Sonido 13
Encyclopedia
Sonido 13 is a theory of microtonal music
created by the Mexican
composer Julián Carrillo
around 1900 and described by Nicolas Slonimsky
as, "the field of sounds smaller than the twelve semitones of the tempered scale". Developed in 1895 while he was experimenting with his violin
. As Carrillo was placing his finger over a violin string, he noticed that he could produce different sounds than the ones defined by musical convention. This way, he realized that the string could be divided into an infinite number of pitches
, creating many more possibilities for music composition
. Though he became internationally recognized for his system of notation, it was never widely applied. His first composition in demonstration of his theories was Preludio a Colón
(1922).
The Western musical convention up to this day divides an octave
into twelve different pitches that can be arranged or tempered
in different intervals
. Carrillo termed his new system Sonido 13, which is Spanish
for "Thirteenth Sound" or Sound 13, because it enabled musicians to go beyond the twelve notes that comprise an octave in conventional Western music
.
in Mexico
. He attended the National Conservatory of Music
in Mexico City
, where he studied Violin, Composition, Physics
, Acoustics
, and Mathematics
. The laws that define music intervals instantly amazed Carrillo, which led him to conduct experiments on his violin. He began analyzing the way the pitch of a string changed depending on the finger position, concluding that there had to be a way to split the string into an infinite number of parts. One day, Carrillo was able to divide the fourth string of his violin with a razor
into 16 parts in the interval between the notes G and A, thus creating 16 unique sounds. This event was the beginning of Sonido 13 that led Carrillo to study more about physics and the nature of intervals.
of the National Symphony Orchestra and in 1920 he also became Principal of the National Conservatory of Music. It was during this time that he began to invest a significant amount of time on Sonido 13. His achievements in this area were extensive and consisted of writing over 20 books, making more than 40 compositions, patenting fifteen pianos capable of producing small intervals, and organizing the Sonido 13 Symphonic Orchestra that performed in different parts of the world, playing microtonal music composed by Carrillo in different intervals. In 1933, Ahualulco, the town where Julián Carrillo was born, was renamed to Ahualulco del Sonido 13 in honor of Carrillo's work.
Carrillo was, "closely associated with the Díaz regime," and preferred neo-classicism
to nationalism.
into 16 intervals, but he did not stop there. Through experiments, Carrillo noticed that he could divide the string into an infinite number of intervals, or into as many intervals as it is physically possible. Carrillo created intervals of 3 , 4 , 5 , 16 , 32 , 64 , and 128 tones within a major second, leaving the formula to create more, if desired. However, as the number of intervals increases it becomes harder to distinguish the notes from each other (see just noticeable difference
).
To show how easy the new writing system was, Carrillo gave two New York
elementary school
boys, who had no prior knowledge of Sonido 13, a simple work by Bach
to convert to his notation system. The boys accomplished the task in less than an hour, proving that the new writing method was easy to learn.
The new writing system is not as graphic as the conventional staff or stave
, and instead of calling the notes by a letter or a syllable (Do, Re, Mi, etc) they are represented by a number. The numbering system starts with a zero and increments by one until the last note of the octave is reached. Within this system, the number of notes in an octave is dependent on the number of intervals that one wishes to create within a whole tone.
Carrillo used many intervals, although mainly in multiples of 4 such as 16, 32, and 64 so that between each of the whole tones, 16, 32, or 64 additional notes were created. Carrillo called these intervals 16hs of a tone, 32nds of a tone, and 64ths of a tone, respectively. As a result, C would be labeled 0, D flat would be labeled 8, D would be labeled 16, E flat would be labeled 24, E would be labeled 32, etc., for 16ths of a tone.
When notating music, Carrillo used a staff. However, instead of using lines to signify different notes, he used the lines to distinguish between octaves so that each line on the staff represents a different octave. For example, if 0 on the second line of the staff denoted what conventional music terms middle C
, 0 on the third line would refer to C an octave higher, and 0 on the first line would refer to C an octave lower.
has 88 keys that cover more than 7 so-called octaves, and a piano with 88 keys made for 16ths of a tone would not constitute a full so-called octave. To have the same number of so-called octaves as a conventional piano, a piano for 16ths of a tone would need 704 keys. So, using logic and innovative thoughts of modern luthier
s, a traditional piano will be enriched infinitely. Every existing instrument has to be modified to adapt to the new rules of the Sonido 13 system, but also new instruments have to be designed and created. Thus, modern luthiers have an almost fantastic but still unexplored world in front of them, except by Carrillo's mind.
