James Tenney and the Theory of Everything: How multidimensional musical space can be a model for the multidimensional physical universe
The following is a scan of my article in Musicworks Magazine #99 (Winter 2007) Musicworks is a fantastic magazine out of Southern Ontario for 'curious ears' featuring 'explorations in sound.' Go buy a current issue. The magazine is fascinating, intelligent, and eclectic.
James Tenney was the brilliant and influential theorist and composer who taught for many years at York University. He was one of the 'big' theorists of music in the sense of rethinking the very fundamentals of music, of understanding the 'new physics' of music, the quantum universe of harmony. His far-reaching and insightful understanding of music was an inspiring influence on many in contemporary music, and I count myself one of the lucky people who had the opportunity to study with him.
James Tenney was the brilliant and influential theorist and composer who taught for many years at York University. He was one of the 'big' theorists of music in the sense of rethinking the very fundamentals of music, of understanding the 'new physics' of music, the quantum universe of harmony. His far-reaching and insightful understanding of music was an inspiring influence on many in contemporary music, and I count myself one of the lucky people who had the opportunity to study with him.
Comments
In order to understand the universe, we examine it as a series of processes, or a series of cross-sections in 'time' (or at various states) which then move into their future. This is how we consider music. It, too, is a dynamic system, I believe.