Some Thoughts on Microtonality for Saxophone
The technique of playing Saxophone has seen some major developments in its short history. Looking for some ways to push this further while studying I was drawn into microtonality. At first this meant coming as close as possible to 24 tones for each octave stretching over the instrument, firstly on soprano then later on the alto.
On wind instruments we approximate the intervals. Intonation is always a kind of compromise. First and foremost we have to develop our ears. Being able to listen carefully while blowing air down a pipe is harder than we think. Tuning is a subtle art. When we ask young reed players to tune up to a given note and then push or pull their mouthpieces in we are leading them down the wrong path. On the saxophone every note has to be heard before playing and corrected in the learning period.
Our hearing patterns are also governed by the same kind of “symmetry” we like to play with. We hear and play melodies in 4’s 8’s 16’s and when we improvise, we struggle, and most never even come close, to breaking free of these ingrained patterns. They are certainly not with us from birth, we pick them up as children.
Most of the expressly microtonal music out there is academic and sounds like it was created by and for frustrated musical and social hermits. Any music that defines itself as microtonal and aspires to anything other than an exercise tends to fall flat on its face.
A lot of microtonal advocates critise the 12 tone-per-octave system, however expression requires restriction.
Most “world” musics use micro intervals, but in a musical, expressive way. Many composers use them in an academic way- this is an excercise, it is devoid of expression. If the expression surfaces it seems to be by accident .
The microtone etudes I made are called etudes because they are only a study device.Only later I dubbed them “Caprices” Do they have any musical vaue? Who should judge that?
Microtonality on the saxophone has a lot to do with increasing the sound potential and resonance of the instrument. The more fingers I have down means more saxophone vibrating means richer sound means more tonal possibilities.
Microtoanlity means increasing and fundamentally changing our patterns of hearing. Being raised in a diatonic musical world for 20 years and then trying to break out of it is a long road but one full of rewards. Once we move back in to our familiar chromatic musical world after playing micro intervals we find our hearing has become more exacting.
Using microtonality in a jazz situation often leads us quickly to the mississippi delta- this is because we “feel” a lot of blue notes when we play (esp. 3rds, 4ths, and 7ths in their altered forms) and having more microtonal faculties on our instruments lets us approach the expressive possibilities of singers. Of course this is again all to do with our hearing-on a high level of improvising we play what we hear. Unfortunately for most of us, when our ears were really open at a young stage, the aural input wasn’t all that rosy.
It’s important and very useful to differentiate in questions of microtonality who is playing on purpose and who is not.
Because all tonal playing is an approximation on the sax, we are on an impossible mission and that is why the ride is full of bumps. However when exact playing is achieved at slow speeds and then gradually increased the results can be impressive and confusing for the untinitiated.
When most players begin to improvise, it’s the fingers who do the walking- “giant steps” is the classic example for pattern based playing. Now it’s 2004 and time to move on
When we start to become more exacting with the intervals we play we find we have to slow down the tempo of the music in order for our ears to come along with us. This again goes against the grain of jazz and improvised music so I think it’s best we get off the bus for good and just walk.
Each interval has a distinct colour in the diatonic system.Playing an E over c major or over a major are two different worlds for me. With microtonality we are simply smudging some of these colours and deconstructing the borders between them.
With microtonality and the attempt to play difficult new scales on the saxophone we approach the physically impossible- that is where I want to be- in the no-mans land shortly before technique breaks down and what we aspire to morphs into something we didn’t know before.
Sometimes when playing microtonally for extended periods I have the feeling I am moving away from a “human” music into something else.By “human” music I mean produced by and for featherless bipeds. When dropping microtonal lines into a normal diatonic context it feels like an invocation. (and how does that feel???ed)
If we want to keep our listeners we have have to take them by the hand and lead them slowly down the path while gently opening their ears at the same time. With microtonality on sax we are aided by the fact that even the deafest of critics can pick up on the broader ranger of tonal nuances we thus control.
