-Set theory, as it is somewhat more generally relevant to modern, 20th century classical, atonal music. The Hindemith books more or less force you to write in his musical idiom (1930-1950s). In this video I focussed on the parallels between the two. So read some Hindemith then return to PC-Sets and build a more complete picture, that may stimulate your creativity. Hope that helps, good luck.
That is brilliant, thank you! One question I would like to ask: I just watched your series on NRT as I would like to have a programming counterpart for it (i.e. a piece of software that calculates paths, transformation etc.). Do you see any possible link between NRT and Ulehla chord tension level? Example: having a sequence written using NRT with its corresponding sequence of chord tension level. Do you have any reading suggestion, if any?
@Mattia Paterna, thanks for the positive feedback. Your question is hard to answer. There must be music-generating software algorithms that include an NRT module; but I am not an expert in that field, and also old-fashioned in the sense that I prefer developing my own harmony designs. Uniting NRT and Ulehla/Hindemith chord tension classification is not straightforward, since the former is based on sequences of triads. One might consider the NRT triad pair as a hexachord with inherent dissonance level. Some compound NRTs will yield either a hexatonic or octatonic set, which corresponds to a certain dissonance group/level. But remember that in the Ulehla scheme the voicing is another degree of freedom. And, finally, I find that NRT has limited potential for tension control, notwithstanding its overuse in (epic) film music. I prefer working with atonal pitch-class sets as the starting point for tension curves. Does this somehow answer your question?
A few comments: 08:04 You have C-A-F here, which is a consonant triad. Perhaps you meant to have C-B-F instead? 08:26 Another mistake? There is a 5 (F#) present in your "(no 5)" chord. 27:51: This reminded me of an old Far Side cartoon. There's a orchestra, and the conductor is ready to start. One of the musicians looks at the sheet music and says, "Gee, look at all the little black dots!" There doesn't seem to be much about Ulehla's tensions, either in the literature or online. (The top references come back to this video and a couple of papers you've written.) Maybe it's something that never caught on, or was never recognized in the first place.
@Christopher Heckman. At 8:04 I discuss UTL4 concordant triad examples. And you've correctly identified another quality control slip: in the 4th example C7sus4 the pitch A should have been Bb, to obtain a chord in 4ths. Well spotted. And thanks for pointing out the incorrect chord label Badd9(omit5) at 8:26 in the tetrachord set of examples; the sound is according to UTL4 though. Took me a while but then I found the 10/29/1984 Far Side cartoon you are referring to at 27:51. Well, ocassionally one needs 16th notes to create a certain musical effect. Zappa also said something along the lines of 'scribbling little black dots on paper'. The Ulehla tension classification scheme may not really have caught on, but still has its value for writing music with dissonance control IMHO. As always, thanks for the careful review.
This is blowing my mind a bit. I had a system similar to this in my undergrad decades ago. I reorganized the Forte table in increasing dissonance by using the interval vectors and giving each interval a weight (referencing Hindemith). This way, I could control dissonance in a piece and create arcs similarly. I'd never heard of Ludmila Ulehla until now, but I'll definitely check out her music. Thanks for this video!
@patcupo Indeed, weighting the Interval-Class Vector elements allows dissonance ranking of Forte pitch-class sets. The Ulehla 10 level classification is more refined than the six Hindemith groups (in fact four, since the two contain symmetrical chords), and covers both tonal and atonal harmony, plus takes voicing into account. Other chapters from her book give a nice historic overview of the harmony domain. Thanks for the feedback.
Thank you! I really enjoy watching all your videos!!!
Thank you for the positive feedback. If you have any requests for a future tutorial, just let me know.
perfect timing. I just bought her book !..thank you
@Ed Buller, You're welcome. Hopefully this tutorial helps making part of Ludmila Ulehla's book more accessible to the reader. For me the chord tension level classifier turned out a practical tool. Enjoy the reading.
Dear Frans Absil, your video are gold Im a big fan of them, what do you suggest to start this topic?Hidemith or Pitch class?
@Mariano Mauro Thanks for the positive feedback. I recommend to start with PC-Set theory, as it is somewhat more generally relevant to modern, 20th century classical, atonal music. The Hindemith books more or less force you to write in his musical idiom (1930-1950s). In this video I focussed on the parallels between the two. So read some Hindemith then return to PC-Sets and build a more complete picture, that may stimulate your creativity. Hope that helps, good luck.
That is brilliant, thank you!
One question I would like to ask: I just watched your series on NRT as I would like to have a programming counterpart for it (i.e. a piece of software that calculates paths, transformation etc.).
Do you see any possible link between NRT and Ulehla chord tension level? Example: having a sequence written using NRT with its corresponding sequence of chord tension level.
Do you have any reading suggestion, if any?
@Mattia Paterna, thanks for the positive feedback. Your question is hard to answer. There must be music-generating software algorithms that include an NRT module; but I am not an expert in that field, and also old-fashioned in the sense that I prefer developing my own harmony designs. Uniting NRT and Ulehla/Hindemith chord tension classification is not straightforward, since the former is based on sequences of triads. One might consider the NRT triad pair as a hexachord with inherent dissonance level. Some compound NRTs will yield either a hexatonic or octatonic set, which corresponds to a certain dissonance group/level. But remember that in the Ulehla scheme the voicing is another degree of freedom. And, finally, I find that NRT has limited potential for tension control, notwithstanding its overuse in (epic) film music. I prefer working with atonal pitch-class sets as the starting point for tension curves. Does this somehow answer your question?
Plug-in Boutique's Scaler 2! Its newest update includes Neo-Riemannian modulation options. Cheers
A few comments:
08:04 You have C-A-F here, which is a consonant triad. Perhaps you meant to have C-B-F instead?
08:26 Another mistake? There is a 5 (F#) present in your "(no 5)" chord.
27:51: This reminded me of an old Far Side cartoon. There's a orchestra, and the conductor is ready to start. One of the musicians looks at the sheet music and says, "Gee, look at all the little black dots!"
There doesn't seem to be much about Ulehla's tensions, either in the literature or online. (The top references come back to this video and a couple of papers you've written.) Maybe it's something that never caught on, or was never recognized in the first place.
@Christopher Heckman. At 8:04 I discuss UTL4 concordant triad examples. And you've correctly identified another quality control slip: in the 4th example C7sus4 the pitch A should have been Bb, to obtain a chord in 4ths. Well spotted. And thanks for pointing out the incorrect chord label Badd9(omit5) at 8:26 in the tetrachord set of examples; the sound is according to UTL4 though. Took me a while but then I found the 10/29/1984 Far Side cartoon you are referring to at 27:51. Well, ocassionally one needs 16th notes to create a certain musical effect. Zappa also said something along the lines of 'scribbling little black dots on paper'. The Ulehla tension classification scheme may not really have caught on, but still has its value for writing music with dissonance control IMHO. As always, thanks for the careful review.