Teleology in Algorithmic Composition Software

"Also characteristic... is Schenker's emphasis on organic and teleological (purpose and goal rather than cause and effect) interpretations of the world around him." - 
- http://www.schenkerguide.com/historicalcontext.html


This is closely connected with Schenker's "organicism":


Schenker suggested various ways in which music could be understood as organic:
• he proposed that music can be understood as growing and developing in successive layers from a simple seed - the fundamental structure 
• he suggested that the fundamental descent spanned and generated a whole work and thus helped make it a coherent whole 
• he showed how works were unified by patterns that recurred on different layers of the piece - known as parallelisms 
• his explanation of how tonal music is derived from the harmonic series explicitly refers to music's natural tendency for growth

- http://www.schenkerguide.com/organicism.html

'music is never comparable to mathematics or architecture, but only to language, a kind of tonal language' (Heinrich Schenker - Free Composition, p. 5)

(concerning the ideas of Rupert Sheldrake) 

"Organisms are clearly more than just complex machines: no machine has ever been known to grow spontaneously from a machine egg or to regenerate after damage! Unlike machines, organisms are more than the sum of their parts; there is something within them that is holistic and purposive, directing their development toward certain goals."
- http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/science/prat-shl.htm



The Transformation Engine runs like most computer software as a "cause and effect" engine. The chord changes - a cause - and therefore the pitch choices of the diminutions change (via the mode tables.)

How to build a more "goal-oriented" system?

1) Perhaps use the voice-pitch from the next chord while creating diminutions based on the current chord? Would need to separate 

atomadr hsstruct LOAD.VOICE#s

from  hsstruct dup +ModeTable.00 LOAD.MT.HARMONIC    \ close to verbatim

hsstruct dup +ModeTable.01 LOAD.MT.MELODIC     \ most generous

hsstruct dup +ModeTable.02 LOAD.MT.VERBATIM    \ used to be LOAD.MT.GTR

etc. 

in INSTALL.CHORD.INTO.HARMONIC.STRUCTURE

2) A "pre-influence" parameter that could be set per chord, to adjust the when it comes into effect before the chord actually changes.

Plogue Bidule (0.9734) - broken Window Behaviour on OSX 10.9

Bidule Preferences - stored in ~/Library/Preferences/
in the form of two files: com.plogue.bidule.plist and  com.plogue.bidulewx

file1=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-001.bidule
file2=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/PINK_NOISE_SURROUND.bidule
file3=/Volumes/OSX 10.7.5 HDD/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/Scrooge2012Preset.bidule
file4=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/HarmoniaDemoOCADtest02.bidule
file5=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/HarmoniaDemoOCADtest01.bidule
file6=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/EMBLEMS HARMONIC SYNTH v002.bidule
file7=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/REAKTOR HARMONIC SYNTH QUAD v008.bidule
file8=/Applications/Plogue Bidule 0.9726/User_Layouts _BD/Add PB to BC.bidule
file9=/Applications/Plogue Bidule 0.9726/User_Layouts _BD/Scrooge2012Preset.bidule
[History]
760105261_1635085685_1315531572_0_2=97
1464424009_1635085685_1464422482_0_2=53
MidiInput_24=1
AudioDuplex_3=7
MidiInput_47=1
MidiInput_0=113
MidiInput_1=118
com.plogue.MIDIMonitor2=75
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer16=76
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_6=58
com.plogue.MidiSplitter=407
1094800160_1635085685_1130918449_0_2=334
com.plogue.MIDIPCToParam=41
com.plogue.MIDIMessageFilter=57
com.plogue.MonoMixer4=36
MidiInput_2=70
MidiInput_6=44
MidiInput_4=74
MidiInput_5=59
com.plogue.MIDIToValue=10
1802721110_1635083896_1129730357_5_5=93
AudioOutput_7=7
MidiInput_3=54
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_2=34
com.plogue.StereoMixer4=14
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer8=51
AudioOutput_1=5
AudioOutput_0=1
AudioDuplex_0=90
com.plogue.MonoMixer8=11
760105261_1635085685_1315531572_0_4=42
AudioOutput_6=6
AudioOutput_4=28
com.plogue.Comment=95
1245791051=7
1094800160_1635085685_1397970020_0_2=3
MidiInput_23=7
MidiInput_19=4
AudioOutput_5=25
1197560402_1635085685_1195463233_0_2=2
1094800160_1635085685_1397969969_0_2=61
1197560402_1635085685_1195463233_0_4=1
760105261_1635085685_1315530296_0_2=1
1094800160_1635085685_1413559379_0_2=7
1281718377_1635083896_1281584433_2_2=1
1802721110_1635083896_1464087117_1_1=10
1802721110_1635083896_1128415576_1_2=1
1280602733=3
com.plogue.MidiChannelFilter=2
1314222953_1635085685_1299145836_0_2=12
1802721110_1635083896_1398030675_2_2=11
1802721110_1635083896_1127236947_2_2=2
1397978229=12
1802721110_1635083896_1129730358_6_6=71
1802721110_1635083896_1414419032_1_2=1
1802721110_1635083896_1195593293_1_1=124
1430808152_1635085685_1397572658_0_2=1015
1919243824_2_2=1
com.plogue.FrequencyValueDisplay=1
com.plogue.SpectralToMidi=1
1464419401_1635083896_1630694688_1_1=1
com.plogue.AudioBuffer=1
com.plogue.AudioFileInput_1=7
AudioDuplex_1=24
com.plogue.FFT=1
com.plogue.MIDINoteCreator=1
com.plogue.SpectralToFreqAmp=1
com.plogue.BinaryLogicOperator=7
com.plogue.Variable=23
com.plogue.UnitConverter=6
com.plogue.BinaryOperator=9
com.plogue.BiquadFilter=3
com.plogue.EnvelopeFollower=1
com.plogue.UnaryOperator=12
com.plogue.RecursiveFunction=1
com.plogue.Change=9
com.plogue.Constant=12
1397572658_2_2=1
com.plogue.MIDIMonitor=21
1397578034_1_1=1
1397572658_1_1=1
AudioOutput_8=1
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer24=4
MidiInput_7=3
MidiInput_11=2
1281718377_1635083896_1281583153_2_2=6
1802721110_1635083896_1278296915_2_2=10
MidiInput_10=2
com.plogue.StereoMixer8=10
1634758764_1635085685_1684828960_0_2=2
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_4=9
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer32=36
1094800160_1635085685_1400128817_0_2=18
MidiInput_8=35
com.plogue.MIDINoteLatch=4
com.plogue.AudioMatrix=4
com.plogue.AudioLevelMeter=3
com.plogue.AudioFileInput_2=6
1802721110_1635083896_1380209235_2_2=1
1802721110_1635083896_1280393555_2_2=4
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_1=6
1802721110_1635083896_1162560077_1_1=3
1802721110_1635083896_1162561368_1_2=1
1802721110_1635083896_1162565208_1_2=8
1802721110_1635083896_1162565203_2_2=1
com.plogue.MIDIPCFilter=1
1802721110_1635083896_1280393549_1_1=2
1802721110_1635083896_1278296909_1_1=2
com.plogue.SpectralFileLooper=1
com.plogue.Oscillator=8
com.plogue.BasicAudioFilePlayer=2
com.plogue.Accum=2
com.plogue.SampleAndHold=4
com.plogue.LogicGate=4
com.plogue.groups.PseudoGranulator=1
com.plogue.AudioFileLooper=2
com.plogue.AudioFileLooper2=2
com.plogue.AudioFileGranulator=2
1802721110_1635083896_1297494605_1_1=1
1802721110_1635083896_1397249101_1_1=2
1802721110_1635083896_1280262477_1_1=1
1802721110_1635083896_1397838925_1_1=1
1634758764_1635083896_1953329268_1_1=2
com.plogue.MIDIToSync=2
MidiVirtual_0=2
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer4=2
1802721110_1635083896_1380209229_1_1=5
1802721110_1635083896_1313165645_1_1=5
1802721110_1635083896_1464750925_1_1=1
1802721110_1635083896_1278430517_5_5=2
1412580425=1
1414483506_1635085685_1412580684_0_2=1
com.plogue.StereoMixer16=1
760105261_1635085685_1315524405_0_2=109
com.plogue.MIDI.ValueDisplay.Terminal=20
MidiInput_46=1
MidiInput_69=1
MidiInput_92=1
MidiInput_115=1
MidiInput_138=1
MidiInput_161=1
MidiInput_184=1
MidiInput_207=1
MidiInput_230=1
MidiInput_253=1
MidiInput_276=1
MidiInput_300=1
MidiInput_323=1
MidiInput_347=1
MidiInput_371=1
MidiInput_395=1
MidiInput_419=1
MidiInput_443=1
MidiInput_467=1
MidiInput_491=1
MidiInput_515=1
MidiInput_539=1
MidiInput_563=1
MidiInput_587=1
MidiInput_590=1
MidiInput_26=13
1280080435=1
1433157998=1
1400139057=1
1415672628=3
1464424009=4
1400128817=1
MidiInput_27=1
1481395779=3
1094800160_1635085685_1430343217_0_2=3
com.plogue.MIDICCLatch=2
com.plogue.MIDICCFilter=3
com.plogue.MIDIPitchbendValueFilter=1
com.plogue.MIDI.ValueDisplay=2
com.plogue.MIDICCToParams=3
com.plogue.MIDIMessageRemapper=1
com.plogue.MIDICCRemapper=3
com.plogue.MIDICCCreator=3
com.plogue.Function=9
com.plogue.MIDIMap=1
com.plogue.MIDICCExtractor=3
com.plogue.MIDIPitchbendExtractor=3
com.plogue.MIDIMessageExtractor=3
MidiOutput_13=2
com.plogue.ValueList=1
com.plogue.Clip=1
2054240050=1
760105261_1635085685_1315524658_0_2=2
1398227277_1635085685_1398896705_0_2=2
1094800160_1635085685_1400139057_0_2=1
1315525173=1
1802721110_1635083896_1129727315_2_2=5
760105261_1635085685_1315525173_1_4=1
2020372033_1635085685_2019639627_0_2=1
com.plogue.Noise=3
com.plogue.MultiGain8=2
MidiInput_12=2
MidiInput_13=2
MidiInput_14=2
MidiInput_15=2

