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Microtones (Johnston)


Ben Johnston - String Quartet No.  7 (1984)
Scurrying, Forceful, Intense
Click here to listen!

String Quartet No. 7


Nerd Stuff
String Quartet No. 7 is one of the most difficult pieces of all time. The piece is based on the idea of microtonality. Normally music is divided up into 12 different pitch classes (a pitch class accounts for every octave of a given note). Playing twelve notes from the note C on a piano will get you back to another C an octave higher. However, pitch exists between these predefined notes. Ben Johnston, as seen in the image above, calculated many microtones; distinct pitches between what we classify as the 12 "normal" pitch classes. Johnston calculated over one thousand individual microtones to use for his String Quartet No. 7. 
Why is it so hard
Musicians become extremely good at playing the 12 pitch classes that they normally have to play, but playing microtones is something completely alien. Many instruments, for example piano, cannot produce microtones unless they are tuned before each note. Some instruments, string instruments for example, can. Pressing down a string at a certain point on a violin makes a distinct note and changing where the string is fully pressed is easy. What isn't easy is learning one thousand microscopically different pitches with enough certainty to replicate them during a performance of the piece. After its composition in 1984, String Quartet No. 7 was not performed or recorded until last year. What you are listening to now is the only recording of the piece created last year by the Kepler Quartet after years of practice. 
Me 
I didn't know this piece existed until yesterday when I ran into a composition professor at the U of I's music building. Because I had to miss his class this Saturday, I asked what we would be looking at and he said it would be String Quartet No. 7 by Johnston. This piece is incredibly intriguing to me because of the level of work that was needed to create it, and the level of work that is required to perform it. The textures that the micro tonality creates bring out the characters intended by the titles of the movements. If you have time, I strongly suggest that you listen to the rest of the movements as they are all unique and intriguing in their own special way.

Comments

  1. I was so impressed and shocked when I listened to it. I agree it sounds completely alien (some director definitely needs to put this in their next alien movie).
    I used to play piano, so whatever note came out of the keys before me were all I knew about. I never knew micro-tones were a thing before reading this blog post! Johnston was certainly ahead of his time.

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  2. It goes both ways, doesn't it? I've read/seen multiple things about how alien western classical music feels to people who've only experienced music based on the pentatonic scale. Either way, it's incredible that the Kepler quartet was able to perform this piece. I looked up the score, curious how he had notated the microtones. It looks super complex, but I suppose they've had years to learn to read and play the piece. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Wow, that was definitely an interesting piece of music. It was a bit disconcerting to listen to, but I really enjoyed it, and after reading about the process of making those tones, the piece is all the more incredible. I can't imagine learning to play something like this, I feel it would almost start to rewrite muscle memory.

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