A quick note on the phrase "I broke music theory" and other corrections, but first! If you liked this video, please consider supporting my work on Patreon! www.patreon.com/LeviMcClain A little while ago, I made a video where the thumbnail said something like "I broke music theory". The video was on some basic principles of harmony in 31 EDO. Mainly Supermajor, Subminor and Neutral qualities of different chords. That video is one of the best performing on this channel and has been a real conduit to reach a larger audience with some of these really cool, left field ideas. The chief critique on that video, one that I (probably fairly) got roasted alive for was that I failed to pay homage to all those who came before me with a lot of these ideas. After all, I did not invent the idea of the subminor chord. I also did not intend to make it seem like I was claiming this, because... like obviously I did not invent the Subminor chord. That said, I'd like to properly acknowledge the giants of old in 31 EDO theory that make all of what we build on today possible: Nicola Vicentino, Christiaan Huygens, & Adriaan Fokker. A video about each and their contributions to this robust system of music is on the horizon. Also would like to acknowledge Gene Ward Smith who I understand first coined the concept of Orwell. Music theory is the words and language that we use to talk about music. It's descriptive, not prescriptive, so I'm not exactly sure what it means to "break it". When I say "I Broke Music Theory" I mean something like: I would like to show you the way I approach and understand music, which is likely a little different from how you most likely approach and understand music. The grandioseness of this claim is meant to express how insanely cool I think all of this stuff is, and helps to stand out in a world entrenched in 12. The click bait-y nature of the title is unfortunate, but this is what works in an algorithm controlled world. I think the trade off is worth while in good faith. Corrections: Edostep 14 (542c) should be labeled as G half sharp, not G sesquisharp.
@LeviMcClain I've still to read this note of yours to your video, but I'd like to say already that your challenge to try these scales appeals to me. But I'd like to say too that, while these stuff of polychromatic (Dololres Catherino @dolomuse ), and several EDO, and the lot of microtonal music I've listed from the lumatone commercials, sound to me out of tune, the microtonal music from Mike Battaglia and turkish musicians I've listened to, already does not, without any training or adaptation period... What's going on there, then??? ... Now I read your note: I like a lot the point you make of 'Music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive'. I actually read the same idea on the classical books from Walter Piston.
@@LearnCompositionOnline Actually, Levi's comment looks a lot like a citation on classics music theory books from Walter Piston, e.g. While restrictions make sense in order to promote creativity, mandatory rules make no sense in any art field (other than the engineering knowledge to perform a technique, or to craft an instrument, to say, which are growable, though)
This explanation doesn't save you from the criticism that your title is untrue clickbait. Everything you described IS music theory. All theory about music is.
@@LeviMcClain I'm interested to hear your thoughts on music's ability to influence human emotion. Does music theory cover this form of "spell casting"?
Wow, great video. Honestly it definitely sounds better than just being out of tune. I think there is definitely a type of musician that gravitates towards this stuff solely to be "weird" but I feel you're exploring it more genuinely in search of a broader sense of real music that is beautiful beyond just being different.
@@LeviMcClain Ver interesting video and would love to hear a full song separately of what you already have in the video. Have you seen this video: Microtonal Metal (easy mode) Ben Levin He does something interesting, uses 48 tet tuning setting and another set to regular 12 then he triggers them at the same time and discovers some useful unpredictable interactions. I think most music takes into account the limits of the ear. We have 12 notes but the music we make tends to center around 5 or 7 notes "key" and then with chord changes there are some departures So when we are using much higher divisions of the octave like 31 or 48 we can let that unfold into it's full complexity OR try to restrict the complexity in a similar way by only selecting 5 to say 8 notes taken out of the 31 or 48 and compose with only that smaller set for a while and maybe if there are chord changes expand it to say 11-13 notes of the 31 or 48 the intent being to make the music more digestible to our ears and sense of order and also using a lot of repetition for the same reason. And there is always the weight of the harmonic series to consider the Mixolydian mode is consonant with the first 10 harmonics of the harmonic series (the 11th harmonic, a tritone, is not in the Mixolydian mode). The Ionian mode is consonant with only the first 6 harmonics of the series (the seventh harmonic, a minor seventh, is not in the Ionian mode).
I just can't express how deeply astonished I was, hearing the hauntingly alluring the tune in orwell[9]. Awestriking, eye-opening, no words can epitomise the profound beauty of microtonal music; it's not the first time I've heard xenharmonic piece, but the way you harmonized the tones seems to me, a non-musician - just an avid listener, as a great accomplishment on your part, and although I do not understand the theory, the majestic and charming motif of your composition had deeply altered my understanding of this music category.
It’s also worth mentioning for anyone who’s getting into microtonality for the first time; that you could just start listening to more Middle Eastern music, since they have a ton of modes full of notes that do not fit within our 12 note system. Microtonality isn’t some entirely new creation. It’s just no longer within the European musical cannon.
Dude... when you started playing music in this temperament, I started having endless chills in my body and tears in my eyes. Hearing this changed something profoundly.
Just got into theory and you make me feel so slow, in the best way. It’s nice to see people still question and push boundaries. I’m gonna come back to this video again and again till I can understand all the concepts amazing work friend.
Bro, I finally understand 31 TET much better. The sub sets and selected intervals just made it click in my mind so much. And before it always seemed to me like the song was in tune with out of tune notes, but the way you did this created tones I've never heard before. You are truly a blessing to nerds like me, thank you!
Yeah working with small scales does wonders, you can often learn interval relationships better. And then you can ask: what if I want this a little bit modified? what if I want to modulate? And bam you use more or less the entire tuning. …well I suppose that’s one way how it can happen. I haven’t worked with 31edo, it’s a bit too big for me right now; I experimented with 17, 19 etc. because it’s easier to jam with on a 49-key keyboard (when you want all notes).
I don't how you showed up in my feed, but I am so pleased. I took Electronic Music at Brown University in the late 70s. Your music is sonically beautiful and intellectually fascinating. I have the lyrics to a country song that would employ this structure to full effect. It's a about a drunk whose life I saved in a McDonald's parking lot. He emerged from some bush and staggered and fell under the rear wheel of a car driven by an elderly man about to exit the premises. The harmonies could have fun with this lyric. I "subscibed" all.
I love this! I was deep into atonal, electronic, music myself about 25 years ago, I’ve written quite a few pieces and have built several interactive music installations, but ended up in a different career altogether. So this, your creativity and enthusiasm, is in some ways reminding me of that almost lost piece of myself.
The subject is fascinating and the visual production is stunning... but the two musical compositions, they really hit it out of the park. They are both quite simple at their heart, but you embrace each one for what it is and are not scared to be both playful and try to see how far you can get with it. That shows a lot. Of course everything can always be better -the script is good, but not quite at the same level as everything else-, but there's such a broad display of incredible talents in this video that it would be criminal to ask for more from a single human. Keep it up, you definitely deserve every bit of success that comes your way.
I recently learned about oreintal music and how it's much more complex then what we think thanks to mircotoning etc... This video solidified the idea that there is a large world of unexplored music and untapped potential. Seeing what you've done, I'm very optimistic about the future of music!
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that one will simply get used to the sound. For a couple years now I have been playing in 24-TET, I can honestly say that at the beginning I genuinely thought it all sounded out of tune. But now, my ears have accustomed to the neutral sounds so that to me they are simply other completely separate notes that harmonise in different ways. Albeit, most of my playing is still melodic rather than harmonic, I do occasionally use trichords or dichords to pack more into my playing.
This sounds awesome! I would describe microtonal music as "Avant Garde" - (new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts). The Orwell 9 tuning sounds very useful for Psychedelic Rock, Psy-Trance, New Age, Psychic, Paranormal, Spiritual, Ethereal Music, Fantasy Theatrical Score depicting elves, dragons, wizards, angels, demons, ghosts, spirits, magic, and Sci-Fi Cinematic Theatrical Score depicting time travel, interstellar travel, aliens, UFO's, alternate realities, and entities from other dimensions of existence. I could imagine this used in movies and TV series similar to "The Twilight Zone", "Outer Limits", "The X-Files", etc. 🔥
Thanks, dear gods of the Algorithm, for bestowing upon me this gift of a channel. And thank you for the video! Everything is right up my alley, your production is great and I love your songwriting, too!
Loved the demonstration of 9-orwell, thank you so much for delivering material in such simple, visally appealing way. Microtonality is a rabbit hole yet it broadens the musical horizons insanely, your videos made me very interested in this topic, so thanks again!
Great video - and song/jam examples. Very pretty. Still partway through, but just noticing the table of notes for Orwell[9] has a tiny error, that fourth should probably be G‡ (at 14\=542c as it says), and not G‡# (which would be 16\=619c). I really like the orwell[4] example, but it really sounds like the tonic is at 21\, so maybe you could have rotated the diagram to show us a better picture of what we hear (a sort of major sixth chord with a sub fifth and supermajor sixth, and actually a lot like a shrunken version of 4:5:6:7 or a dominant seven) - 0\=0c - 10\ = 387c - 17\ = 658c - 24\ = 929c Holy hell that keyboard with modular keys is super cool, I wish more keyboards out there could do that!
@@LeviMcClain Also the accidental (#) from the last note (C#) is missing. And F#+ would be better spelled as Gb. Anyway, excellent video, lush sounds and cool instruments.
This idea makes a lot of sense and will become popular. We have probably already wrote most of the breathtaking stuff from 12TET, Just Intonation, Octonic etc. The last 900 years amazing composers have composed. Music has become stagnant and popular music is ridiculous and abysmal. I have 2 musical ideas I will manifest in 12TET. Then I plan on doing stuff like this.
I myself enjoy working with 16-tone equal temperament, which includes neutral seconds at 150 cents, and neutral sevenths at 1050 cents. I have absolute pitch in base-12, and I am training my ears to have absolute pitch in base-16. I can identify G half sharp and G quarter flat, as well as D quarter sharp and F quarter sharp. I'm puzzled by 31-EDO, not because I'm not interested in the idea, I just feel like prime-numbered temperaments scare me. You are a very talented man! Respect to you.
