magic chord

{{Short description|Musical chord}}

File:Magic chord on E.pnges sounded, A=440{{sfn|Gann|1993|page=162}})File:Magic chord MIDI.mid]]

{{Image frame|width=150|content=\relative c {\clef "treble_8" \omit Staff.TimeSignature 1 }|caption=Magic chord (as played in The Well-Tuned Piano).{{sfn|Gann|1993|p=143}}}}

The Magic Chord is a chord and installation (1984) created by La Monte Young, consisting of the pitches E, F, A, B{{music|b}}, D, E, G, and A, in ascending order and used in works including his The Well-Tuned Piano and Chronos Kristalla (1990).Grimshaw, Jeremy (2011). Draw A Straight Line and Follow It: The Music and Mysticism of La Monte Young, p. 176. {{ISBN|978-0-19-974020-8}}. The latter was performed by the Kronos Quartet and features all notes of the magic chord as harmonics on open strings. The quartet has been described as, "offer[ing] perhaps the ultimate challenge in performing in a just environment".Strange, Patricia and Strange, Allen (2001). The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques, p. 160. {{ISBN|978-0-520-22409-4}}.

Described as, "complex and throbbing", the chord does not contain its fundamental (see root chords),{{harvnb|Duckworth|2009|p=187}} E{{music|b}}, and is a subset of the Romantic Chord,{{sfn|Potter|2002|p=86}} G-Dorian in eight octaves, spelled G, A, B, C, D, E, F{{music|#}}, G.{{sfn|Potter|2002|pp=85–86}} "When the Magic Opening Chord is obtained by playing the Opening Chord at one end of a room while the Magic Chord is played at the other (as Young set it up for me), the feeling-changes of the stereo effect as you move back and forth[-]are dazzling." The opening chord consists of E{{music|b}}, B{{music|b}}, C, E{{music|b}}, F, B{{music|b}} (ratios 4:6:7:8:9:12 {{audio|La Monte Young - Opening chord on E-flat.mid|Play}}),{{sfn|Duckworth|2009|p=168}} adding C{{sfn|Potter|2002|p=87}} and E{{music|b}} to the magic chord when combined as the magic opening chord ({{audio|La Monte Young - Magic opening chord.mid|Play}}).

The Well-Tuned Piano is based on a pitch lattice of perfect fifths and harmonic sevenths, tuned as follows:Gann, Kyle (1997). [http://www.kylegann.com/wtp.html "La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano"]{{sfn|Duckworth|2009|p=166}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! rowspan="4" | Note

! style="width:20em;" | Note played

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | (E{{music|b}})

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | E

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | F

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | G

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | A

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | B{{music|b}}

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | (C)

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | D

Note sounded relative to E{{music|b}} (Ben Johnston notation)

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | (E{{music|b}})

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | F7++

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | F+

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | A7b+

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | B7b+

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | Bb

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | (D7b)

! colspan="2" style="width: 3em;" | E7b+

Ratio

| colspan="2" | (1/1)

| colspan="2" | 567/512

| colspan="2" | 9/8

| colspan="2" | 21/16

| colspan="2" | 189/128

| colspan="2" | 3/2

| colspan="2" | (7/4)

| colspan="2" | 63/32

Audio
(from C)

| colspan="2" | ({{audio-nohelp|Unison on C.mid|E{{music|b}}}})

| colspan="2" | {{audio-nohelp|Five-hundred-sixty-seventh harmonic on C.mid|E}}

| colspan="2" | {{audio-nohelp|Major tone on C.mid|F}}

| colspan="2" | {{audio-nohelp|Twenty-first harmonic on C.mid|G}}

| colspan="2" | {{audio-nohelp|Hundred-eighty-ninth harmonic on C.mid|A}}

| colspan="2" | {{audio-nohelp|Just perfect fifth on C.mid|B{{music|b}}}}

| colspan="2" | ({{audio-nohelp|Harmonic seventh on C.mid|C}})

| colspan="2" | {{audio-nohelp|Sixty-third harmonic on C.mid|D}}

Step

! Ratio

| style="background-color: white; width: 1.5em;" |  

| colspan="2" | 567/512

| colspan="2" | 64/63

| colspan="2" | 7/6

| colspan="2" | 9/8

| colspan="2" | 64/63

| colspan="2" | 7/6

| colspan="2" | 9/8

For example, G (21/16) is the harmonic seventh of the perfect fifth (7/4 * 3/2 = 21/16):

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" style="width:6em;"

|

! colspan="5"| P5

rowspan="6" | H7

| 49

| 147

| 441

| 1323

| (3969)

B

| F{{music|#}}

| C{{music|#}}

| G{{music|#}}

|

7

| 21

| 63

| 189

| 567

C

| G

| D

| A

| E

1

| 3

| 9

| (27)

| (81)

E{{music|b}}

| B{{music|b}}

| F

|

|

References

{{reflist}}

Sources

  • {{cite book|last=Duckworth|first=William|author-link=William Duckworth (composer)|year=2009|title=Sound and Light: La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela|publisher=Associated University Presse |isbn=978-0-8387-5738-3}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Gann|first=Kyle|author-link=Kyle Gann|year=1993|title=La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano|journal=Perspectives of New Music|volume=31|issue=1|pages=134–162|doi=10.2307/833045|jstor=833045}} {{subscription required}}
  • {{cite book|last=Potter|first=Keith|year=2002|title=Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521015011}}

{{Chords}}

Category:7-limit tuning and intervals

Category:Chords

Category:Installation art

Category:Minimalistic compositions