since there is ony one of you | František Hruška

Since There's Only One of You

This composition was inspired by Tom Johnson’s 1982 collection of 21 compositions named Rational Melodies. As is often the case, in the result the source of inspiration is not very clear.

The idea was to compose a piece for the pipe organ. The building pieces of the composition are the two existing whole-tone scales. There are two main reasons for this choice. One of them is the same as described in my piece Homesick Child. I chose these two scales so that each tone of the western 12-tone system is represented exactly once. To quote myself:
“(…) so all the semitones should be present at some point. When it comes to transcription of a visual score or sonification of any kind of data, I often find it disappointing when the composer chooses a specific scale and suddenly it doesn’t sound like what the original source suggests. It is the freedom of this artistic choice that makes sonifying practice so problematic. My approach is not perfect, as it is impossible to achieve that, but by limiting my freedom of choice, I tried to get closer to “the real thing”.

What do all the digits of pi, a slice of wood, human DNA, and a blueprint of the Eiffel Tower have in common?

That somewhere down the line some different composers made it all sound like C major.”

The other reason is given by the fact that it’s written for pipe organ. As is apparent from the picture below, pipe organs most often have the pipes arranged around an axis symmetry, alternating around the axis in the middle. The result of which is e.g., we have C1 on the very left and C#1 on the very right. As the piece begins with both the full-tone scales being played in sequence, it should result in a clear stereo panning. Upon which the spatialization gets progressively more chaotic only to arrive back to the original scales (but transposed one octave higher) exactly 24 bars later.

That result is given by a carefully chosen yet rather simple algorithm. After a long time of trial and error and experimenting with different algorithms, sequencing, and symmetry.

I have found a system that worked both musically and mathematically. Yet, unfortunately, doesn’t look so good graphically as opposed to what is so often the case with Tom Johnson's Rational Melodies compositions.

It works in the following principle: in part 1, we have the two original whole-tone scales written above one another. We then begin following the green line, from C# to E to F, etc., (which results in the scale written in the first line in part 2). Then from B, the system is the same but mirrored, we follow the blue line, that is from B to F# to G, etc., (resulting in the scale written in the second line of part 2). When we finish, we have two new six-tone scales above one another, and we repeat the process. The process gets to be repeated exactly 12 times before we arrive at the first step again. That is because there are 12 tones in total, which means 12 possible permutations within this algorithm.

An interesting thing that happens, since we started from notes C# & B in part 1, in part 2 it means starting from B & C, in part 3 from C & C#, and in part 4 from C# & B again (same as part 1). So, while the rest of the scales are changing constantly, the first (and last) notes of the different scales are repeated every 4 times. The result are these couples at the beginning of each bar: C# - B, B - C, C - C#. That gives it musically something to hold on to while there’s “chaos” happening in between.

As for the frequency range, I have limited the progressions to always fit one octave, from C to C. So that any note which would be overcoming this boundary gets automatically transposed an octave lower/higher. In the middle of the piece (bar 13), I decided to naturally go one octave higher, and once in there, I applied the same boundaries as before.

In the score, each new line/scale corresponds to one bar.
So, in the end, there are 24 bars of 6 notes each, responding to 12 permutations.
I have decided to write it in 7/8 time signature, with each note being an eight note, so in each bar there’s one eight rest. That is how I have built the rhythmical part with the use of a very simple process. Starting with the rest on the sixth beat, moving it with every other bar one beat earlier. In other words and numbers –
creating this sort of coupling: 5 – 7, 4 – 8, 3 – 9, 2 – 10, 1 – 11, 0 – 12, and repeat once more.

The very end is modulated slightly for a musical purpose. The last bar breaks the boundary of an octave and there’s an added last note to give the sense of ending since it doesn’t end on the prima.

In regard to Johnson’s Rational Melodies, I have parted with him regarding the musical outcome. The process of getting there may have been somewhat similar, yet the result is quite different. Johnson was able to “showcase” the symmetry musically, audibly, staying true to the minimalist tradition. Yet my result is quite different, even though the symmetry exists in there, it’s not audible, it sounds chaotic. But with the use of equally limited material and equally automated mathematical processes.

Making it in the end not minimalistic anymore, but still minimal.

Final score in PDF: