[LAU] ..about beauty...

[Atte André Jensen]

Chuckk Hubbard wrote:

> I agree.  If there are harmonics common to almost all music, it's more
> like 3 or 4 of them than 12.

I strongly believe that the overtone series is the basis of all harmony.

In there you'll find the octave, fifth, major/minor thirds and seconds 
(actually only our octave and fifth are the only equal tempered 
intervals that are tuned as in the overtone series). The overtone series 
is not neseccarily the only "good" relationship between intervals, but 
it the one build into everything we and our forefathers surround(ed) 
ourselves with. An early man hitting a hollow piece of wood 40,000 years 
ago would hear the overtone series. Same with Josquin de Prez hearing a 
single voice singing a single note. Same with Cage. It's the common 
harmonic reference from which no hearing person cannot escape (although 
we can try, and make interesting music exploring along the way).

However the equal temperament is just one approximation of the intervals 
found in the overtone series, one that for obvious reasons was so 
practical that it has enjoyed wide spread use. Different cultures (for 
reasons I will make no attempt to understand) made different 
approximations of the overtone series and/or made use of it's intervalic 
relationships in different ways, which brought us Bach, Miles, the Ragas 
of Indian music and then some more.

-- 
peace, love & harmony
Atte

http://www.atte.dk      | quintet:      http://www.anagrammer.dk
                         | compositions: http://www.atte.dk/compositions