Besides these recording efforts, new music is being created using the Sonido 13 teachings and the Official Julián Carrillo Website was created by 13th sound musicians Armando Nava and Hugo Vargas. The website soon became extremly popular among Sonido 13 researchers and it gained the "Official" Status in 2009 thanks to the decision of Angel and Miguel Carrillo, executors of the Julián Carrillo Estate.
The "Ambassador of the 13th Sound" travels around the world promoting the 13th Sound principles which are:
1.- To Purify Music.
2.- To Enrich Music.
3.- To Facilitate Music.
He has achieved international recognition by Government Institutions, the executors of the Carrillo Estate and his peers due to his formidable commitment for totally resurrecting the Revolution of the 13th Sound.
Microtonal music
Microtonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...
created by the Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
composer Julián Carrillo
Julián Carrillo
Julián Carrillo Trujillo was a Mexican composer, conductor, violinist and music theorist, famous for developing a theory of microtonal music which he dubbed "The Thirteenth Sound" .-Biography:...
around 1900 and described by Nicolas Slonimsky
Nicolas Slonimsky
Nicolas Slonimsky was a Russian born American composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer and author. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" ; "a reviser or interpolator."- Life :...
as, "the field of sounds smaller than the twelve semitones of the tempered scale". Developed in 1895 while he was experimenting with his violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
. As Carrillo was placing his finger over a violin string, he noticed that he could produce different sounds than the ones defined by musical convention. This way, he realized that the string could be divided into an infinite number of pitches
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,...
, creating many more possibilities for music composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
. Though he became internationally recognized for his system of notation, it was never widely applied. His first composition in demonstration of his theories was Preludio a Colón
Preludio a Colón
Preludio a Colón , for soprano, string quartet, flute, quarter-tone guitar, and sixteenth-tone harp, is a piece by Julián Carrillo...
(1922).
The Western musical convention up to this day divides an octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
into twelve different pitches that can be arranged or tempered
Musical temperament
In musical tuning, a temperament is a system of tuning which slightly compromises the pure intervals of just intonation in order to meet other requirements of the system. Most instruments in modern Western music are tuned in the equal temperament system...
in different intervals
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
. Carrillo termed his new system Sonido 13, which is Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for "Thirteenth Sound" or Sound 13, because it enabled musicians to go beyond the twelve notes that comprise an octave in conventional Western music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
.
Early life
Julián Carrillo was a native of the state of San Luis PotosíSan Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....
in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. He attended the National Conservatory of Music
National Conservatory of Music (Mexico)
The National Conservatory of Music of Mexico is a music conservatory located in the Polanco section of Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico.-History:...
in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, where he studied Violin, Composition, Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, Acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
, and Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. The laws that define music intervals instantly amazed Carrillo, which led him to conduct experiments on his violin. He began analyzing the way the pitch of a string changed depending on the finger position, concluding that there had to be a way to split the string into an infinite number of parts. One day, Carrillo was able to divide the fourth string of his violin with a razor
Razor
A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of unwanted body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, disposable razors and electric razors....
into 16 parts in the interval between the notes G and A, thus creating 16 unique sounds. This event was the beginning of Sonido 13 that led Carrillo to study more about physics and the nature of intervals.
Professional life
Carrillo became an excellent musician at the Conservatory and received a scholarship to study in Leipzig Royal Conservatory. After Carrillo returned to Mexico in 1918, he became conductorConducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
of the National Symphony Orchestra and in 1920 he also became Principal of the National Conservatory of Music. It was during this time that he began to invest a significant amount of time on Sonido 13. His achievements in this area were extensive and consisted of writing over 20 books, making more than 40 compositions, patenting fifteen pianos capable of producing small intervals, and organizing the Sonido 13 Symphonic Orchestra that performed in different parts of the world, playing microtonal music composed by Carrillo in different intervals. In 1933, Ahualulco, the town where Julián Carrillo was born, was renamed to Ahualulco del Sonido 13 in honor of Carrillo's work.