Levi, brother. I just been doing some crazy stuff on dividing by 31. When you map the results on a wheel similar to the Orwell 9 system, it shows a mathematical center of 9. And second, you get this fascinating shape, that probably must line up with a melody. I have no idea how to play this on any instrument, but I’m sure you could. Is there a way I can email this to you?
What a fabulous presentation and explanation of microtonality. I've always been fascinated by scales other than "ours" and the musical textures and intervals they can provide. Thank you for your work.
I have decent relative pitch. As for the bass, there has been a lot of work put into mechanical refinement of my technique. Not there by a long shot yet, but we get a little better every day.
I couldn't distinguish you from Charles Cornell for a long time, so I thought that this is his secret second channel. It seems that I'm bad at recognising faces.
@@zyansheepInteresting theory 🤔 I guess you can count me in your experimental pool. I'm not THE fastest reader, but like 50-80% faster than average, so I guess that counts? 🤔 As for my face recognition it takes me at least 10 times seeing someone to learn their face and still I can forget it in 2-3 years when I don't see that person and they change their style or visibly age in the meantime. I use more auditory cues, general look/style/posture and sometimes smell to recognize people.
@@zyansheepim bad at faces, good at reading except that i have a short attention span and i get distracted a lot. but i know words and i can kinda process them. also a language nerd like that other person said. and also we're all obviously the kind of ppl to watch a video abt 31edo which may be relevant lol
@@zyansheep Add me to that list of people. Reading and writing just came so naturally for me at a very young age. But I've always struggled with mathematics, facial recognition, spatial awareness, and especially verbal learning. I learn best when isolated and able to work at my own pace with no distractions. A classroom was just never the right environment for me. I learn better by seeking the information I'm looking for on my own and through experimentation.
I just found your channel yesterday. Awesome music and awesome topics. I have a question. Can I achieve some sort of useful faux microtonal tuning on a 12TET guitar by tuning the strings at some weird intervals?
Sure you could! You’d be pretty limited with your musical choices though. Probably have better luck adding Fretlets, going full microtonal neck, or bravely diving into full fretless guitar! Thanks for the comment!!
This is awesome. Technical systems and vocabulary aside, the musical examples are artistic and utilize aesthetics that are not only demonstrative but also emotive in ways not possible with 12TET.
btw guys noteflight can use quarter tones under the 1/4 bend under the "tabs" section in the palettes dropdpwn. It cant do this, but it can allow access to 24 tet
wow, that could actually be the future sound we've all been looking for imagine that, start a song in standard 12-tone, then just mask the "out of tune" moment with some transition and sound design, give the listener a little time to adapt, then like start a new section of the song in orwell tuning
I am happy this video found me. Did you actually sing those intervals? Astonishing, if so. Also, really nice string playing. One of my musical heroes and mentors, Von Freeman (tenor saxophone) made extensive use of microtonal techniques in his improvisations. A lot of musicians, both young and old, said he played “out of tune”, but it was obvious to me that he heard the things he was playing and was able to play what he heard. In the context of bebop music, which, as Coleman Hawkins pointed out, was based on the principles of baroque harmony, he sounded unsettling, pushing things sharp or flat, often in the same phrase. Watching him play was fascinating because he was constantly adjusting the angle at which the mouthpiece entered his mouth by raising and lowering his head and re-forming his embouchure for every note- at fast tempi his head almost seemed to vibrate, he was doing it so quickly. The intervals you explain in the video were known in earlier jazz as “blue” intervals, meaning they were in between the pitches of the tempered scale, and as such were used for expressive purposes. When bebop came in, the younger guys tried to express themselves within the notes of the tempered scale so they could show their knowledge of “advanced” harmony, and they largely abandoned the “blue”notes as archaic and unsophisticated. When Horace Silver started writing more blues and soul-oriented material, he standardized the approach to fit within the tempered scale, writing straight-up minor thirds rather than “blue” notes, and notating precise pitches which in earlier jazz would have been played partially between standard tuning. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed it and look forward to more.
Amazing video! I had heard of microtonal sounds, but never thought that there was sucha deep world there. Thanks for showing the beatifuk world of microtonal music!!
Another way to get used to this sort of music is to listen to Arabic or middle Eastern music, or basically any modal tradition outside of standard western music. It's full of this stuff. Even Scandinavian folk music traditionally deviated!
You have done something rather amazing. You took something that I previously had very little knowledge or necessarily any interest in and made in interest in it withing ten minutes. Which is likely optimal as I might have gotten bored if it went too all out too soon.
Interesting video! I think the main issue I encounter when I consider the possibility of experimenting outside of equal-temperament is that it will only create exotic flavors or will be too off-putting to my audience. I get that I might find it less "out of tune" after awhile, but is there any way to do that with my audience? Also, what sort of plugins would you recommend for beginners starting out? Anyways, stellar work!
PLEASE MAKE THE BACKGROUND SONG A FULL SONG I BEGGGGG EDIT: Make like a fully song of the music in the beginning ofnthe video, but also make a song with all the music you played it was magical, like best music I’ve heard almost
This is like a sonic mandala that scales up and down. With resonant frequencies and tones that can be found on the smallest and largest scale (ex. The atomic structure of a particle and its model compared to a model of the solar system.) it’s the same model on a different scale.