When playing microtonally we need sensitivity from the musicians we are playing with. In other words, if the band’s too loud, grab a soprano and start playing in the top register a semitone out, leave the subtleties for after the show when the pole dancing is over.
It’s possible to dance to microtonal sax music, it just feels a little different.
One of the refreshing elements of microtonality is moving beyond an EITHER major OR minor tonality. I am neither happy nor sad, I simply am.
listen to an excerpt from “air blues”, a microtonal ensemble piece for jazz group recorded at the WDR :
listen to “enter the jade palace” with root70, I wrote a microtonal intro for trombone and sax.
or how about something from this suite? a microtonal woodwind work I wrote in 1998?
the intro to this installation piece piece uses descending microtonal scales on soprano sax:
this is a warm up on soprano using displaced 4th work I recorded in Dublin at Studio Og:
some more split scales from the Circe album. Here minor 3rds are split in the middle
Microtone Caprices for Saxophone
My work with quarter tones began in 1995 when I first began to develop a set of fingerings for the alto saxophone. Over the course of time I found one could achieve more accuracy on soprano and so most of my work was done on that instrument. I began working with smaller intervals purely for ear training purposes and this proved to be the biggest challenge- readjusting my conditioned hearing. Once this was done over the years I began using the new tone fields in all sorts of ways. I split intervals such as minor thirds and perfect fourths exactly in the middle and came up with some interesting new scales that could be played on saxophone. The possibilities seemed endless so I first remained with a few workable models and used them in as many contexts as I could find.
These caprices were a logical step in the training of these new tonal models. They all originate in the time from 1999 to 2001. Each one deals with a specific quarter tone field and a simple rhythmic framework. The material is reduced so as to allow the young quarter tone student to concentrate on one problem at a time. They should all be performed with a metronome unless of course they are performed in public.
In these works, thematic development is restricted to issues of technique. The changes and modulations are very limited and designed to stretch the students hearing as the etudes progress. First work on the etudes could involve tempos 4 times as slow as those used on the recording.
Caprices 2 and 8 are brain stretchers and and use no notation. Instead, a rhythmic structure is set down and two harmonic fields (major scales a quarter tone apart) are played alternatively in a longer duration, causing the harmonic fields to overlap the rhythmic structure. Combining this with a free choice from the tonal fields leads to limitless variation and a good exercise for the concentration faculties.
The use of circular breathing should not be over emphasised. It as useful as a way of smoothing over the tonal modulations but it is not necessary for the performance of the etudes. I consider it nothing more than a handy wee device to be used by the by.
The tracks were all recorded with a close microphone so as not to miss a single nuance. Small irregularities in phrasing and articulation are hence amplified but I wanted the most direct effect possible.
The last tracks use overdubs and are excerpts from a longer work for 8 woodwinds that has not yet been performed live called “suite”. I set several lines uni sono in octaves requiring exact intonation of the quarter tones. This can be further experimented with positive results. It was written for alto and soprano saxophones, and clarinets.
Quarter tone fingering charts for woodwinds are now readily available and easy to find. The scores for these etudes can be ordered directly.
Have fun with these caprices and get prepared to let a whole new way of hearing open up your mind.
Here is a PDF with my fingerings and some basic exercises I started with.
listen to some of the microtonal caprices:
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From the “Circe” Album where several tone fields of split 3rd and split 4ths and displaced major scales are investigated:
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I always liked to practice over a tambura drone but it is hard to find some good recordings of them. I recorded mine recently and now have it here as a 20 minute file. There are different tunings within the track with the base note remaining e flat throughout.
listen
Here is some other microtonal music I enjoy :
Horatiu Radulescu Streichquartett Nr 4 opus 33:
Giorgio Netti - NecessitaÌ€ d’interogare il cielo :
intuire la dispiegata forma della luce :
affrettandosi verso il centro della luce risonante :
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