Rational Playtime #3 – intonation working group

Dates:
June 29, 1pm
July 4, 6pm
July 13, 1pm

Register:
jostenmyburgh@protonmail.com

Rational Playtime is a weekly session to learn about and play in the tuning system known as rational intonation (RI, also called extended just intonation, EJI or just JI). It is hosted within Josten Myburgh’s residency in the Goolugatup Heathcote Project Space, wherein they are exploring these techniques in their own work with international mentors. Each week, we’ll read an assigned text and then focus on playing and listening together. The focus will always be on accessing the sensory experience the tunings offer, with the theory as a tool to support this.

RI is based off of tuning frequencies to whole number ratios of each other*. The waveforms of RI intervals vibrate more periodically together than those between notes of the normal Western 12-tone equal tempered scale, and tend to sound “fused” when played together. Being in tune in 12-tone equal temperament can sometimes feel arbitrary, whereas tuning in RI is grounded very deeply in finely-tuned listening to distinct phenomena. Both systems have unique qualities and advantages, but playing in RI offers a chance to connect intimately with vibration in a way that can open many new possibilities for listening and creating.

Rational Playtime is less of a workshop and more of a chance to meet other people interested in the aesthetic consequences and possibilities of RI. The session is grounded in experimental sound practice, but anyone interested may attend, including players active in early music and non-Western musics which use rational or just tunings.

*this reference to rational numbers is what’s meant by the term rational – it doesn’t refer to being somehow reasonable or logical (or elitist)!

Image courtesy of Catherine Lamb & Sacred Realism.