I appreciate your sense of humor and tonality. I'd love to collaborate with you on a music theory program that I've been writing - to make it more complete.
If “everything is in 4/4 if you try hard enough”, there are also a few things that are diatonic if you try hard enough. Orwell temperament is actually one of them because the Orwell tetratonic, pentatonic or nonatonic pattern may be reached by a cycle of fourths in a minor fourteenth.
Hello 31edo guy nice to hear from you again 🔬🔊 Also totally agree with the final thought, sometimes I feel that people just forget that you shouldn’t expect just to like or dislike new stuff right off the bat, that’s a way to ruin your life and relationships; no, you learn to be good at things the same way as you get your taste sophisticated. Give it some trying and only then make a verdict, now having experience to back it up and reasons to hold in your head, not just randomness of being in a mood. So if things look or sound weird but you’re not in any danger in other regards, why not savor it and explore the sensorium and echoes in your head? It can be an experience worth living through even if you don’t end up coming to an affinity. Having harmless things to feel conflicted about is _good_. We need to be more considerate and curious; frankly we have on average way more time for this today than in the previous ages. (At least those of us who have time to drop dubious comments definitely do.) 🙂
A quick note on the phrase "I broke music theory" and other corrections, but first! If you liked this video, please consider supporting my work on Patreon! www.patreon.com/LeviMcClain
A little while ago, I made a video where the thumbnail said something like "I broke music theory". The video was on some basic principles of harmony in 31 EDO. Mainly Supermajor, Subminor and Neutral qualities of different chords. That video is one of the best performing on this channel and has been a real conduit to reach a larger audience with some of these really cool, left field ideas. The chief critique on that video, one that I (probably fairly) got roasted alive for was that I failed to pay homage to all those who came before me with a lot of these ideas. After all, I did not invent the idea of the subminor chord. I also did not intend to make it seem like I was claiming this, because... like obviously I did not invent the Subminor chord. That said, I'd like to properly acknowledge the giants of old in 31 EDO theory that make all of what we build on today possible: Nicola Vicentino, Christiaan Huygens, & Adriaan Fokker. A video about each and their contributions to this robust system of music is on the horizon. Also would like to acknowledge Gene Ward Smith who I understand first coined the concept of Orwell. Music theory is the words and language that we use to talk about music. It's descriptive, not prescriptive, so I'm not exactly sure what it means to "break it". When I say "I Broke Music Theory" I mean something like: I would like to show you the way I approach and understand music, which is likely a little different from how you most likely approach and understand music. The grandioseness of this claim is meant to express how insanely cool I think all of this stuff is, and helps to stand out in a world entrenched in 12. The click bait-y nature of the title is unfortunate, but this is what works in an algorithm controlled world. I think the trade off is worth while in good faith.
Corrections:
Edostep 14 (542c) should be labeled as G half sharp, not G sesquisharp.
Why it isn’t prescritive?
Is there any reasons why you don't publish music on spotify ?
@LeviMcClain I've still to read this note of yours to your video, but I'd like to say already that your challenge to try these scales appeals to me. But I'd like to say too that, while these stuff of polychromatic (Dololres Catherino @dolomuse ), and several EDO, and the lot of microtonal music I've listed from the lumatone commercials, sound to me out of tune, the microtonal music from Mike Battaglia and turkish musicians I've listened to, already does not, without any training or adaptation period... What's going on there, then???
...
Now I read your note: I like a lot the point you make of 'Music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive'. I actually read the same idea on the classical books from Walter Piston.
@@LearnCompositionOnline Actually, Levi's comment looks a lot like a citation on classics music theory books from Walter Piston, e.g.
While restrictions make sense in order to promote creativity, mandatory rules make no sense in any art field (other than the engineering knowledge to perform a technique, or to craft an instrument, to say, which are growable, though)
This explanation doesn't save you from the criticism that your title is untrue clickbait. Everything you described IS music theory. All theory about music is.
All of a sudden that "music theory is witchcraft" video lookin a lot more literal.
so true!! I love it. It has that ethereal feeling of the void from which it came
I've got a bachelors in theology and a masters in electrical engineering. It's witchcraft. But I'm here for it.
i literally just came from that video LMAO
@@KS-pi1kt i found it after this comment, now I get the reference.
It is tho
Literally 1984
The length some people will go for the puns 🤌
@@LeviMcClain I'm interested to hear your thoughts on music's ability to influence human emotion. Does music theory cover this form of "spell casting"?
Came for the brain breaking theory, stayed for classical bass
Always gotta stay for classical bass
@@LeviMcClain can we please get a piece in orwell[9] on streaming platforms/bandcamp? Would be willing to donate extra for that bass 🎸
It looks and sounds amazing
Wow, great video. Honestly it definitely sounds better than just being out of tune. I think there is definitely a type of musician that gravitates towards this stuff solely to be "weird" but I feel you're exploring it more genuinely in search of a broader sense of real music that is beautiful beyond just being different.