and also com.plogue.bidulewx  in the same location. Here's mine as of March 4 2014:

file1=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/BerlinStringsSimpleOrchestraUACC-03.bidule
file2=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-015.bidule
file3=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-012.bidule
file4=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-011.bidule
file5=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-010.bidule
file6=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-009.bidule
file7=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-008.bidule
file8=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-007.bidule
file9=/Users/bgdegazio/Documents/Plogue_User_Layouts _BD/StringOrch_V6_Template-006.bidule
[History]
com.plogue.Comment=113
MidiInput_0=86
com.plogue.MidiSplitter=354
AudioDuplex_1=21
760105261_1635085685_1315531572_0_2=682
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer16=248
com.plogue.MIDIMonitor2=105
1634758764_1635083896_1836213622_2_5=12
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer8=55
com.plogue.BasicCrossFader=1
com.plogue.Gain=39
1129730357=1
1802721110_1635083896_1129730357_5_5=269
AudioOutput_5=20
MidiInput_7=74
MidiInput_11=70
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer24=42
com.plogue.MonoITUMixer32=1
MidiOutput_0=1
MidiInput_5=78
AudioDuplex_0=187
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_6=161
1802721110_1635083896_1129730358_6_6=35
AudioOutput_4=87
1634758764_1635085685_1684828960_0_2=19
MidiInput_6=25
MidiInput_1=50
1802721110_1635083896_1195463757_1_1=1
1802721110_1635083896_1129270605_1_1=1
1802721110_1635083896_1230392397_1_1=1
1802721110_1635083896_1380209229_1_1=1
760105261_1635085685_1315524405_0_2=1728
1430808152_1635085685_1397572658_0_2=134
com.plogue.MIDI.ValueDisplay=32
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_2=31
MidiInput_3=200
MidiInput_4=54
1802721110_1635083896_1129727571_2_2=1
com.plogue.MonoMixer4=1
1802721110_1635083896_1279872305_2_2=1
1464424009=6
760105261_1635085685_1315531572_0_1=1
1094800160_1635085685_1130918449_0_2=12
1464424009_1635085685_1464422482_0_2=132
com.plogue.StereoMixer4=4
com.plogue.CSP5=2
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_1=4
MidiInput_18=1
MidiInput_19=3
com.plogue.MIDICCFilter=8
com.plogue.MIDICCRemapper=8
com.plogue.MIDINoteVelocityRemapper=10
com.plogue.MIDIVoiceCounter=2
com.plogue.MIDIMap=1
com.plogue.LogicGate=8
com.plogue.MagnitudeValueDisplay.Terminal=1
com.plogue.Constant=29
com.plogue.MIDIActivity=3
com.plogue.Counter=3
com.plogue.AudioValueDisplay=1
com.plogue.Function=4
com.plogue.MIDINoteLatch=1
com.plogue.MIDIMessageExtractor=4
com.plogue.MIDINoteDynamicFilter=2
com.plogue.MidiNoteFilter=1
com.plogue.MIDI.ValueDisplay.Terminal=42
com.plogue.MIDIMessageCreator=4
com.plogue.MIDIMessageFilter=20
com.plogue.XY=1
com.plogue.MIDIGate=3
com.plogue.MIDIBasicDelay=2
com.plogue.MIDINoteExtractor=7
com.plogue.MIDINoteCreator=5
com.plogue.BinaryOperator=16
com.plogue.ADSREnvelope=1
com.plogue.groups.MIDIGate=1
com.plogue.Variable=2
com.plogue.Trigger=1
com.plogue.Gate=2
com.plogue.groups.ManualNote=1
com.plogue.MIDINoteCloser=2
com.plogue.VariableInt=2
com.plogue.MIDIDelay=1
com.plogue.Change=2
com.plogue.UnaryOperator=4
com.plogue.ValueList=2
com.plogue.UnitConverter=2
com.plogue.SyncExtractor=2
com.plogue.MIDIBasicChannelRemapper=4
com.plogue.MIDIChannelExtractor=4
com.plogue.groups.Arpeggiator=1
com.plogue.MIDICCCreator=2
com.plogue.MIDICCExtractor=2
com.plogue.groups.MIDI\ CC\ Lin\ to\ Log=1
com.plogue.MIDINoteOffVelocityRemapper=2
MidiInput_23=3
com.plogue.MIDIMonitor=166
MidiInput_26=13
MidiVirtual_4=1
MidiInput_27=1
MidiInput_28=1
MidiInput_29=1
MidiInput_30=1
MidiInput_14=45
com.plogue.StereoMixer8=10
MidiInput_8=50
1802721110_1635083896_1129727315_2_2=4
760105261_1635085685_1315531572_0_4=24
1634758764_1635083896_1836213622_2_4=3
1802721110_1635083896_1379095380_2_5=3
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_4=13
1802721110_1635083896_1278296915_2_2=6
com.plogue.MidiChannelRemapper=7
760105261_1635085685_1315524405_0_4=135
MidiInput_10=45
MidiInput_2=5
1481395779=5
MidiInput_25=3
1802721110_1635083896_1095780429_1_1=1
2020372033_1635085685_2019639627_0_2=39
1398227277_1635085685_1398896705_0_2=15
1398227277_1635085685_1398896724_0_2=7
1398227277_1635085685_1398896706_0_2=3
1398227277_1635085685_1398896723_0_2=4
1398896705=1
1634758764_1635085685_1935764848_0_1=5
760105261_1635085685_1315524405_0_1=40
AudioOutput_6=13
com.plogue.groups.String_Orch_V5_0=1
MidiOutput_3=1
MidiOutput_27=1
MidiOutput_31=1
1634758764_1635086446_1634558569_1_5=1
com.plogue.Noise=4
com.plogue.SampleStack=1
com.plogue.Dummy_8=1
com.plogue.VariablesMulti2_8=1
com.plogue.VariablesMulti2_16=1
com.plogue.VariablesMulti_8=1
com.plogue.MultiGain4=1
com.plogue.MultiGain8=3
1400136295_1635085685_1885430899_0_2=3
760105261_1635085685_1315524405_0_32=1
AudioOutput_1=3
AudioOutput_2=1
AudioOutput_0=1
MidiInput_12=42
MidiInput_13=42
MidiInput_15=42
com.plogue.AudioFileOutput_5=1
1634758764_1635083896_1819502694_2_2=2
com.plogue.MonoMixer8=1

