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Theme from Invisible Haircut

© 1990 by Joe Monzo

written February, 1990

Adapted and expanded for use as incidental music for the play Invisible Haircut, written, produced, and directed by Jeff Morris. Performed off-off Broadway (New York) December, 1993.

listen to MIDI sequence of it.

(This is the beginning of the piece. It's a 6-measure phrase, with the bass repeated in the manner of a passacaglia.)

There is a brief passing-tone chord near the end of measure 2, which I left in 12-Eq on this sequence. It lasts such a short time that the intonation isn't really noticeable.

JustMusic analysis (m = measure):


m 1m 2m 3m 4m 5m 6
C n0 ----- F 3-1 ------ [12-Eq E] ----------- Eb 33 5-1 71 --------------- F 33 5-1 ---------- 

  1
  5
  3
 15
  3
  9



  5
  3
  1
  5
 15
  9



 5
 3
 1
 5
15
 9



  5
  3
  1
  5
 15
  9



 11
 19
  7
  5
  3
  1



19
13
 5
 7
 1
 1



  3
  1
  5
 15
  9



  9     5
 13     1
  5     3
  7     5
  1     1
--------------------
F 32 5-1 71 19-1
 -----------
Bb 32 5-1 		-----------------
Ab 5-1


(The -1 at the end of each chord-root in m 4 are misaligned - bear with me until I can fix them.)

In Partch's terminology, the letters-with- numbers and exponents below or above the line give the 1-identity of the Otonality or Utonality, respectively. He would call these "roots" as follows: 



m 1  C    1/1  -Utonality
m 2  F    4/3  -Utonality
m 3  Eb 189/160-Utonality
m 4  F  126/95 -Otonality
     Bb   9/5  -Otonality
m 5  F   27/20 -Utonality
m 6  Ab   8/5  -Otonality

The stack of numbers alone, on the opposite side of the line, are the identities present in the chord. I find my notation much simpler than Partch's. If you understand what I wrote above, then you could easily reproduce the tune. It's also easy to visualize the pitches on a lattice with my notation.

I wrote it originally in 12-Eq, then figured out common-tones on paper, which is how I got those strange F and Bb chords in measure 4. I've tried this kind of thing for other people's (older) music and it didn't work, because the high-prime common-tones throw the chord-roots off into an odd-sounding high-prime key, but surprisingly here, it sounds great!

Part of the reason why I left that passing-chord in measure 2 in 12-Eq is because, by use of all the common-tone relationships in the following chords, I had to find a "break" in the tonal fabric somewhere, and I decided to do it with the parallel descending chords going from m 2 into m 3. So the chord in m 3 is the only significant chord in the 6-measure phrase that's not closely related to the preceding chord. Making the passing chord also unrelated (by leaving it in 12-Eq) helps to mask the "break".

There are some pretty "far out" chord changes in there, and with the employment of the 5-limit xenharmonic bridges ("unison vectors" as Fokker called them) they could be well represented in a simple 5-limit tuning!

Whether in 19- or in 5-limit, it sounds MUCH better in JI than in 12-Eq. The JI versions have a richness that is entirely lacking in the 12-Eq version. When you hear the JI first, the 12-Eq simply falls flat, so to speak.

graph of pitches

(Chords from Piano part only - no bass line)

ChartObject Joe Monzo - Theme from "Invisible Haircut"


Last Updated on 3/9/99
By Joe Monzo