This is an incredibly thoughtful and kind comment. Thank you!
👍
Here to back up OP's comment. Keep it up!!!
Your Orwell (4) song is so hauntingly beautiful, and surprisingly kind of folky!
Thank you so much!
@@LeviMcClain Ver interesting video and would love to hear a full song separately of what you already have in the video.
Have you seen this video:
Microtonal Metal (easy mode)
Ben Levin
He does something interesting, uses 48 tet tuning setting and another set to regular 12
then he triggers them at the same time and discovers some useful unpredictable interactions.
I think most music takes into account the limits of the ear.
We have 12 notes but the music we make tends to center around 5 or 7 notes
"key" and then with chord changes there are some departures
So when we are using much higher divisions of the octave like 31 or 48
we can let that unfold into it's full complexity
OR try to restrict the complexity in a similar way by only selecting 5 to say 8
notes taken out of the 31 or 48 and compose with only that smaller set for a while
and maybe if there are chord changes expand it to say 11-13 notes of the 31 or 48
the intent being to make the music more digestible to our ears and sense of order
and also using a lot of repetition for the same reason.
And there is always the weight of the harmonic series to consider the Mixolydian mode is consonant with the first 10 harmonics of the harmonic series (the 11th harmonic, a tritone, is not in the Mixolydian mode). The Ionian mode is consonant with only the first 6 harmonics of the series (the seventh harmonic, a minor seventh, is not in the Ionian mode).
It would be dope for a mystery or supernatural series or movie
I love the feeling of discovering a channel right before it blows up. keep up the good work!
Appreciate the kind words man, thank you!
This is the first microtunal music that made sense to my ears. It's super cool!
And made sense of what microtonal music is. Very interesting!
The Acoustic Rabbit Hole is already composing a minimalist piece for it! It's called "Micro-chondria!"
@@Acoustic-Rabbit-Hole I love the name!!
@@davidrobinson7260My note-to-color music theory claims identity specific emotions that come out of specific keys. Check it out!
i think our ears will get more comfortable with microtones in our lifetime, 12 is getting boring imo
I just can't express how deeply astonished I was, hearing the hauntingly alluring the tune in orwell[9]. Awestriking, eye-opening, no words can epitomise the profound beauty of microtonal music; it's not the first time I've heard xenharmonic piece, but the way you harmonized the tones seems to me, a non-musician - just an avid listener, as a great accomplishment on your part, and although I do not understand the theory, the majestic and charming motif of your composition had deeply altered my understanding of this music category.
Great commentary on this
The guy expresses himself and me as a absolute poet@@mikegeld1280
This is the greatest invention for occult rock. I can't even imagine, what sound will fit it better.
It’s also worth mentioning for anyone who’s getting into microtonality for the first time; that you could just start listening to more Middle Eastern music, since they have a ton of modes full of notes that do not fit within our 12 note system. Microtonality isn’t some entirely new creation. It’s just no longer within the European musical cannon.
I'm assuming this is a new channel because there are a little over 10K subscribers but this guy will blow up for sure. This is incredible.
Nahhh I’ve been around for a minute 😅
But thank you!
Dude... when you started playing music in this temperament, I started having endless chills in my body and tears in my eyes. Hearing this changed something profoundly.
Just got into theory and you make me feel so slow, in the best way. It’s nice to see people still question and push boundaries. I’m gonna come back to this video again and again till I can understand all the concepts amazing work friend.
its at 31 likes and i wanna like it but i don't want to change it......
Don’t do it, the synchronicity is too good
It's alright, we will get 31k likes
Look, you have 31 likes.
Bro, I finally understand 31 TET much better. The sub sets and selected intervals just made it click in my mind so much. And before it always seemed to me like the song was in tune with out of tune notes, but the way you did this created tones I've never heard before. You are truly a blessing to nerds like me, thank you!
Yeah working with small scales does wonders, you can often learn interval relationships better. And then you can ask: what if I want this a little bit modified? what if I want to modulate? And bam you use more or less the entire tuning.
…well I suppose that’s one way how it can happen. I haven’t worked with 31edo, it’s a bit too big for me right now; I experimented with 17, 19 etc. because it’s easier to jam with on a 49-key keyboard (when you want all notes).
I don't how you showed up in my feed, but I am so pleased. I took Electronic Music at Brown University in the late 70s. Your music is sonically beautiful and intellectually fascinating. I have the lyrics to a country song that would employ this structure to full effect. It's a about a drunk whose life I saved in a McDonald's parking lot. He emerged from some bush and staggered and fell under the rear wheel of a car driven by an elderly man about to exit the premises. The harmonies could have fun with this lyric. I "subscibed" all.
I can't wait for you to release an album. This is amazing music and I want to listen to it all day
With how much you "shrunk your niche" I'm surprised this ended up in my feed so soon. And you found a big fan this is awesome!
Microtonalist here too, love how you bring this to more people, it seems to be very successful!
Is the female voice on those songs Zheanna Erose?!
that acoustic bass sounds fucking amazing
omg this video is so well built.
Thank you. Been trying out new formats recently, I think this one turned out okay!