Review of "Professional Orchestration" by Peter Alexander

This book is mainly a collection of public domain orchestra scores. Don;t be fooled by its bulk. Though the author claims that it is over 2000 pages long (in 3 volumes), the commentary (Mr. Alexander's only original contribution) is astonishingly sparse. I doubt that it would add up to more than a couple dozen pages in total. Most of the book is taken up by the long passages of orchestra score copied from public domain sources such as imslp.org

The decision to restrict his examples to public domain sources limits the value of the book, which would benefit enormously from more modern music. For legal reasons his examples end at about 1920, and most of his selections are from the 1800s. While there is certainly great orchestral music in this period, a more contemporary handling of the orchestra would have been revealed with scores from composers of the later 20th century. An especially woeful lack is the complete absence of scores by film composers, arguably the contemporary masters of the orchestral art, and a group of musicians to whom Mr. Alexander claims a special kinship.

The value added by Mr. Alexander to this book is that he has organized the collection of scores by a typology based on various devices of musical doubling, such as "violins in octaves", "cellos & basses in octaves", etc. Some of his doublings are musical commonplaces, while others are very rare. Nowhere does he offer any suggesting as to why this is so, or why we as composers should prefer one to another. 

The occasional comments that he does offer are of slight value, and are never more than a few sentences in length. For example,

Chapter 11 - Violas-Cellos

This is a very rich dark sound. Note carefully the registration and which instruments double the Violas and Cellos and at what dynamic levels. Though used mostly for melody, this combination can also be a background line. The higher the cellos, the more intense the sound. 

That's it. That is the entirety of Mr. Alexander's commentary for chapter 11. He follows with a few descriptive comments on his examples for the chapter. 

Another cheapening factor is that, aside from the first sentence, "This is a very rich dark sound.", this comment is repeated more or less verbatim in many other chapters throughout the book. 

That first sentence though does give us a glimpse of the insight Mr. Alexander might be able to offer if his writing was more generous. It is a qualitative judgement of this particular doubling, Violas and Cellos in octaves.  But such insight is rare in this book. Most of his comments are entirely descriptive and banal, such as "Here you have Violins 1 on the lead with Violins 2 on the harmony a third below." (p.535), a fact which can be seen plainly by anyone who can read the score. In this book it is a rare sentence that expresses WHY a composer might choose one combination over another. 

Some comments are laughably brief. For example, his commentary for the chapter entitled, "Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Violas - Cellos" is, 

 Chapter 20 - Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Violas - Cellos 

Not used very frequently. I found two examples.

which brings to mind an essay written by an unwilling student.


In short, Mr. Alexander's book offers very little insight into orchestration or music. As a collection of score excerpts it has some small value in that it might save you the trouble of looking up examples on imslp.org, but the convenience in my opinion does not justify the high price Mr. Alexander asks. The typology of doublings he presents might actually be valuable, but Mr. Alexander does nothing to explain it. His comments, though very sparse, are occasionally of interest, but the valuable bits are few and far between and scattered amongst literally thousands of pages of score excerpts.  

Avoid this book. You'll do much better with one of the classics like Forsyth's or Rimsky-Korsakov's Orchestration, both available in inexpensive editions from Dover.  

And if you're seriously interested in the magic of orchestral film scoring, get On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring by Fred Karlin, a book which is invaluable both for its musical insight and as a unique collection of film score excerpts from contemporary film orchestral masters such as John Williams, Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith. 

Notes on Recital Requirement

(1) - make a case for experience in producing concerts

• - Sound Pressure 1985-1992
• - CBC Broadcasts - Two New Hours, etc.
• - production and recording experience with IMAX

(2) - make a case for principal activities being in the field of Media music (electroacoustic, computer music, algorithmic composition, computer-based musical instrument design, Visual Music, film music)

• Enfolding Nows (live performance film score)
• Fractal Shiva  
• In Memoriam Gustav Ciamaga
• Harmonia
• Harmonia in "Time" doc. (Peter Mettler, TIFF 2012) 

PROPOSED PROGRAM

Best Idea Ever           ( 2:00 ) - Incidental Music


Fractal Shiva - (8:00) - Visual Music

Piano Trio and Tape, 

computer generated visuals

Enfolding Nows -  (12:00) - Visual Music

15 piece wind ensemble and tape (pre-recorded)

video

Chemical Emblems - Emblem 1  (8:45) - Visual Music

(based on M.Meier’s 1618 Alchemical engravings with accompanying “fugues”)

       soprano, instruments  & tape (pre-recorded)

computer-processed visuals

Molly Bloom's Soliloquy (5:00) - Electroacoustic

       voice driven computer instrument designed by B. Degazio

Segment from "TIME" ( appr. 10:00) - film segment

Descent (1:00) - Electroacoustic

Ant Colony (1:00) - Visual Music

Transformed Moods - ( 6:00) Electroacoustic

(aka Moody Jazz Transform Christmas )  - good except ending fizzles out

SolarFlow - (9:09) -- Visual Music - needs some live perf? redo audio with synths instead of strings

( Anthropos - In Memoriam GC -  12:00 - Visual Music - pix too simple. needs live perf. )

INCIDENTAL MUSIC

The Magic Cauldron ( 3:00)

The Helmet                  ( 4:00)

Blind Luck                     (1:43)

Musical Aesthetics - Electroacoustics as musical photography

Electroacoustic music is to instrumental composition as photography is to painting.