Carrillo was, "closely associated with the Díaz regime," and preferred neo-classicism
Neoclassicism (music)
Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
to nationalism.
Introduction
Julián Carrillo was a pioneer of microtonal music in the Western world. Julián Carrillo started dividing whole tones (major seconds)Major second
In Western music theory, a major second is a musical interval spanning two semitones, and encompassing two adjacent staff positions . For example, the interval from C to D is a major second, as the note D lies two semitones above C, and the two notes are notated on adjacent staff postions...
into 16 intervals, but he did not stop there. Through experiments, Carrillo noticed that he could divide the string into an infinite number of intervals, or into as many intervals as it is physically possible. Carrillo created intervals of 3 , 4 , 5 , 16 , 32 , 64 , and 128 tones within a major second, leaving the formula to create more, if desired. However, as the number of intervals increases it becomes harder to distinguish the notes from each other (see just noticeable difference
Just noticeable difference
In psychophysics, a just noticeable difference, customarily abbreviated with lowercase letters as jnd, is the smallest detectable difference between a starting and secondary level of a particular sensory stimulus...
).
Music notation
Because new sets of sounds were created, it was imperative to make a new notation system. Carrillo developed an easy method for notation, which would help people not familiar with previous forms of notation to quickly learn to read and write music.To show how easy the new writing system was, Carrillo gave two New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
boys, who had no prior knowledge of Sonido 13, a simple work by Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
to convert to his notation system. The boys accomplished the task in less than an hour, proving that the new writing method was easy to learn.
The new writing system is not as graphic as the conventional staff or stave
Staff (music)
In standard Western musical notation, the staff, or stave, is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch—or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending upon the intended effect,...
, and instead of calling the notes by a letter or a syllable (Do, Re, Mi, etc) they are represented by a number. The numbering system starts with a zero and increments by one until the last note of the octave is reached. Within this system, the number of notes in an octave is dependent on the number of intervals that one wishes to create within a whole tone.
Middle C
C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège scale. Its enharmonic is B.-Middle C:Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano keyboard...
, 0 on the third line would refer to C an octave higher, and 0 on the first line would refer to C an octave lower.
Musical instruments
This system added sounds unexplored by generations of musicians, so new adaptations of current instruments had to be made to support the small intervals, and for this reason the instruments were reduced in the number of octaves they contained. For example, a standard pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
has 88 keys that cover more than 7 so-called octaves, and a piano with 88 keys made for 16ths of a tone would not constitute a full so-called octave. To have the same number of so-called octaves as a conventional piano, a piano for 16ths of a tone would need 704 keys. So, using logic and innovative thoughts of modern luthier
Luthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
s, a traditional piano will be enriched infinitely. Every existing instrument has to be modified to adapt to the new rules of the Sonido 13 system, but also new instruments have to be designed and created. Thus, modern luthiers have an almost fantastic but still unexplored world in front of them, except by Carrillo's mind.
Latest news
New efforts are being done to resurrect the 13th Sound music and theory. In 2005 Mexican cellist Jimena Gimenez recently recorded the entire Carrillo's Cello Sonatas and Mexican-Quebecer guitarist Angélos Quetzalcóatl (The "Ambassador" of the 13th Sound) recorded almost all the guitar repertoire.Besides these recording efforts, new music is being created using the Sonido 13 teachings and the Official Julián Carrillo Website was created by 13th sound musicians Armando Nava and Hugo Vargas. The website soon became extremly popular among Sonido 13 researchers and it gained the "Official" Status in 2009 thanks to the decision of Angel and Miguel Carrillo, executors of the Julián Carrillo Estate.
The "Ambassador of the 13th Sound" travels around the world promoting the 13th Sound principles which are:
1.- To Purify Music.
2.- To Enrich Music.
3.- To Facilitate Music.
He has achieved international recognition by Government Institutions, the executors of the Carrillo Estate and his peers due to his formidable commitment for totally resurrecting the Revolution of the 13th Sound.
Further reading
- Mena, María Cristina (1914). "Julian Carrillo: The Herald of a Musical Monroe Doctrine", The Century illustrated monthly magazine, Volume 89. Josiah Gilbert Holland and Richard Watson Gilder, eds. Digitized 2008.