I love this! I was deep into atonal, electronic, music myself about 25 years ago, I’ve written quite a few pieces and have built several interactive music installations, but ended up in a different career altogether. So this, your creativity and enthusiasm, is in some ways reminding me of that almost lost piece of myself.
That has a quality of familiarity from the deep in me. Haunting yet comforting.
your composotion style is so perfect with microtonality
Thank you! I wonder if the microtonality informs my composition style or the other way around 🤔
Hey Nerds, that was fun. I like your perspective. Thanks.
I'm no musician. I didn't understand most of what you said, but dang, the music was otherworldly. it was amazing.
The subject is fascinating and the visual production is stunning... but the two musical compositions, they really hit it out of the park. They are both quite simple at their heart, but you embrace each one for what it is and are not scared to be both playful and try to see how far you can get with it. That shows a lot. Of course everything can always be better -the script is good, but not quite at the same level as everything else-, but there's such a broad display of incredible talents in this video that it would be criminal to ask for more from a single human. Keep it up, you definitely deserve every bit of success that comes your way.
I wasn't ready for how amazing this video is
That was a great educational video but your compositions were above and beyond my expectations. Excellent productions, Levi!
Thank you!!
I recently learned about oreintal music and how it's much more complex then what we think thanks to mircotoning etc...
This video solidified the idea that there is a large world of unexplored music and untapped potential.
Seeing what you've done, I'm very optimistic about the future of music!
So ridiculously talented, I struggle to comprehend it, fuck. Well done.
Meh filler. Like, 6:20. He couldn't even make the light look the same.
Skilled and knowledgeable*
This is one of those channel that will blow up years later
The Acoustic Rabbit Hole.
Agreed, definitely ahead of its time
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that one will simply get used to the sound. For a couple years now I have been playing in 24-TET, I can honestly say that at the beginning I genuinely thought it all sounded out of tune. But now, my ears have accustomed to the neutral sounds so that to me they are simply other completely separate notes that harmonise in different ways. Albeit, most of my playing is still melodic rather than harmonic, I do occasionally use trichords or dichords to pack more into my playing.
This sounds awesome! I would describe microtonal music as "Avant Garde" - (new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts). The Orwell 9 tuning sounds very useful for Psychedelic Rock, Psy-Trance, New Age, Psychic, Paranormal, Spiritual, Ethereal Music, Fantasy Theatrical Score depicting elves, dragons, wizards, angels, demons, ghosts, spirits, magic, and Sci-Fi Cinematic Theatrical Score depicting time travel, interstellar travel, aliens, UFO's, alternate realities, and entities from other dimensions of existence. I could imagine this used in movies and TV series similar to "The Twilight Zone", "Outer Limits", "The X-Files", etc. 🔥
this channel deserves so much more than 10k subs! great work!
The moment you said septimal seventh, I was sold on this tuning... its my favorite interval
Wow, this video is fantastic. Inspiring on so many levels. I love what you are doing here!
Thank you so much!
very high quality video production and sick keyboard also holy shit amazing voice the orwell 4 example was really beautiful and haunting
I'm impressed by your ear. Singing in microtones must be difficult.
That’s why we have melodyne 😅😂
Thanks, dear gods of the Algorithm, for bestowing upon me this gift of a channel.
And thank you for the video! Everything is right up my alley, your production is great and I love your songwriting, too!
How do I trick UA-cam into treating my videos this way? 😅 Great music again my guy, the visuals and singing are especially nice with this one!!!
One must simply break music theory I guess 😂
Thanks man!!
@@LeviMcClain LOL
1984 is a perfect description. I can see a form of this being used as a scene right out of Orwell's book.
I just watched this 3 times, and I'm still tripping on it. Wow. I thought I knew what music was.
Love this, dude. Hope this channel blows up.
Loved the demonstration of 9-orwell, thank you so much for delivering material in such simple, visally appealing way. Microtonality is a rabbit hole yet it broadens the musical horizons insanely, your videos made me very interested in this topic, so thanks again!
the vocal stuff is particularly haunting. wonderful video!
Great video - and song/jam examples. Very pretty. Still partway through, but just noticing the table of notes for Orwell[9] has a tiny error, that fourth should probably be G‡ (at 14\=542c as it says), and not G‡# (which would be 16\=619c).
I really like the orwell[4] example, but it really sounds like the tonic is at 21\, so maybe you could have rotated the diagram to show us a better picture of what we hear (a sort of major sixth chord with a sub fifth and supermajor sixth, and actually a lot like a shrunken version of 4:5:6:7 or a dominant seven) - 0\=0c - 10\ = 387c - 17\ = 658c - 24\ = 929c
Holy hell that keyboard with modular keys is super cool, I wish more keyboards out there could do that!
Noooooooooooo, you are so right! Good catch! I’ll add it to the corrections, thanks man!
@@LeviMcClain Also the accidental (#) from the last note (C#) is missing. And F#+ would be better spelled as Gb. Anyway, excellent video, lush sounds and cool instruments.
Got dayum how am I just finding you now? You sir, are an amazing person, musician and nerd. Thank you for all that you do.
