Harmonic Dualism or Harmonic Polarity

Over the course of the summer I surrounded myself with books on music theory,much of it
"speculative." I was attempting, among other inquiries, to understand two seemingly simple
concepts: the subdominant chord and the minor triad. Why this should be a dilemma (I do, after
all, kind of already know what a minor triad is) relates to these questions:

1. If the harmonic series is THE central building block of tonal thought—as many profess—
how do we explain the importance of the subdominant chord and, in fact, the very
existence of the perfect fourth within the major scale? You can take the harmonic series
up to infinity and never find the perfect fourth above the fundamental. We find (after
octave reduction) the perfect fifth, the major third, the major second, the major sixth, the
minor seventh and even the major seventh, high up in the series, but not the perfect
fourth. How can our scales and harmony be based on the harmonic series when there is
no perfect fourth within the series?
2. Since the minor third above the fundamental is a very distant harmonic, compared with
the 5th harmonic of the major third, are we then to conclude that the minor third is
somehow a rare interval? If so, how are we then to understand much of the world's
musical cultures, where variants of the minor third are commonplace, and in fact often
more common than the "harmonically resonant" major third?
3. Additionally, how are we to understand the preponderance of minor triads in any given
classical composition, if our concept of harmony is to have its genesis in the harmonic
series? Some will point to a minor triad in the harmonic series, consisting of the 8th,10th
and 13th partials -- but even this is not the minor triad over the fundamental. In C, it
would be an A minor triad in first inversion.
4. Regarding this minor third, if the major third is the natural third, must we conclude then
that the minor third is somehow a modified, inferior, "turbid" version of the major third?
(To these "turbid" theorists, the minor triad takes on its quality by being a modification of
the pure chord of nature, the major triad. Schenker, the godfather of American music
theory, considered the minor scale to be "artificial")

In seeking the answers to these questions, I have come to discover a substratum of music theory
known as Harmonic Dualism. At the heart of harmonic dualism (for which we will use the more
modern term Harmonic Polarity) is an organizational principle that states that Western musical
harmony is based, not only on the physical overtone series that results from actual vibrating
bodies, but in addition to another series, mathematically and intuitively derived, which goes "in
the other direction." That is, in addition to dividing the string by the mathematical ratios
(producing the notes based on low prime integers as well as the full harmonic series), one also
lengthens the string by the same amount. Thus, we derive two series of tones, one using simple
division, and the other, simple multiplication. The result is a beautifully symmetrical series of
tones, one ascending and one descending.

Here is how this could be notated, based around C. The top is the familiar overtone series,
although in this context it is best to think of this purely in terms of the harmonic ratios, since this
is a conceptual system of imagined, internalized tone organization, rather than a specific
phenomenon of nature. The fact that the overtone series also "occurs in nature" is in a sense co-
incidental—a confirmation of the correctness of integer organization.

Harmonic Series:

Deret Resiprokal
Ini juga bisa ditulis, secara informatif, dengan dua rangkaian disisipkan

Some interested observations can be made regarding these two series:

 Accepting the 11th member of the series as harmonically (or at least melodically) useful
for the moment, we notice that in the overtone series, members 8—12 produce a strong
tonal motion toward the dominant (rather like a V of the dominant), while the reciprocal
series produces a strong motion toward the subdominant, with the Phrygian desending
scale (in F) suggesing a Neopolitan relationship.

 The overtone series contains the major triad constructed from below—members 4-5-6.

 The reciprocal series contains the minor triad, but constructed from above—members 4-
5-6.

 Members 4-5-6-7 in the overtone series suggest a dominant seventh chord, which turn
towards the subdominant.

 Members 4-5-6-7 in the reciprocal series suggest a half-diminshed seventh chord, which
in tonal muisc turns back towards the dominant.

 Building from below, the overtone series suggests a major triad with an (albiet "out of
tune") minor dominant.

 In perfect contrast, the reciprocal series suggest a minor triad, built from above, with a
subdominant major triad (in this case, F minor with Bb major).

