Minutes of the April 16, 2000 meeting of the Atlanta
Audio Society
This meeting took the Society in a different direction.
Instead of listening to music, either live or recorded,
we learned how music itself is created and on what
it is based. Our presenter was Mark Sanborn, who currently
owns a school of music named "State of the Art". Those
(including myself) who expected a basic course in music
chords and scales instead got a "graduate level" course
in how music (especially Western) is built dating back
to the time of Plato. Mark spoke on the two "tone" or
tuning series that make up the structure of music,
and what they mean to us as listeners. He demonstrated
the intervals and gave us all a background in what
they mean and how they influence artists and listeners.
Mark discussed how music is actually based on science
dating from the Greeks who first discovered the intervals
that create chords. The Greek modes developed the major
scales using Undertones. However, the Medieval modes
use Overtones, and the Modern modes also use Overtones.
According to Mark and for reasons still unclear to
music historians, the conversion to the Overtone series
began in appx. 1600 as church music came into prominence,
especially for the masses.
I will let Mark, in his own words, tell us what he
spoke on in more detail:
"I will be giving a presentation on the structure
of the Harmonic Series. Although most people who are
familiar with music or audio have been exposed in one
way or another to the Harmonic Series, very few individuals
actually understand its inner workings. In fact most
people think the Harmonic Series is synonymous with
the Overtone Series. It is not. Not only are people
unfamiliar with many structural aspects of the Overtone
Series, but they are completely unaware of the other
main Harmonic Series, which is the Undertone Series.
Virtually no one in the world knows about the Undertone
Series. The Undertone Series is not a part of the Overtone
Series and is not to be mistaken for lower harmonics
or fundamentals of the Overtone Series. The Undertone
Series concept has incredible repercussions on both
music theory and audio reproduction but is currently
not employed in either field. The presentation will
begin with a physical demonstration of both Harmonic
Series' as they were developed by the Greeks. I will
continue by showing their effects on music development
throughout history as well as explaining how they affect
both the physical and perceptual areas of audio reproduction.
I cannot stress enough that this information is guaranteed
to be new and very dynamic for everyone."
Mark's demonstration devices included a keyboard and
a specially made monochord string instrument on which
he demonstrated musical scale intervals and tones.
Utilizing the MIDI keyboard, he enabled the audience
to hear the many overtones in music as you go up specific
intervals. He then used the same technique to demonstrate
the undertone series, again using a series of specific
intervals.
A little more of Mark's background follows below,
and many thanks to Bill and Dittie McCulloch for "connecting" us
with Mark, and again being such great hosts!
Mark Sanborn's background:
Mark is an instructor of Piano, Digital Recording,
Composition, Music Theory and all things MIDI within
his own music school named "State of the Art". He began
playing both the Violin and Piano at age 5, and performed
within a 120-member community orchestra for 8 years.
He has a degree from the University of North Carolina
at Asheville with a specific track in Recording Engineering
and special studies in Music Theory. He then completed
specialized studies in MIDI and Synthesizer Architecture
at Western Carolina University. He began co-conducting
research in 1996 with visual artist Michael Sandborn
in the wave related fields of Music Theory, Color Theory,
Particle Physics, and Nuclear Chemistry. They are co-writing
a book based on results of their research that is projected
to be completed by May of this year.
Respectively submitted,
Thomas Horner, secretary.
|
