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Translations from the Original © Jonathan Parry
1985/6
This was my first completed piece exploring the idea
of frequency translation.
The theme is heard at the outset, firstly as a repeated
sequence of 8 chords on the piano and then with a melody
on the violin.
The chords are basic major and minor ‘triads’:
F, Em, C, Am; F, Em, Dm, C.
Click here to listen to this passage 
To get the translations I performed the calculations
already outlined (if you haven't read this bit click
here 
)
There are 43 translations of this. I arrived at this
number because it is the number of distinct 4 note chord-types
available within equal temperament.
____________________________________________
When I gave the computer the ‘print’ command
the sudden arrival of so many different but related
translations was very rewarding, and the results seemed
to justify the technique - certainly in relation to
the simpler and more familiar chord structures.
Here’s one progression that made immediate sense
to me:
Click here to listen to this passage
On checking through the progressions I noticed two
things - although I had been thinking in terms of chords,
once the intervals are small it becomes natural to interpret
an arpeggio as a scale. Also although all the basic
chord types contained C the translations did not stay
in the key of C. This was because the choice of values
for x, y, and z affects whether the music progresses
into another key. I didn’t mind modulations arising
in this way.
As an example of both things, when the values {0, 2,
3, 4} are selected in what became translation 25 the
arpeggios sound like scales and the sequence sounds
like it’s based on the key of Bb minor:
Click here to listen to this passage
I chose an order and grouping for these 43 translations
to give the piece a clear sense of form. Certain relationships
between the chord-types helped:
For a start there were chord-types which were inversions
of one another (like major and minor). I placed these
translations within the same group (bracketed together
« in the scheme below):
Then there were static chords where the progression
did not give rise to new notes (circled in the scheme
below). One of these was the familiar and very distinctive
‘diminished 7th chord’ which I used to mark
the mid-point of the piece:
Click here to listen to this passage
Still others where the inverted version did not change
the harmony – the semitone intervals were the same
when inverted (underlined in the scheme below):
Then I was careful to consider the way one harmony might
follow another (after much logical and mathematical
thought it was nice to start applying artistic judgement).
The traditional sense of voice leading was useful here.
I had the option of either making a smooth change or
an abrupt one to mark the end of a large section.
As it was a theme of 8 chords, I decided to mirror this
by grouping the 43 translations into 8 groups.
Finally, after stating the major theme at the beginning
I divided the 8 groups into 4 further groups of 2 by
interpolating:
a) a minor 3 note version of the theme after group 2
b) the first chord only of the major theme after group
4, and
c) the first chord only of the minor version after group
6
I ended by repeating the major theme after group 8.
I got the following structure:
This provided me with the chart that I had sought,
linking both simple and complex harmonies. It seems
a straightforward process when presented like this but
obviously a lot of thought and experimentation lay behind
it.
It was very rewarding to discover how a simple process
like this could generate so many different harmonies
sounds and moods and traverse our musical history.
But I quickly became aware of a major problem stopping
me from recording a definitive version of the piece
and releasing it publicly at that time (c. 1987). I
had sorted out the pitch and structure, but the theme
itself was very bland rhythmically and I had not thought
about how to apply a similar process to rhythm.
Rhythm is frequency at a slower tempo. But as soon as
I tried doing the same sort of calculations, I remembered
that rhythm was related but different – the dramatically
different time-scale calls other factors into play and
needs to be taken account of, otherwise you end up with
ridiculously complicated results. Serialism had encountered
the same difficulties.
I was unable to resolve this at that time and having
generated my chart of translated
pitches on a computer, I still felt unable to finish
the piece properly and perform it to everyone. Rhythm
is normally the best place to start for a piece of music.
It’s active and dynamic. The other music I had
been writing and performing with my friends was dynamic
– I knew that’s what people wanted to hear.
When improvising, I could hear the potential of what
I had, but I felt apprehensive about the inconsistency
of using technique for harmony and intuition for rhythm.
Also it was difficult to capture a good version as,
in working out the translations away from real time,
I had lost my sense of timing.
So with many regrets I put the piece to one side and,
whilst I occasionally tried to develop the idea, this
delay has meant that this piece and the technique are
only seeing the light of day now.
Perhaps this was a mistake, but it’s worth remembering
that this was before a widespread acceptance of computers
and mathematical processes in Music, Film, Art &
Design. I felt that if I put it forward at that stage
in a bad version it would be seen as something purely
intellectual and rather arid. I felt that I would be
judged in those terms as a composer and the emphasis
on harmony to the exclusion of rhythm, melody and instrumental
colour would be criticised.
Now of course I’ve had time to evaluate the process
again. I’ve written some intuitive and expressive
pieces and songs so I don’t feel I can be dismissed
as being simply an aspiring intellectual. I’ve
written dynamic, rhythmic and melodic pieces and I’ve
explored instrumentation. Also, like other composers,
I have been liberated by the arrival of hard disk recording.
We no longer have to think in terms of ‘definitive
versions’ and it’s easier to experiment. I
now realise that, because of the rational science behind
the harmonies, artistic intuition about the rhythmic
flow is welcome.
And of course this piece has sat in its folder all this
time. It may not be as great as I had once hoped but
it’s not offensive and there’s something there
that could be developed - I certainly don’t think
there’s any point holding it back any longer.
For this version I have chosen a fairly calm, catalogue-like
presentation with violin to emphasise a continuous line
through the harmonies. I’ll be honest – the
delay has meant a lot of the fire has gone out of the
piece – maybe this can be put right some time.
Click this button to hear the final part of the
piece (from translation 35)
© Jonathan Parry 2000
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