The charm of painting (and of all art) lies in the artifical representation of nature. That a piece of canvas dabbed with droplets of coloured oil can be made to look like, for example, a magnificent view of the sea is a stunning thing.

This of course ignores the anti-representational practices of Modernism, such as Pollack's sort of Abstract Expressionism, in which the paint itself is the thing "represented." But Modernism is inherently destructive, and here I want to speak of creation, not destruction. Shiva has his place and his duty, but now I speak of Brahma.

The technical reproduction of such an image in a photograph is likewise rather thrilling, arising as it does out of the study of image in projection that arose during the development of Renaissance painting, but it does not thrill in the same way or to same degree as the piainting. I believe this is because the artist is less personally involved in the detailed creation of the work. Beautiful as a photograph might be, it always seems a lesser achievement than a great painting.

Electroacoustic music seems to me to  stand in a similar relationship  to instrumental composition as photography does to painting. In electroacoustic music, especially as practiced by those in the musique concrete tradition, e.g. the "Montreal school", the artwork consists by and large of recordings which have been manipulated and combined in a multitude of ways. It's not so different from what can be done  to a photograph, likewise a "recording" of a moment in time, using modern tools such as  Photoshop. There can be great artistry in the manipulation, but...

OUTLINE - A Voyage to Arcturus (David Lindsay)

1. The Seance -

1. Introduction
   -“A murmur of surprise passed through the audience as, without previous warning, the beautiful and solemn strains of Mozart’s “temple” music pulsated through the air. The expectation of everyone was raised.”
   
2. Enter: Maskull and Nightspore. (loud crash)
   
3. The Apparition. Krag’s Entry
   
   
   
   
   
1. The Tower  (Ascent of the Observatory at Starkness)
   
1. “The Drum Taps of Sorgie”
   - “He heard what sounded like the beating of a drum on the narrow strip of shore below. It was very faint, but quite distinct. The beats were in four-four time, with the third beat slightly accented. He now continued to hear the noise all the time he was lying there. The beats were in no way drowned out by the far louder sound of the surf, but seemed somehow to belong to a different world…”
   
2. Ascent of the Tower - 
1. Twenty steps to platform. Sense of intense slow struggle.
2. First level - the window is a lens-like view of Arcturus and its planets
   
3. VOCAL: (At platform of Tower)
   Voice-over : “Don’t you understand, Maskull, that you are only an instrument, to be used and then broken? Nightspore is asleep now, but when he wakes you must die. You will go, but he will return.”
   
4. Krag’s Knife Wound. Easy Ascent of Remaining Levels of Tower
   
5.   Vocal: (from top of Tower):
   “Suddenly there came a single prolonged, piercing wail, such as a banshee might be imagined to utter. It ceased abruptly and was not repeated.”
2. On Arcturus
1. “The radiant heat of Branchspell he found to affect every part of his body with unequal intensities. His ears awakened; the atmosphere was full of murmurs, the sand hummed, even the sun’s rays had a sound of their own - a kind of faint Aeolian harp.”
   
1. Forest murmurs. 
1. Chaotic activity of entire orchestra, pianissimo
2. Driven by fractal dynamics.
   
2. “Then a sound, very faint and mysterious, seemed to come up out of the gnawl water from an immense depth. It was like the rhythm of a drum. There were four beats of equal length, but the accent was on the third. It went on for a considerable time, and then ceased. The sound appeared to him to belong to a different world from that in which he was traveling. The latter was mystical, dreamlike and unbelievable. The drumming was like a very dim undertone of reality. It resembled the ticking of a clock in a room full of voices, only occasionally possible to be picked up by the ear.”
   
1. Acoustical analysis of drum hits, mapped to orchestra (as in Clarence Barlow‘s orchestra piece)

1. The Mountains of the Ifdawn Marest
   
1. French Horn, Alpine melody. Widely spaced.
   “They impressed him like a simple musical theme, the notes of which are widely separated in the scale; a spirit of rashness, daring, and adventure seemed to call to him from them. It was at this moment that the determination flashed into his heart to walk to the Marest and explore its dangers.”
   
2. Vocal. Panawe’s Recitative.
    “Maskull could not make out whether he was singing or speaking. From his lips issued a slow musical recitative, exactly like a bewitching adagio from a low stringed instrument - but there was a difference. Instead of the repetition and variation of one or two short themes, as in music, Panawe’s theme was prolonged - it never came to an end, but rather resembled a conversation in rhythm and melody. And at the same time it was no recitative, for it was not declamatory. It was a long, quiet stream of lovely emotion.
   
   “Maskull listed entranced, yet agitated. The song, if it might be termed song, seemed to be always just on the point of becoming clear and intelligible - ...in the way one sympathizes with another’s moods and feelings; and Maskull felt that something important was about to be uttered, which would explain all that had gone before. But it was invariably postponed, he never understood-and yet somehow he did understand.”
   
2. Surtur’s Appearance (Slow March)
   
1. Introduction
   “A single trumpet note sounded in the far distance...It gave the impression of being several miles away at first; but then it slowly swelled and came nearer…at the same time as it increased in volume. Still the same note sounded, but now it was as if blown by a gigantic trumpeter immediately over his head. Then it gradually diminished in force and traveled away in front of him. It ended very faintly and distantly.”
   
1. Offstage trumpet behind audience. Swell into onstage brass unison. End with offstage trumpet in wings. 
2. With growing complexity and decreasing silence between iterations, as in On Growth and Form.
   
2. Sudden Silence
    “He felt himself alone with Nature. A sacred stillness came over his heart. Past and future were forgotten...he had no thoughts and no feelings. Yet never had life had such an altitude for him.”
   
3. Surtur’s Speech
   - doubled voice - male & female
   
    “A man stood, with crossed arms, right in his path. He was so clothed that his limbs were exposed, while his  body was covered. He was young rather than old. … He was smooth faced. His whole person seemed to radiate an excess of life, like the trembling of air on a hot day.”
   
    “He addressed Maskull by name, in an extraordinary voice. It had a double tone. The primary one sounded far away, the second was an undertone, like a sympathetic twanging string….Maskull felt a rising joy.”
   
   “Maskull, look well at me...I am Surtur. You know that this is my world. Why do you think I have brought you here? … It is necessary for you to serve me, Maskull. Do you not understand? You are my servant and helper. This is for my sake and not for yours.”
   
