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Overtone Invariants are the Framework for Musical Consonance
- Author(s):
- Joel Edelman (see profile)
- Date:
- 2022
- Subject(s):
- Music, Music theory
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- consonance, dissonance, harmonic, overtone, tonality, Prosody, theory
- Permanent URL:
- https://doi.org/10.17613/xhqa-dk29
- Abstract:
- In this paper I am proposing a novel paradigm for the musical experience of "consonance". This is a rebuttal of the long-standing train of thought which pays homage to frequency ratios, beats, and roughness and which leads us repeatedly into a conceptual corner from which we are forced to reach and grasp in order to formulate a credible theory. The paradigm is based on the observation that we are all born with prenatal exposure to harmonically-constructed sounds -- specifically the human voice. Our aural imprint from this exposure is of an underlying texture, comprised of three specific properties of the harmonic spectrum each of which is effectively invariant with changes in pitch, timbre, or volume. This invariance thus provides us with a concise link between prosody and tonality, as well as explaining the widely-recognized link between the human voice and tonal instruments. I define "consonance" as the experience of this underlying texture in a tonal environment. Maximal consonance is achieved in overtone-rich sounds with a properly populated, distributed, and attenuated overtone structure. Sounds which deviate from this texture are less likely to stimulate musical pleasure.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 11 months ago
- License:
- Attribution
hc-framework-9p.pdf