The fact that you manage to create so beautiful pieces of music out of those exotic scales impressed me a lot! Fantastic job!
It sounds so creepy yet calming at the same time
This idea makes a lot of sense and will become popular. We have probably already wrote most of the breathtaking stuff from 12TET, Just Intonation, Octonic etc. The last 900 years amazing composers have composed. Music has become stagnant and popular music is ridiculous and abysmal. I have 2 musical ideas I will manifest in 12TET. Then I plan on doing stuff like this.
I myself enjoy working with 16-tone equal temperament, which includes neutral seconds at 150 cents, and neutral sevenths at 1050 cents. I have absolute pitch in base-12, and I am training my ears to have absolute pitch in base-16. I can identify G half sharp and G quarter flat, as well as D quarter sharp and F quarter sharp. I'm puzzled by 31-EDO, not because I'm not interested in the idea, I just feel like prime-numbered temperaments scare me. You are a very talented man! Respect to you.
Levi, brother. I just been doing some crazy stuff on dividing by 31. When you map the results on a wheel similar to the Orwell 9 system, it shows a mathematical center of 9. And second, you get this fascinating shape, that probably must line up with a melody. I have no idea how to play this on any instrument, but I’m sure you could. Is there a way I can email this to you?
Yea! levi at levimcclain dot com
What a fabulous presentation and explanation of microtonality. I've always been fascinated by scales other than "ours" and the musical textures and intervals they can provide. Thank you for your work.
Thanks for this beatifully explained and made video
The production on this is really excellent- MoS scales finally clicked for me so thank you
Thank you!!
If you struggle with listening to microtonal music go listen to Sevish. He is a master at using different tuning systems
you can tell this channel is underrated af within the very first 5 minutes. you have great taste and passion.
9:07 The UA-camr told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
That’s… not what I said, pls watch again 🙏
it all sounds so good, very musical.
🙏🙏🙏
holy moly this is really really really really really good
very interesting!
Do you have perfect pitch, or just really good relative pitch? Using 31 TET on fretless instruments sounds impossible to me
I have decent relative pitch. As for the bass, there has been a lot of work put into mechanical refinement of my technique. Not there by a long shot yet, but we get a little better every day.
The night. Let's go and watch and hear some madness.
THIS SOUNDS SO COOL WHAT
you, sir, are a genius- new fascination unlocked
Wow, loved how it sounded!
this rocks. awesome decision with the 31tone coupled with the acoustic bass. goes so well together
I couldn't distinguish you from Charles Cornell for a long time, so I thought that this is his secret second channel. It seems that I'm bad at recognising faces.
Are you good at reading by any chance?
(Testing my theory that literacy makes people worse at recognizing faces)
@@zyansheep Although I am literate as a language nerd, my reading skills are below-average.
@@zyansheepInteresting theory 🤔 I guess you can count me in your experimental pool. I'm not THE fastest reader, but like 50-80% faster than average, so I guess that counts? 🤔 As for my face recognition it takes me at least 10 times seeing someone to learn their face and still I can forget it in 2-3 years when I don't see that person and they change their style or visibly age in the meantime. I use more auditory cues, general look/style/posture and sometimes smell to recognize people.
@@zyansheepim bad at faces, good at reading except that i have a short attention span and i get distracted a lot. but i know words and i can kinda process them. also a language nerd like that other person said. and also we're all obviously the kind of ppl to watch a video abt 31edo which may be relevant lol
@@zyansheep Add me to that list of people. Reading and writing just came so naturally for me at a very young age. But I've always struggled with mathematics, facial recognition, spatial awareness, and especially verbal learning. I learn best when isolated and able to work at my own pace with no distractions. A classroom was just never the right environment for me. I learn better by seeking the information I'm looking for on my own and through experimentation.
I just found your channel yesterday. Awesome music and awesome topics. I have a question. Can I achieve some sort of useful faux microtonal tuning on a 12TET guitar by tuning the strings at some weird intervals?
Yes, it will sound like a ironic variation of tonal music
Sure you could! You’d be pretty limited with your musical choices though. Probably have better luck adding Fretlets, going full microtonal neck, or bravely diving into full fretless guitar! Thanks for the comment!!
My video “The 12 Days of Christmas” and piece “Tenacious Chorale” both do this
This is awesome. Technical systems and vocabulary aside, the musical examples are artistic and utilize aesthetics that are not only demonstrative but also emotive in ways not possible with 12TET.
Eerie. Ethereal. Now I have a new thing to explore. Thanks.
tavi.
Orwell[9]is truly a great temperament. I first heart it in Sevish's "Droplet"
Now I have 2 favorite songs to that name
Check out Löis Lancaster if you haven’t
Great groove in that tune you made, and your video’s mighty good, too! Thanks 😎🍷
btw guys noteflight can use quarter tones under the 1/4 bend under the "tabs" section in the palettes dropdpwn. It cant do this, but it can allow access to 24 tet
Very exciting speech Levi , + superb playing !
wow, that could actually be the future sound we've all been looking for
imagine that, start a song in standard 12-tone, then just mask the "out of tune" moment with some transition and sound design, give the listener a little time to adapt, then like start a new section of the song in orwell tuning
My thoughts exactly
It would be all AI generated.