4. Surtur’s Departure
   “These last words had no sooner left Surtur’s mouth than Maskull saw him spring suddenly upward and outward. Looking up at the vault of sky, he saw the whole expanse of vision filled by Surtur’s form - not as a concrete man, but as a vast concave cloud image, looking down and frowning at him.”
   
5. Coda
    “Now he heard the solitary trumpet note. The sound began this time faintly in the far distance in front of him, traveled slowly toward him with increasing intensity, passed overhead at the loudest, and then grew more quiet, wonderful and solemn as it fell away in the rear, until the note was merged in the death-like silence of the forest.”
   
   
   
3. Oceaxe and the Living Landscape
1. Call of the Shrowk
1.   “Oceaxe, standing graceful and erect, uttered a piercing and peculiar call...before many minutes he was able to distinguish the shapes and colors of the flying monsters. They were not birds , but creatures with long snakelike bodies, and ten reptilian legs apiece, terminating in fins which acted as wings. … they were flying without haste, but in a somewhat ominous fashion, straight toward them.”
2. Shrowk Ride, Tumultuous Landscape (p.97)
1. …”a large tract of forest not far ahead, bearing many trees and rocks, suddenly subsided with an awful roar and crashed down into an invisible gulf. What was solid land one minute became a clean-cut chasm the next. He jumped up violently with the shock.
   
3. Murder of Crimtyphon, Crystalman’s face
1. “The corpse lay underneath the tree with its face upturned. Maskull viewed it attentively, and as he did so an expression of awe and wonder came into his own countenance. In the moment of death Crimtyphon’s face had undergone a startling and even shocking alteration. Its personal character had wholly vanished, giving place to a vulgar, grinning mask which expressed nothing...It was identical with with that on the face of the apparition at the seance, after Krag had dealt with it.”
   
4. The Seance p.122
1. As if filmed though a warped lens. POV of victim on couch.
   “He was lying on a wooden couch, in a strangely decorated room, lighted by electricity….His other self spoke to him. He heard the sounds, but he did not comprehend the sense. Then the door was abruptly flung open, and a short, brutish looking individual leaped in. ...A terrible expression came over the newcomer’s face; and he grasped his neck with a pair of hairy hands. Maskull felt his bones bending and breaking…”
   
5. Tydomin’s Song and Murder
1. Tydomin’s Song
    “Maskull forgot his own tortures in his devil’s delight at Tydomin’s. “Sing me a song!” he called, “A characteristic one.”
   She turned her head a gave him a long, peculiar look; then, without any sort of expostulation, started singing. Her was low and weird. The song was so extraordinary that he had to rub his eyes to ascertain whether he was awake or dreaming. The slow surprises of the grotesque melody began to agitate him in a horrible fashion; the words were pure nonsense- or else their significance was too deep for him”
1. Use melody of Dream song (ca. 1982)
   
2. Murder of Tydomin (p.147)
1. Maskull’s blow. Crystalman’s face again.
   
6. Surtur’s Drum. (Slow March)
   
   - structured as a storm, approaching, climaxing, receding
   - use Lorenz attractor for dynamics
   
1. Approach
    “While he was standing there, anxious and hesitating, he heard the drum taps. The rhythmical beats proceeded from some distance off. The unseen drummer seemed to be marching through the forest, away from him.”
   “Surtur!” he said, under his breath. … The drumbeats had this peculiarity- though odd and mystical, there was nothing awe-inspiring in them, but on the contrary they reminded him of some place and of some life with which he was perfectly familiar. …The sounds were intermittent…”
   
2. Interlude. Dreamsinter’s Message
   “What is that drumming?”
   “Surtur”, said Dreamsinter.
   “Is it advisable for me to follow it?”
   “Why?”
   “Perhaps he intends me to. He brought me here from Earth.”
   Dreamsinter caught hold of him, bent down, and peered into his face. “Not you, but Nightspore.”
   
   
3. Vision of Maskull’s death..
   “ The now familiar drum rhythm was heard, this time accompanied by the tramp of marching feet.
   “Maskull saw, marching through the trees and heading toward them, three men in single file, separated from one another by only a yard or so…. They were naked. Their figures were shining against the black background of the forest with a pale, supernatural light - green and ghostly…. He perceived who they were. The first man was himself - Maskull. The second was Krag. The third man was Nightspore. Their faces were grim and set.”
   
4. Long Orchestral crescendo.
   “ At the same time, a low, faint music began…
   Its rhythm stepped with the drum beats...It resembled the subjective music heard in dreams.. Rendering all his experiences emotional. It seemed to issue from an unearthly orchestra, and was strongly troubled, pathetic, and tragic. Maskull marched, and listened.; and as he listened it grew louder and stormier. But the pulse of the drum interpenetrated all other sounds, like the quiet beating of reality.”
   
   “His emotion deepened… The music pulsated violently. Krag lifted his arm, and displayed a long, murderous-looking knife. He sprang forward and, raising it over the phantom Maskull’s back, stabbed him twice, leaving the knife in the wound the second time. Maskull threw up his arms and fell down dead. Krag leaped into the forest and vanished from sight. Nightspore marched on alone.”
   
   “The music rose to a crescendo. The whole dim,. Gigantic forest was roaring with sound. The tones came from all sides, from above, from the ground under their feet. It was so grandly passionate that Maskull felt his soul loosening from its bodily envelope.”
   
   “ He continued to follow Nightspore. A strange brightness began to glow in front of them. It was not daylight but a radiance such as he had never seen before… Nightspore moved straight toward it. Maskull felt his chest bursting. The awful harmonies of the music followed hard one upon the other, like the waves of a wild, magic ocean… His body was incapable of enduring such shocks, and all of sudden he tumbled over in a faint that resembled death…”
   
   
5. Recession
   “Through the black quiet aisles of the forest, the drum beats came again. The sound was a long way off and very faint. It was like the last mutterings of thunder after a heavy storm. … The drumming faded into silence, and did not return.”
   
6. Coda
   “He smiled queerly and said aloud, “Thanks, Surtur!” I accept the omen.”
   
7. The Legend of Swaylone’s Island (melodrama)
1. “In a far-back age,” began Geameil, “when the seas were hot and clouds hung heavily over the earth, and life was rich with transformations, Swaylone came to this island, on which men had never before set foot, and began to play his music- the first music in Tormance. Nightly, whenthe Moon shone, people used to gather on this shore behind us, and listen to the faint, sweet strains floating from over the sea. One night, Shaping (whom you call Crystalman) was passing this way in company with Krag. They listened a while to the music, and Shaping said, “Have you heard more beautiful sounds? This is my world and my music.” Krag stamped with his foot and laughed. “You must do better than that if I am to admire it. Let us pass over, and see this bungler at work.” Shaping consented, and they passed over to the island. Swaylone was not able to see their prescence. Shaping stood behind him, and breathed thoughts into his soul, so that his music became ten times lovlier, and people listening on that shore went mad with sick delight. “Can any strains be nobler?” demanded Shaping. Krag grinned and said, “you are naturally effeminate. Now let me try.” Then he stood behind Swaylone, and shot ugly discords into his head. His instrument was so cracked that never since has it played right. From that time forth Swaylone could utter only distorted music; yet it called to folk more than the other sort. Many men crossed over to the island during his lifetime, to listen to the amazing tones, but none could endure them; all died. After Swaylone’s death, another musician took up the tale; and so the light has passed down from torch to torch, till now Earthrid bears it.”
   
   “An interesting legend,” commented Maskull, “But who is Krag?”
   
   
2. Who is Krag? (song)
   
   “They say that when the world was born, Krag was born with it - a spirit compounded of those vestiges of Muspel which Shaping did not know how to transform.. Thereafter nothing has gone right with the world, for  he dogs Shaping’s footsteps everywhere, and whatever the latter does, he undoes. To love he joins death; to sex, shame; to intellect, madness; to virtue, cruelty; and to fair exteriors, bloody entrails. These are Krag’s actions. So the lovers of the world call him “devil.” They don;t understand, Maskull, that without him the world would lose its beauty.”
   
3. Maskull plays Swaylone’s Organ (instrumental) (p.185)
   
   “His ideas were now rushing out into the lake so furiously that his whole soul was possessed by exhilaration and defiance. … A huge spout shot up, and at the same moment the hills began to crack and break. Great masses of loose soil were erupted from their bowels, and in the next period of quietness, he saw that the landscape had altered. … The noise of the unseen tempest was terrifying, but Maskull played heroically on, trying to urge out ideas which would take shape. The hillsides were cleft with chasms…
   
   “The radiance grew terrible. … He thought that it was becoming localized, preparing to contract into a solid form. He strained and strained…”
   
   “Immediately afterward the bottom of the lake subsided. Its waters fell through, and the instrument was broken… The water in its descent had met fire. Maskull was lifted bodily in the air, many yards high, and he came down heavily. He lost consciousness…”
   
   
   
8. Matterplay - Land of Transformation
   “Creation, Transformation. Eternal Mind’s Eternal Recreation.” (Goethe, Faust pt 1)
   
   
1. Miracle of Creation. Birth of a Thought.
   “ The sun was obscured by masses of cloud which filled the whole sky. This vapor was in violent and almost living motion. … some parts were far denser than others, as the particles were crushed together or swept apart by the motion. The green sparks… could be distinguished individually, each one wavering up to the clouds, but the moment they got within them a fearful struggle seemed to begin. The park endeavored to escape through to the upper air, while the clouds concentrated around it,,,trying to create so dense a prison that further movement would be impossible. … A complete ring of cloud surrounded it, and in spite of its furious leaps and flashes in all directions - as if it were a live, savage creature caught in a net - nowhere could it find an opening, but it dragged the enveloping cloud stuff with it, wherever it went.  The vapors continued to thicken around it, until they resembled the black, heavy, compressed sky masses seen before a bad thunderstorm. Then the green spark, which was still visible in the interior, remained for a time quiescent. The cloud shape...became nearly spherical… it started to descend toward the valley floor. … a few feet off the ground, its motion stoppped altogether. Suddenly, like a stab of forked lightning, the great cloud shot together, became small indented and colored, and as a plant-animal began waling around on legs and rooting up the ground in search of food.”
   
    
2. Creaturely Transformation
   
   (FIRST THEME)
   “Presently however, he was confronted  in mid-stream by a hideous monster, of the size of a pony, but resembling in shape - a sea crustacean.
   
   “He was looking right through the animal’s body and could distinguish its interior parts. The outer crust, however, and all the hard tissues were  misty and semi-transparent; through them a luminous network of blood-red veins and arteries stood out in startling distinctness.
   
   (SECOND THEME)
   “...The naked blood alone was visible, flowing this way and that like a fiery, liquid skeleton, in the shape of the monster.. Then this blood began to change too. Instead of a continuous liquid, Maskull perceived that it was composed of a million individual points…They seemed like a double drift of stars, streaming in space…”
   
   “...still looking, lost in amazement, the starry network went out suddenly like an extinguished flame. Where the crustacean had stood, there was nothing…
   
   (THIRD THEME) (MUSICAL CLIMAX)
   “…(it) began to be felt by emotion. A delightful spring-like sense of rising sap, of quickening pulses, of love, adventure, mystery, beauty, femininity - took possession of his being.
   
   (INVERSE RECAPITULATION )
   “...The sensations died away, there was a brief interval, and then the streaming, starlike skeleton rose up again out of space. It changed to the red-blood system. The hard parts of the body reappeared, with more and more distinctness, and at the same time the network of blood grew fainter…. The creature stood opposite Maskull in all its formidable ugliness…”
   
   
3. Faceny’s Nature (vocal sprechstimme)
   “...He faces Nothingness in all directions. He has no back and no sides, but is all face; and this face is his shape. It must necessarily be so, for nothing can exist between him and Nothingness. His face is all eyes, for he eternally contemplates Nothingness. He draws his inspirations from it; in no other way could he feel himself. For the same reason, .. men love to be in empty places and vast solitudes, for each one is a little Faceny.”
   
   “Thoughts flow perpetually from Faceny’s face backward. Since his face is on all sides, however, they flow into his interior. A draught of thought thus continually flows from Nothingness to the inside of Faceny, which is the world. The thoughts become shapes, and people the world. The outer world, therefore, which is lying all around us, is not outside at all, as it happens, but inside. The visible universe is like a gigantic stomach, and the real outside of the world we shall never see.”
   
   
9. The Three Gods
1. Poetry
2. Pity
3. Thire - foretells Maskull’s Death
4. Surtur’s Drum
5. Crystalman’s Triumph
   
10. Muspel Light (Surtur’s Drum)
    
11. Sunrise: Alpain’s Morning
    “Daylight is like night to this other daylight. Within half an hour you will be like a man who has stepped from a dark forest into the open day.”
    
12. Maskull’s Death
1. Heart Beat
   “Don’t you comprehend, Maskull, that your death has arrived?”
   
2. Krag’s Hammer
   “He floated toward an immense perpendicular cliff of black rock, without top or bottom. Halfway up it was Krag, suspended in mid-air, was dealing terrific blows at a blood-red with an huge hammer. The rhythmical, clanging sounds were hideous.”
   “Presently Maskull made out that these sounds were the familiar drumbeats. “What are you doing, Krag?” he asked.
   Krag suspended his work, and turned around. “Beating on your heart, Maskull”, was his grinning response.
   
3. On the Ocean
   “What is that Ocean called?” asked Maskull, bring out the words with difficulty.
   “Surtur’s Ocean”
   Maskull nodded, and kept quiet for some time… “Where’s Nightspore?” he asked suddenly.
   Krag bent over him with a grave expression. “You are Nightspore.”
   
4. Maskull Dies
   “… with an effort, he murmered, “Who are You?” Krag maintained a gloomy silence.
   ...a frightful pang passed through Maskull’s heart, and he died immediately.”
   “Nightspore gazed long and earnestly at Maskull’s body. “Why was all this necessary?” he asked.
   “Ask Crystalman,” replied Krag sternly. “His world is no joke. He has a strong clutch - but I have a stronger… Maskul was his, but Nightspore is mine.”
   
