1/6-Comma Meantone

Here is a new piece in 55edo. 55edo is very close to 1/6-comma meantone, a tuning used in the classical music period. Meantone tunings in general, and 55edo in particular, temper out the syntonic comma. This piece is based on a traversal of the syntonic comma. Each traversal lasts about 43 seconds; the entire piece consists of 64 traversals.

I initialized the system with 64 repetitions of a simple traversal. I started the thermodynamic simulation at a relatively high temperature, and then gradually reduced the temperature until a phase transition, a peak in the heat capacity, was detected. The piece is a snapshot of the system at the phase transition.

The diagram above is a folded score. All the pitches have been folded into a single octave of 55 equal steps in the vertical dimension. The 64 repetitions across the duration of the piece have been folded into a 43 second span in the horizontal dimension. The staircase appearance of the folded score shows that the comma traversal structure was maintained through the thermodynamic jostling process.