@@davidbachy5627 that might actually be the last thing AI will ever learn to generate. The way human brain adapts to changes in temperament.
Your so about to blow up on UA-cam. Just take what you have hear and try to apply to do more mainstream ideas, and you’ll be on everyone’s recommended
This is brilliant on so many levels... awesome work Levi !
I am happy this video found me. Did you actually sing those intervals? Astonishing, if so. Also, really nice string playing.
One of my musical heroes and mentors, Von Freeman (tenor saxophone) made extensive use of microtonal techniques in his improvisations. A lot of musicians, both young and old, said he played “out of tune”, but it was obvious to me that he heard the things he was playing and was able to play what he heard. In the context of bebop music, which, as Coleman Hawkins pointed out, was based on the principles of baroque harmony, he sounded unsettling, pushing things sharp or flat, often in the same phrase. Watching him play was fascinating because he was constantly adjusting the angle at which the mouthpiece entered his mouth by raising and lowering his head and re-forming his embouchure for every note- at fast tempi his head almost seemed to vibrate, he was doing it so quickly. The intervals you explain in the video were known in earlier jazz as “blue” intervals, meaning they were in between the pitches of the tempered scale, and as such were used for expressive purposes. When bebop came in, the younger guys tried to express themselves within the notes of the tempered scale so they could show their knowledge of “advanced” harmony, and they largely abandoned the “blue”notes as archaic and unsophisticated. When Horace Silver started writing more blues and soul-oriented material, he standardized the approach to fit within the tempered scale, writing straight-up minor thirds rather than “blue” notes, and notating precise pitches which in earlier jazz would have been played partially between standard tuning.
Thanks for the video, I enjoyed it and look forward to more.
Fascinating scale and you made some really cool jams with it. 6:00 nonatonic infinity opens the door.
Gizz 😎
Amazing video! I had heard of microtonal sounds, but never thought that there was sucha deep world there. Thanks for showing the beatifuk world of microtonal music!!
Man, the piano arpeggios in the build hit so f*****g hard! 6:07
I'm not really familiar with the microtonal stuff, but that piece at 2:50 was beautiful
Another way to get used to this sort of music is to listen to Arabic or middle Eastern music, or basically any modal tradition outside of standard western music. It's full of this stuff. Even Scandinavian folk music traditionally deviated!
bruh.... these are exactly the harmonics that tickle my brain. THANK YOU!
i've never been so simultaneously inspired and discouraged
I thought this was going to be crazy music theory. Its just basic microtonal.
You have done something rather amazing. You took something that I previously had very little knowledge or necessarily any interest in and made in interest in it withing ten minutes. Which is likely optimal as I might have gotten bored if it went too all out too soon.
Interesting video! I think the main issue I encounter when I consider the possibility of experimenting outside of equal-temperament is that it will only create exotic flavors or will be too off-putting to my audience. I get that I might find it less "out of tune" after awhile, but is there any way to do that with my audience? Also, what sort of plugins would you recommend for beginners starting out? Anyways, stellar work!
I loveeeeeeee your videos about microtonality
Thank you so much my dude!
PLEASE MAKE THE BACKGROUND SONG A FULL SONG I BEGGGGG
EDIT: Make like a fully song of the music in the beginning ofnthe video, but also make a song with all the music you played it was magical, like best music I’ve heard almost
Very talented man, thank you for sharing your work
This is like a sonic mandala that scales up and down. With resonant frequencies and tones that can be found on the smallest and largest scale (ex. The atomic structure of a particle and its model compared to a model of the solar system.) it’s the same model on a different scale.
I appreciate your sense of humor and tonality. I'd love to collaborate with you on a music theory program that I've been writing - to make it more complete.
If “everything is in 4/4 if you try hard enough”, there are also a few things that are diatonic if you try hard enough. Orwell temperament is actually one of them because the Orwell tetratonic, pentatonic or nonatonic pattern may be reached by a cycle of fourths in a minor fourteenth.
Ah yes... It all comes back to 1984 in the end.
All notes are equal, but some notes are more equal than others.
31 tones good, 12 tones bad
This music genre should have a significant position in music world
First!!! Let’s goooooo! 31 TET slaps.
Hello 31edo guy nice to hear from you again 🔬🔊
Also totally agree with the final thought, sometimes I feel that people just forget that you shouldn’t expect just to like or dislike new stuff right off the bat, that’s a way to ruin your life and relationships; no, you learn to be good at things the same way as you get your taste sophisticated. Give it some trying and only then make a verdict, now having experience to back it up and reasons to hold in your head, not just randomness of being in a mood. So if things look or sound weird but you’re not in any danger in other regards, why not savor it and explore the sensorium and echoes in your head? It can be an experience worth living through even if you don’t end up coming to an affinity. Having harmless things to feel conflicted about is _good_. We need to be more considerate and curious; frankly we have on average way more time for this today than in the previous ages. (At least those of us who have time to drop dubious comments definitely do.) 🙂
love how the diagrams look like satanic rituals