Post
by bperet » Tue Oct 11, 2016 6:15 pm
There's a lot more to musical relationships than I realized. Turns out that it is impossible to produce "unison" from any instrument, because it requires three conditions: same frequency, same phase, and originating from the same location. Of course, when a location coincides, all that changes is the amplitude for the unison. And you cannot even determine if it is a single or multiple sources.
Phase relationships in music appear very complex, as it is determined by the timing of hitting two or more notes and the spatial distance between the components generating the sound. Computer-generated music tends to lose this phase aspect, because the notes of a chord are timed to exactly coincide to a nanosecond (unlike the fingers of a musician), and usually the strings, reeds, holes or other source of vibration have some physical distance--not the same, physical electronic speaker vibrating the "net" wave pattern.
It is becoming fairly obvious that the rules of "equivalent" or "yin" motion (space or time) rely on frequency (as rotational speed) and phase, that bears a striking resemblance to "turns" and "shift" of projective geometry. Now this makes sense, because equivalent space is 2D and based on orbital (not linear) velocity.
When you apply projective geometry concepts (as harmonics) to atomic equivalent space, something interesting arises: you get patterns of attraction and repulsion that look exactly like chemical bonds. It has nothing to do with "charge," but matching speed and phase in equivalent space. Molecules are a "natural consequence" to bring the harmonics of atoms into unison (1:1). This also explains why there are SO MANY oxidation states and different bond types associated with atoms to explain existing chemical bonds... I always wondered about that in chemistry class.
I mean, look at carbon, a very simple atom: +4, +3, +2, +1, 0, −1, −2, −3, −4. In the early days when the bonding concept was just conceived, it just had +4, -4. Now there are 9 states, depending on what it is bonding with. And that's the key--what you are bonding with is one of the "notes" that an atom is trying to come into harmony with, so if an atom can resonate at a harmonic ratio that brings the molecular "song" back to unison, it bonds--and stays bonded. If it cannot, then dissonance sets in and the atom is pushed away.
Larson's concept of bonding is closer than the conventional as it deals with rotational speeds (frequencies), but omits the shear between frequencies (the harmonic ratio) and the phase relationships.
Question for those with a musical background: how do phase relationships, the spacing between strings and the tiny pauses between hitting notes, affect the music being played?
Every dogma has its day...