Tonality flux

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Tonality flux is

microtonal context from notes moving from one chord to another by tiny increments of voice leading. For instance, within a major third G-B, there can be a minor third Ghalf sharp to Bhalf flat, such that in moving from one to the other each line shifts less than a half-step. Within a just intonation scale, this could be represented (half sharp, indicates an approximate quarter-tone sharp, half flat
an approximate quarter-tone flat) by

Note name ratio cents interval name
G 1/1 0 Just major third
B 5/4 386

moving to

Note name ratio cents interval name name ratio cents
Ghalf sharp 55/54 32 Just minor third Ghalf sharp – Bhalf flat 6/5 316
Bhalf flat
11/9
 347

like so:

Note
name 		ratio cents name ratio cents
B 5/4 386
B♭half sharp 11/9 347
Ghalf sharp 55/54 32
G 1/1 0

One voice slides down from 386 cents to 347, the other slides up from 0 cents to 32, yet the harmonic shift can be dramatic. The best-known example of tonality flux, and one of the two Partch uses as illustration, is the beginning of his composition The Letter, in which the

Ben Johnston's pitch notation
):

Interlocked movement from a major to a minor triad. Playⓘ

In this notation, which assumes G as the

7/4
(969 cents). Notice that while the outer notes ascend from the first chord to the second, the middle note descends. Such subtle movements were among the attractions that Partch found in an expanded just intonation of more than 12 pitches per octave. Tonality flux is a special instance of the principle of parsimonious (most direct) voice leading.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-306-80106-X
    .
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