13. Nightspore and Krag on The Ocean Raft
1. Surtur’s Drum
   “Nightspore felt a strong, silent throbbing of the air - a rhythmical pulsation, in four-four time. “There is the drumming,” he exclaimed… “I half understand, but I’m all confused.”
   “…the sound comes from Muspel, but the rhythm is caused by its traveling through Crystalman’s atmosphere. His nature is rhythm as he loves to call it - or dull, deadly repetition as I name it.”
   “The drumming grew loud and painful. The light resolved itself into a tiny oblong of mysterious brightness in a huge wall of night. …
   “I can’t face rebirth,” said Nightspore. “The horror of death is nothing to it.”
   “...the drumming was now like the clanging of iron. The oblong patch of light grew much bigger; it burned fierce and wild.
   “… the thunderous clangor of the rhythmical beats struck on his head like actual blows. The light glared so vivildly that he was no longer able to look at it.”
14. The Cosmic Tower - Seven Stages
1. “a mocking, vulgar laugh… the rhythmical vibration of the air - the silent, continuous throbbing of some mighty engine”
   
2. “Double Rhythm - March (“bitter, petrifying”) vs. Waltz (“gay, enervating, horrible”) “The ascent grew more and more exhausting ...he frequently had to sit down, utterly crushed by his own dead weight.”
   
3. Sphere of Luminous beings (“Horror and Wrath”)
   “There were a myriad of green corpuscles,...all striving in one direction. Their action produced the marching rhythm.”
   “...larger swirls of white light gyrated hither and thither...Their whirling motion was accompanied by the waltzing rhythm.”
   
4. World of Rocks, Minerals, Plants, Animals, Men
   (Opposition of March and Waltz continues as opposed forces within man)
   
5. Unification of Opposing Streams into a Single force. Crystalman’s Shadow.
   
6. “The Muspel Stream was Crystalman’s Food”. Life as Food for Death. Vision of Hell.
   
7. The Void. Nothingness. Opposition of Muspel and Crystalman.
   
15. Toward Rebirth
1. “Crystalman’s Empire is but a shadow on the face of Muspel. But nothing will be done without the bloodiest blows…. What do you mean to do?”
2. “Are you not Surtur, Krag?”
3. “But what is your name on Earth?”
4. “My name is Pain”
    “He was silent for a few minutes; then he stepped quietly onto the raft. Krag pushed off, and they proceeded into the darkness.”

THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES Astrology and Music in Harmonices Vitae

THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

Astrology and Music in Harmonices Vitae (1999)

Music and Astrology have a long and honorable history together. For example, in the Middle ages, they were both part of the essential core of knowledge of the educated person, the quadrivium, which consisted of astrology, music, arithmetic and geometry. And long before this, they were connected by the the Pythagorean notion of the Music of the Spheres.  This can perhaps be expressed in general terms as an intuitive understanding that there is an overall harmony or musical quality to the created world.  This harmony is manifested as a relatedness that extends both upwards and downwards -  downwards to the smallest details of the individual’s life , and upwards to the largest patterns of the stars and planets – the ancient astrological and esoteric maxim of As Above, So Below.  The influential Greek philopsher Pythagoras (ca.600 BC) connected this with his scientific studies of musical harmony, where he discovered that the vibration rates of harmonious pitches were related in simple ratios such as 2:1 or 3:2. This was an idea which he claimed to have learned in Egypt, and the connection between musical harmony, astrological events and the hyuman soul was made evident by the underlying mathematics. The factor common to all of these was number. 

“For the Pythagoreans, both music and soul share a basis in number. Music is demonstrably numerical, as experiments with the monochord had shown them. In the Pythagorean tradition the soul is also made from number because it reflects the structure of the World-Soul, whose mathematical formulation is set out by the Pythagorean philosopher Timaeus in Plato’s dialog of that name.”

(Joscelyn Godwin, Harmonies of Heaven and Earth, p.21)

And because the “structure of the World-Soul” is read in numerous ways, among them through the science of astrology, there is a deep and intimate connection between music and astrology.

Inspired by this ancient intuition, the author has devised a software program, called Harmonices Vitae, which composes music corresponding to the astrological Transits and Progressions of a person’s life. The correspondence is executed at the rate of one minute of music per year of life. Because of the uniqueness of each person’s birthchart (including Rising sign) the music produced by Harmonices Vitae is entirely unique to each person. In effect, each person has a musical composition which is the (astrological) pattern of their life and which is utterly unique to them (barring, of course, twins born within a few minutes of one another). The software has been found useful to professional astrologers as well as to lay persons, since Transits and certain types of Progressions are made clearly evident through the musical medium. In a way, Harmonices Vitae is a sort of scientific visualization  program, simplifying and making apparent to the interested person the complex patterns of transiting and progressing planets in a birthchart.

The software runs in real time on a suitable Macintosh computer. For practical purposes, the music is produced by synthesizers simulating the sounds of traditional instruments.  However, except for the expense of hiring and recording actual musicians, there is no reason in principle why the music might not be transcribed to traditional music notation and reproduced by conventional (acoustic) instruments.

How to Interpret Life Music

Each planet in an individual’s birthchart is represented by an instrument in the Harmonices Vitae “orchestra”. For example, the Sun  is represented musically by a piano, the Moon by a Clarinet, and  Mars by a Hand drum (tabla). The other planets and their corresponding instruments are listed in table 1.

Harmonices Vitae is based on an energy concept  of reading a birthchart, where each planet represents an internal potential of the individual. This potential becomes actualized at various times in the life by the passage of another planet over the point in the Zodiac occupied by the natal planet.  This actualization is heard as a moment of musical activity (a fragment of melody, a chord or  drum hit), its duration and intensity corresponding to that of the transit itself.  It therefore becomes very easy to hear times in your life when a certain internal energy (the natal planet) was brought to awareness by inner or outer circumstances (the transiting planet).

For example, if you hear drums (Mars) coming into prominence for an extended "solo" between 13 and 15 minutes on the CD display, it means that "martial" qualities and activities (self-assertion,  strength, sports, the physical aspect of sex)  became somehow important between the ages of 13 and 15.The exact nature of the "activation" is determined by the character of the transiting planet. Thus Jupiter acting on Mars produces a quite different effect than does say, Saturn or Mercury.

Transits are the primary astrological factor considered by the Harmonices Vitae software, but Progressions are also used to determine two important musical factors.  Through the course of a person's life, the planets as they move come into "connection" with planets in the person's birthchart. These times of connection are known as transits. In Harmonices Vitae, transits generate musical activity - a fragment of melody, a chord, or a drum hit. The strength of the transit controls pitch, loudness and general musical energy. The music becomes an audible record of the intensity of  the transits affecting the person. The instruments that are playing tell you which planets in the birthchart are being "activated".  The motions of the progressed Sun and Moon determine the overall musical factors of key, harmony and rhythmic style.

Natal planets produce no sound of their own until 'activated' by a transit. The character of this 'activation' is appropriate to the transiting planet. Transiting planets (Moon through Pluto) each have a musical theme which is heard only when they aspect a natal planet. This theme is transposed to fit the pitch range suitable for the natal planet's instrument, and to fit the current key and chord as determined by the Moon's progression through the Zodiac Key Wheel (see below). Each transiting planet theme is of a musical character appropriate to the astrological nature of that planet.

