Welcome to X. J. Scott’s Microtonal Music Examples!

Infrequently Asked Questions So you think nonoctave tunings are da bomb? How do you bake those delicious scales? Don’t tell me you use Li’l Miss’ Scale Oven? Goodness! Is Li’l Miss’ Scale Oven merely part of a well-stocked tuning kitchen for the Macintosh? What’s all this about a goat farm? You think you’re a real funny man? All this talk about nonoctave tunings, goats and pirates isn’t normal. Don’t you think you should seek professional help?

Summoning

Summoning.mp3 (1′36.0″, 1,537,423 bytes)
© 21 January 2002 by X. J. Scott
Neutral 3rd MOS tuning on bamboo xylophone.
The primitive instrument breathes in and out violently; it falls back and forth, precipitously. Rumbling, it tears through the thin, cold evening air. Plucked, it resonates, calling forth the yellow-orange presence unseen, yet felt, heard and tasted.

The Caves

TheCaves.mp3 (1′12.2″, 1,157,056 bytes)
© 8 November 2001 by X. J. Scott
Strings & struck instrument.

Relaxing Reperio (Revision 2)

frr2.mp3(removed to make space for new pieces)
© 24-28 July 2001 by X. J. Scott
Brassy polyphonic flute, other instruments and choir tuned according to method of Reperio.
New Version!

Reperio of Stampy Lubriciousness

Reperio.mp3 (removed to make space for new pieces)
© 18 July 2001 by X. J. Scott
Piano tuned according to method of Reperio. Strings tuned to 84cET.

Storm

Storm.mp3 (4′05.0″, 2,937,799 bytes)
© 19 July 2001 by X. J. Scott
Imagine sitting atop a sand dune on a beach in North Carolina. You can see a lighthouse to the north painted in an exotic pattern. It is overcast and a bit chilly as a storm gathers at sea. It progresses and you watch it, entranced. Lightning scampers across the horizon. The air ionizes and smells sweet. From time to time you wonder about getting back but you know you belong here at this moment. Puffs of wind tease you as rain flirts down occasionally, withdrawing whenever you start to retreat.
Piano tuned according to method of Reperio.
Apologies for the low fidelity 96kbps mp3 encoding; this web account has file size limitations.

A Breeze Stirs the Shade

ABreezeStirsTheShade.mp3 (1′46.8″, 1,737,344 bytes)
© 18 July 2001 by X. J. Scott
Evocative of an ancient middle-eastern harp, using a heptatonic stretched JI scale. Imagine sitting in the shade in the desert during the heat of the day and a breeze brushes past.

Fireflies at Night in the Court of King Nebuchadnezzer

FirefliesAtNightInTheCourtOfKingNebuchadnezzer.mp3 (4′04″, 4,016,282 bytes)
© 29 May 2001 by X. J. Scott
13 tone equal temperament tuning

Ziggaurauts. Hanging Gardens. 600BC. That’s right, we’re talking about King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon.   More...

Sweet Kuvasz - a Hungarian Minuet for piano and fiddle

SweetKuvasz.mp3 (1′41″, 1,633,127 bytes)
© 15 Feb 2001 by X. J. Scott
13 tone equal temperament tuning

I wrote this piece when I was looking into getting a dog for the farm. I figured that for every person there is one perfect type of dog. What I wanted was a dog that would protect my dairy goats and keep other dogs and such away and also keep the goats on the property.   More...

Quiet Moonlight

QuietMoonlight.mp3 (1′36″, 1,567,872 bytes)
© 15 May 2001 by X. J. Scott
Combines 9th root of 7:3 (on struck instrument) & TwoToneCadillac (on wind instrument) Tunings

This is a short 1.5 minute piece that uses the 9th root of Subminor 10th tuning on a harp/xylophone sound  More...

Hope you enjoy it all. Let me know what you think,
 

X. J. Scott