https://soundcloud.com/dascott/mutations-disquiet0281
I really had fun with this project! Where do I begin? First, the assignment called for a short pattern of musical notes played as a palindrome. I went several steps further.
I created a 9-note pattern in C which purposely plays all 7 notes in the scale plus 2 repetitions. Played as a palindrome this gives a 17-note series with seven unique pitches (I love primes!).
Next, the beat durations of the 9 original notes form a palindrome over the nine: 1,1,2,3,5,3,2,1,1. So this rhythmic palindrome repeats twice over each single repetition of the pitch palindrome. Some of you may notice the numeric sequence for the durations – I brought Fibonacci in for the fun.
Then I created two additional 9-pitch lines in the same key and same duration pattern which harmonize with the original line, so now I have 3-part palindromic harmony! All these are played back using lovely pianissimo piano samples I got from the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios.
Next, the assignment said to “add notes in its midst as it proceeds”. Did I mention that I am creating this whole thing algorithmically with an RTcmix script? I added a chunk to my generator which, with odds of 1-to-50, splices a new pitch randomly into one of the three lines (pushing the existing ones to the right). These new pitches are all below or above the range of the original 3-part harmony, and may or may not be in the same key, and are all played with fortissimo piano samples! This makes each note set gradually longer and longer, so each line’s pattern takes longer and longer to repeat, but the original 9-value duration palindrome keeps steadfast throughout.
The resulting effect is a gradual corruption (buildup of unfriendly mutations) of the original. Everything was done with a single RTcmix script. I really had no idea how it would turn out until I let the script run!