Since the effects of the transiting planet are only ever heard through the instrument of the aspected natal planet, this character is modified somewhat by the character of the natal planet's instrument. Thus, some transiting/natal combinations are more 'harmonious' than others. For example, Mars transiting Mars works well because the martial nature of Transiting Mars' theme sounds well with the martial nature of Natal Mars instrument (trumpet and drum) but is less effective when transiting natal Venus (flute). Similarly, Venus transiting Mars has a rather incongruous effect, but Venus transiting Luna is more harmonious. This corresponds roughly to the astrological compatibility of the two planets involved in the transit. As any astrologer knows, however, the situation quickly becomes very complicated because there are almost always several planets aspecting a given natal planet.

 

Musical Effects of Various Transits

The planets as they move through the course of a person’s life constantly come into and out of relationship with the planets in the birthchart. Furthermore, each planet has a characteristic effect on the life of an individual as it progresses through the sky. These planetary characters have been studied astrologically for at least 2500 years as documented in Babylonian horoscopes from ca. 500 BC, and possibly as long as 6000 years with the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians. These  planetary influences are related to the mythological characters of the various pagan gods  associated with them. Many of these associations have come down to this day in common  language; thus we have words such as jovial to indicate the character of Jupiter’s (Jove’s) influence, martial to indicate Mars’; and mercurial, saturnine, venereal and lunatic to indicate an aspect of the characters of Mercury, Saturn, Venus and the Moon (Luna). Note the negative connotations of the words associated in common parlance with the two female bodies, Venus and Luna. In the astrological tradition the influence of these planets is by no means exclusively negative, but their negative associations in common speech is a reflection of the devaluation of the feminine which has been under way in Western culture for approximately 2000 years.

Transits from the inner planets are musically very brief. The Moon for example moves through an aspect within a beat, adding its typical rapid ornamentation of sixteenth note triplets. Transits from Mercury, Venus and the Sun are somewhat longer lasting, amounting to a measure or two. Transits from Mars last about 4-8 measures, depending on whether it goes retrograde while in aspect. Jupiter and Saturn can produce much longer periods of musical activity, up to about forty seconds for Jupiter and 2-3 minutes for Saturn. They therefore produce significant musical sections.

Transits from the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are very long lasting and produce the major musical structures of the life music. They can last several minutes each and completely alter the quality of the more rapid planets while in effect.

Aspects are positions of relationship between transiting planets and the planets of the birthchart and are based on the harmonic division of the circle. Because the sine wave is the extension of the circle in time, aspects therefore are related to the harmonics of sound. For example, the conjunction (0º) corresponds to a musical unison or fundamental tone, the opposition (180º) to the octave or first harmonic; the trine (60º) to the octave plus a fifth or third harmonic,etc. The precise details of this relationship have been subject to a great deal of speculation over the centuries.

As each transiting planet approaches an aspect with a planet in the birthchart, its effect on that planet increases, climaxing when the aspect is exact, and gradually diminishing afterward. The effects of these transits will be made audible musically by means of these musical transformations (variations) on the themes of the birthchart. The intensity of the transformations will likewise increase, climax and decrease through the course of the transit.

Aspects between planets in the natal chart are clearly audible as recurring 'ensembles' of instruments. For example, if Venus and the Moon are conjunct in the birth chart, they will be musically 'activated' simultaneously by any transiting planet and will always play together. Other aspects produce similar but less pronounced results. For example, if Venus and the Moon are square one another natally, a transiting square by Saturn to Venus means that Saturn is also either conjunct or opposed Luna. But a trine from Saturn to Venus produces no aspect to Luna.

Musical key and chord changes are determined by the position of the progressed Moon through the cycle of the Zodiac. Each sign has a corresponding key and mode, as listed in figure below, the Zodiac Key Wheel. Each sign is further differentiated into a series of 30 chords, one for each degree of the sign. The chords remain within the context of the overall key as determined by the sign, but their quality and character vary considerably. For example, Capricorn, being a conservative sign and a guardian of tradition, has a chord sequence of quite classical character, while Gemini's chord changes are much 'jazzier'. Since the Moon progresses through the Zodiac quite rapidly, chord changes occur approximately. every 2 bars, while the overall key changes every 2 1/2 minutes or so. At the rate of one minute per year, the Moon progresses through the entire cycle of the Zodiac in about 30 minutes of musical time, at which point it returns to the key (i.e. sign) in which it began. This series of key assignments to zodiac signs is, to my knowledge, unique. It is based on the circle of Fifths, the fundamental acoustic relationship of the interval                                                               of the fifth. This relationship is important because the fifth (actually octave plus a fifth) is the first new tone to appear in the harmonic series of a given tone. The signs of the zodiac are assigned to musical keys though a descending Circle of Fifths, from lightest to heaviest, representing the descent of creativity from abstract intuition (Sagittarius) to concrete form (Capricorn). This arrangement is shown  superimposed on the circle of the Zodiac in figure 10 and diagrammatically in table 4.

This arrangement has a number of interesting properties:

A.Signs of like element are in closely related keys. e.g. the three fire signs are related by fifth up or down from Leo, the central fixed sign - Sagittarius maps to Ab, a fifth up from Leo, while Aries maps to Gb, a fifth down. This describes the traditionally harmonious relationship between signs of like element.

B.Signs of complementary elements (e.g. fire-air, earth-water) are likewise in related keys, though somewhat more distant than those in the same element, and with an inversion of scale mode (e.g. from Major to minor in the case of fire/air).

C.Traditional Astrological relationships, known as aspects , correspond well with musical key relationships:

      i.Trines, astrologically indicating ease and harmony, map to closely related

       keys in the same mode, related by way of dominant or sub-dominant keys.

       These relationships have always been the easiest and most harmonious of

       key relationships in music worldwide, due to its fundamental derivation from

       the harmonic overtone series. They are fundamentally the most closely

       related keys, just as the signs of like element are the most like one another.

     ii.Oppositions, traditionally associated with opposition, map to unrelated

       Major-minor keys (i.e. Aries/Libra as Gb major/C minor. These keys are

       always connected by way of the tritone, diabolus in musica (the devil in

       music)

     iii.Squares, associated with tension and difficulty, map to minor thirds.

     iv.Sextiles, traditionally a mixed relationship implying a positive expression of

       creative tension, map to major thirds and perfect fourths, moderately distant

       key relationships, forcing creative confrontation between the keys involved.

     v.Quintiles, an aspect also known as paradox, show up in this system as

       oddly related keys, e.g. Cancer/Sagittarius as B flat min/F# min.

     vi.Every Grand Square spells out a diminished seventh chord, a strongly

       conventionalised expression of musical tension.

Rhythm and the Zodiac Style Wheel

Changes of style and texture are produced by the motion of the progressed Sun through the Zodiac. Each sign has an associated rhythmic/melodic style appropriate to the character of the sign, Like the system of keys/chords the signs are further differentiated into degrees. Because the Sun progresses much more slowly than the Moon, major changes of rhythmic and melodic style occur much more rarely than changes of key. In the course of a thirty minute piece (corresponding to thirty years of life) , a major rhythmic style change will occur only once or twice, as the progressed Sun changes sign.