The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician

Kyle Gann

ISBN 10: 0252042581 / ISBN 13: 9780252042584

Published by University of Illinois Press, 2019

About this Item

2019. Hardcover. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780252042584

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252042581
• ISBN 13: 9780252042584
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

"Tuning is the secret lens through which the history of music falls into focus," says Kyle Gann. Yet in Western circles, no other musical issue is so ignored, so taken for granted, so shoved into the corners of musical discourse.

A classroom essential and an invaluable reference, The Arithmetic of Listening offers beginners the grounding in music theory necessary to find their own way into microtonality and the places it may take them. Moving from ancient Greece to the present, Kyle Gann delves into the infinite tunings available to any musician who feels straitjacketed by obedience to standardized Western European tuning. He introduces the concept of the harmonic series and demonstrates its relationship to equal-tempered and well-tempered tuning. He also explores recent experimental tuning models that exploit smaller intervals between pitches to create new sounds and harmonies.

Systematic and accessible, The Arithmetic of Listening provides a much-needed primer for the wide range of tuning systems that have informed Western music.

Audio examples demonstrating the musical ideas in The Arithmetic of Listening can be found at: https://www.kylegann.com/Arithmetic.html

About the Author

Kyle Gann is a composer and the Taylor Hawver and Frances Bortle Hawver Professor of Music at Bard College. His books include Charles Ives's Concord, No Such Thing as Silence: John Cage's 4'33" and Robert Ashley.