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No other book has covered the subject of 20th-century microtonal notation in such depth as this comprehensive guide book. 20th-Century Microtonal Notation surveys the many attempts to notate various microtonal divisions of the octave in our western music. The concerts, festivals, and journals devoted exclusively to microtonal composition evince the widespread interest and involvement in microtonal music today. Activity in the specialized field of microtonalism is also supported by the design and construction of a number of novel instruments capable of producing various fractional pitches in the octave, including the digital synthesizer. However, despite the developing interest and activity, no consensus has yet been reached about the clearest and most logical notation for each degree of microtonal division of the half and whole step. This lack of an essential consensus on a suitable, standardized notation system has, in some cases, hampered the complete integration of microtonalism into western music.
Bringing considerable expertise to bear, Read divides the volume into five sections, each addressing the notation of specific microtones. This volume is a comprehensive repository of the many attempts to find a logical notation for all degrees of microtonality. It represents an invaluable resource to anyone interested in studying the history and development of music notation, or in evaluating the many forms of microtonal notation in terms of their potential for contemporary notation.
20th-Century Microtonal Notation will be an important addition to the library collections of colleges and universities and will be of interest to composers, theorists, performers, and musicologists.
List of contents
Prelude
The Notation of Quarter and Three-Quarter Tones
The Notation of Eighth and Sixteenth Tones
The Notation of Third, Sixth, and Twelfth-Tones
The Notation of Fifth-Tones and the 31-Tone Scale
The Notation of Extended and Compressed Microtonal Scales
Postlude
Bibliography
Index
About the author
GARDNER READ is Professor Emeritus and was Composer-in-Residence at the School of Music, Boston University. A respected expert in the field of music notation, he has written numerous books and articles on composition theory, including the Compendium of Modern Instrumental Techniques (Greenwood, 1993), which received the Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award in 1994.
