This is a series I began around April 2020, formulated during the early onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was originally intended to be a 3 part "'Zine", comprised of a particular musical scale and it's related modes, a set of poems and a set of illustrations/images[this part was never created, ultimately due to my own mismanagement - oops].
During the time of creation I was simultaneously in the early stages of writing a draft for a Music Theory book. The intention of which was to create some kind of 'Encyclopedia of Musical Scales'.
The Neapolitan Major Scale is so fascinating because it was the first major scale that I learned about which was pretty different from the western standard Major Scale, otherwise known as the Ionian-Major Scale. Sonically, this was so unique to my untrained ear(s) and so it was very exciting to work with and study.
Incorporated in all of these modes of Neapolitan Major are pieces of information related to notable points within the field of Classical Physics. I was studying this as well as the relationship between music and physics are effectively 1:1. The functionality is coalescent, or unified into the greater whole because much of it is built upon the mechanics of ratios (thanks to Pythagoras and the lost, hidden Alchemists of pre-contemporary eras!)
I've since modified this framework to incorporate a few other significant elements in my quest to understand the potential deeper relationships between the degrees of scales and the solar system around us. From the beginning I knew this wasn't going to be any walk in the park and that it would take years, upward of the rest of my life. Having said that, knowledge without any practical use is just that, knowledge; because of that, all of this information is a means to practice, as much as it is informational.
It is also important to note that the orientation of the charts themselves pertain to two key concepts that I learned and developed from elsewhere. Namely, the Youtube-based music theorist, 12Tone, as well as jazz musicians, Ralph Patt and Tony Corman.
Back when I was furiously taking notes on as many music theory concepts as I could, I stumbled across their video on a concept called 'Cube Dance'. I had never encountered any theory related to connecting music theory and polygons before.
[link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdFQwZ-L5zA]
Ralph Patt and Tony Corman came into play because of their use of the tuning system of Major Thirds. This utilizes the natural Triad-based functionality of western music theory, or in plain terms, every next string on a guitar/bass/stringed instrument is tuned so that every 3 strings makes an Augmented chord [ 1 3 #5 or C E G#].
This sound is not found in the standard Ionian-Major Scale at all so it was a fresh sound to get used to, intentionally. There are many advantages that this tuning system offers that I have found extremely helpful for a beginner in Harmonic Theory to learn that other tuning systems do not offer.
As a big Star Wars fan, I've listened to John Williams practically my entire life. The reason why I mention this is because a lot of his work was influenced by earlier contemporary composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, John Cage, and Leonard Bernstein[While all of these folks are prolific, make no mistake, I do not dismiss the absence of notable non-Eurocentric composers and non-male composers as influencers. However that will be a blog post for another time].
While I was not able to find a 1:1 connection to Arnold Schoenberg with Williams' work, they both were heavily involved in the Vienna orchestral scene and sonically I do hear some relatability that might suggest Schoenberg might have had at least some influence on Williams. Regardless, my brain made the correlation anyways.
That being said, Schoenberg and his Tonal Matrix system went on to influence 20th century Jazz Guitarist Ralph Patt, who studied his work and proceeded to realize the Major Thirds system would optimize the ability to practice Tonal Matrices techniques. This in turn led to Tony Corman to become a facilitator of the Major Thirds system. He created a website and posted a few videos on Youtube, which I eventually stumbled upon and proceed to take note of and eventually incorporate into what I'm doing now.
[Arnold Shoenberg]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schoenberg
[Ralph Patt]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Patt
http://ralphpatt.com/
[Tony Corman]
https://www.youtube.com/user/tcorman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYz36l3h48Q
https://www.tonycorman.com/
[12Tone]
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUtqcDkzw7bisadh6AOx5w
{You should totally give 12Tone and Tony Corman a subscribe and hit that bell for more notifications if possible also, they're fantastic resources!}
And finally we land on the last mode of the Neapolitan Major Scale.
I've just decided that this post will be split into a "Part 1 of 2" situation for digestion purposes and also because I don't feel like typing anymore right now lmao.
I've since modified this framework to incorporate a few other significant elements in my quest to understand the potential deeper relationships between the degrees of scales and the solar system around us. From the beginning I knew this wasn't going to be any walk in the park and that it would take years, upward of the rest of my life. Having said that, knowledge without any practical use is just that, knowledge; because of that, all of this information is a means to practice, as much as it is informational.
It is also important to note that the orientation of the charts themselves pertain to two key concepts that I learned and developed from elsewhere. Namely, the Youtube-based music theorist, 12Tone, as well as jazz musicians, Ralph Patt and Tony Corman.
Back when I was furiously taking notes on as many music theory concepts as I could, I stumbled across their video on a concept called 'Cube Dance'. I had never encountered any theory related to connecting music theory and polygons before.
[link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdFQwZ-L5zA]
Ralph Patt and Tony Corman came into play because of their use of the tuning system of Major Thirds. This utilizes the natural Triad-based functionality of western music theory, or in plain terms, every next string on a guitar/bass/stringed instrument is tuned so that every 3 strings makes an Augmented chord [ 1 3 #5 or C E G#].
This sound is not found in the standard Ionian-Major Scale at all so it was a fresh sound to get used to, intentionally. There are many advantages that this tuning system offers that I have found extremely helpful for a beginner in Harmonic Theory to learn that other tuning systems do not offer.
As a big Star Wars fan, I've listened to John Williams practically my entire life. The reason why I mention this is because a lot of his work was influenced by earlier contemporary composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, John Cage, and Leonard Bernstein[While all of these folks are prolific, make no mistake, I do not dismiss the absence of notable non-Eurocentric composers and non-male composers as influencers. However that will be a blog post for another time].
While I was not able to find a 1:1 connection to Arnold Schoenberg with Williams' work, they both were heavily involved in the Vienna orchestral scene and sonically I do hear some relatability that might suggest Schoenberg might have had at least some influence on Williams. Regardless, my brain made the correlation anyways.
That being said, Schoenberg and his Tonal Matrix system went on to influence 20th century Jazz Guitarist Ralph Patt, who studied his work and proceeded to realize the Major Thirds system would optimize the ability to practice Tonal Matrices techniques. This in turn led to Tony Corman to become a facilitator of the Major Thirds system. He created a website and posted a few videos on Youtube, which I eventually stumbled upon and proceed to take note of and eventually incorporate into what I'm doing now.
[Arnold Shoenberg]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schoenberg
[Ralph Patt]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Patt
http://ralphpatt.com/
[Tony Corman]
https://www.youtube.com/user/tcorman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYz36l3h48Q
https://www.tonycorman.com/
[12Tone]
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUtqcDkzw7bisadh6AOx5w
{You should totally give 12Tone and Tony Corman a subscribe and hit that bell for more notifications if possible also, they're fantastic resources!}
And finally we land on the last mode of the Neapolitan Major Scale.
I've just decided that this post will be split into a "Part 1 of 2" situation for digestion purposes and also because I don't feel like typing anymore right now lmao.
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