For Ann (rising)
Encyclopedia
For Ann is a piece of electronic music
created by James Tenney
in 1969.
Tenney is the author of Meta (+) Hodos, one of, if not the, earliest applications of gestalt theory
and cognitive science
to music, and later "Hierarchical temporal gestalt perception in music: a metric space model" with Larry Polansky, and other works, the influence of may be seen in many of his pieces including the twelve minute For Ann (rising).
The piece is based upon the Shepard scale concept, named after Tenney's colleague at Bell Labs
psychologist Roger Shepard
, though the technique which the piece uses is more properly described as a continuous Risset
scale or Shepard-Risset glissando
(Polansky 2003).
Each rising sine-wave-like glissando, between twelve and fifteen rising at any time, fades in
and out, all entering a minor sixth
below their predecessors, rising from the infrasonic to ultrasonic
range, from below to above the ability to perceive pitch
(Polansky 2003).
While the original experiments were intended to illustrate a property of human perception, Tenney's piece problematizes it:
One simultaneously perceives the lines as forming one continuously rising line, yet one is constantly aware of shifts in perception from line to line or lines. According to reviewer Jeremy Grimshaw, "there emerges at the upper frequency threshold a crystalline conglomeration of extremely high pitches, which glimmer as an indistinguishable mass even as glissandi continually enter the top range and fade" According to his friend Philip Corner
For Ann (rising), "must be optimistic! (Imagine the depressing effectiveness of it—he could never be so cruel—downward)..." (Grimshaw ).
Tenney has suggested the piece be "regenerated" with the distance between successive voices, the minor sixth
(1.6 in just intonation
, 1.587 in equal temperament
), being tuned to golden ratio
phi (1.618). This is desirable because then all first-order difference tones between adjacent voices would be present in lower voices (Polansky 2003).
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
created by James Tenney
James Tenney
James Tenney was an American composer and influential music theorist.-Biography:Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado. He attended the University of Denver, the Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College and the University of Illinois...
in 1969.
Tenney is the author of Meta (+) Hodos, one of, if not the, earliest applications of gestalt theory
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies...
and cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
to music, and later "Hierarchical temporal gestalt perception in music: a metric space model" with Larry Polansky, and other works, the influence of may be seen in many of his pieces including the twelve minute For Ann (rising).
The piece is based upon the Shepard scale concept, named after Tenney's colleague at Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
psychologist Roger Shepard
Roger Shepard
Roger Newland Shepard is a cognitive scientist and author of Toward a Universal Law of Generalization for Psychological Science. He is seen as a father of research on spatial relations....
, though the technique which the piece uses is more properly described as a continuous Risset
Jean-Claude Risset
Jean-Claude Risset is a French composer, best known for his pioneering contributions to computer music. He is a former student of André Jolivet and former co-worker of Max Mathews at Bell Labs....
scale or Shepard-Risset glissando
Glissando
In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...
(Polansky 2003).
Each rising sine-wave-like glissando, between twelve and fifteen rising at any time, fades in
Fade (audio engineering)
In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theater lighting, in much the same way ....
and out, all entering a minor sixth
Minor sixth
-Subminor sixth:In music, a subminor sixth or septimal sixth is an interval that is noticeably narrower than a minor sixth but noticeably wider than a diminished sixth.The sub-minor sixth is an interval of a 14:9 ratio or alternately 11:7....
below their predecessors, rising from the infrasonic to ultrasonic
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is thus not separated from "normal" sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is...
range, from below to above the ability to perceive pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
(Polansky 2003).
While the original experiments were intended to illustrate a property of human perception, Tenney's piece problematizes it:
One simultaneously perceives the lines as forming one continuously rising line, yet one is constantly aware of shifts in perception from line to line or lines. According to reviewer Jeremy Grimshaw, "there emerges at the upper frequency threshold a crystalline conglomeration of extremely high pitches, which glimmer as an indistinguishable mass even as glissandi continually enter the top range and fade" According to his friend Philip Corner
Philip Corner
Philip Corner is an American composer, action musician, trombone/alphornist, sometime vocalist, pianist-improvisor, theorist-educator, graphic score designer, and visual artist, collage&assembleur, calligrapher.-Biography:After The High School of Music & Art in New York City, Philip Corner...
For Ann (rising), "must be optimistic! (Imagine the depressing effectiveness of it—he could never be so cruel—downward)..." (Grimshaw ).
Tenney has suggested the piece be "regenerated" with the distance between successive voices, the minor sixth
Minor sixth
-Subminor sixth:In music, a subminor sixth or septimal sixth is an interval that is noticeably narrower than a minor sixth but noticeably wider than a diminished sixth.The sub-minor sixth is an interval of a 14:9 ratio or alternately 11:7....
(1.6 in just intonation
Just intonation
In music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by ratios of small whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval. The two notes in any just interval are members of the same harmonic series...
, 1.587 in equal temperament
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
), being tuned to golden ratio
Golden ratio
In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities to the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one. The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.61803398874989...
phi (1.618). This is desirable because then all first-order difference tones between adjacent voices would be present in lower voices (Polansky 2003).
Sources
- Grimshaw, Jeremy. 2005a. "Giacinto Scelsi", in All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music, edited by Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brennan, and Allen Schrott, 1170. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-865-6
- Grimshaw, Jeremy. 2005b. "Music from 1950 to 1975", in All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music, edited by Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brennan, and Allen Schrott, 1547–48. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-865-6
- Polansky, Larry. 2003. Liner notes to James Tenney: Selected Works 1961–1969. Regenerated by Tom Erbe using Barry Vercoe's CSound according to Tenney's specifications. New World Records 805702.