The central point of this approach is that we can view any single tone as both the generator of the
harmonic series and the product of the reciprocal series. (You'll be given an exercise below to
grasp this at the experiential level). Combined as equal forces in tonal music, the two series seem
to create a looping pattern that is reflected in the way both traditional and much modern music
has been practiced:
  The overtone series contains a major chord of rest, but also contains a tone (#7) that
propels it towards the subdominant, reciprocal realm. This make sense if we consider the
center tone (#1) as both being and having a generating tone.

 The reciprocal series contains a minor chord of rest, but also a less stable "half-
diminished seventh chord" that propels it back towards the dominant of the central tone.

 The overtone series suggests the possibility of a dominant minor chord in a major key (G-
Bb-D).

 The reciprocal series suggests the possibility of a subdominant major chord in a minor
key (Bb-D-F).

It is important to stress that, while division of a string gives us precisely the same tones as those
of the physical harmonic or overtone series, this is both a coincidence and a logical outcome of
the mathematics. Since the harmonic series results from the physical fact that strings vibrate not
only at their fundamental length but also at integer divisions of the string (it's just what happens,
like an apple falling to earth and not floating up to the moon), it stands to reason that the same
tones would be derived from a natural process that can be analyzed using integers and division.
However, the series as derived from Pythagorean principles is rooted in philosophy and
metaphysics, rather than in physics. It is this metaphysical principle that concerns us here.

In some old textbooks, this second series was called the "undertone" series, but this led to an
unfotunate confusion, in that it suggested that the "undertone" series was a genuine physical
phenomenon, like the overtone series. This is not the case, despite the fact that Hugo Reimann,
one of the central proponents of this viewpoint in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, believed he
could hear the undertone series when playing a tone on a very resonant piano. (Late in life, he
corrected this view). The undertone series does not "exist" in the way that the overtone series can
be heard in a low vibrating piano string or enduced on a trumpet. The series is a based on a
mathematical and metaphysical principles, just as, in fact, the first 6 notes of the overtone series
were a mathematical and metaphysical principle, from which scales nd harmonies were derived
(as we saw in the previous page), centuries before the scientific "discovery" or confirmation of
overtone harmonics.

Rather than "undertone series" then, we shall use the term "reciprocal series," as this series is
dervied from taking the reciprocal of the ratio that creates the overtone series. (That is, if the
higher octave is found by division, 1/2, and the next fifth is found by further division, 2/3, the
next octave at 2/4 and so on, then the recipocal notes are found by multiplication. The lower
octave is 2/1, the next lowest fifth is 3/2 and so on. Imagine that, instead of dividing a string, we
make the string longer in length.

That said, it's important to stress that I am explaining this in terms of physical strings only by
way of analogy. In fact, we are really dealing with a principle. This principle was best stated by
Goethe, the great German writer and philosopher who also had a keen interest in music, and
especially musical theories. Being an intuitive appreciator of music and a person for whom
spirituality was a genuine personal concern (Goethe was "spiritual" without being particularly
"religious"), Goethe put the concept of Harmonic Dualism in poetic terms, and in many ways
explained the concept more clearly than those professional music theorists who followed him.
Let's look at his language for a moment.

He made it clear that this principle, while perhaps being reflected in natural processes, is a
principle that is psychological, spiritual and metaphysical in nature. "What is a string and its
mechanical divisions, compared with the musician's ear?" said Goethe. In the words of two of his
20th Century followers, Levy and Levarie, the polarity of Harmonic Dualism is "one of the great
princples fashioning not only the outer world of nature but also the inner world of thought and
imagination." (Tone: a Study in Musical Acoustics, p. 189).

Goethe introduces a useful term, the tone-monad, meaning a central pitch around which all other
tones are centered. Goethe called it a "living unit of sound." (Perhaps this concept resonates so
much with me because my thinking has been deeply influenced by the philosophy behind Indian
Classical music, with its similar concept of a tone-monad). "If the tone-monad expands, the
result is the major mode, if it contracts, the minor mode is produced," Goethe wrote.

This then becomes a deeply perceptive and introspective approach to music, based on our own
human polarity - we are drawn to both external reality (the physical, scientifically verifiable
world) and also to internal experience (the world of the imagination and, if you will, the "soul.").
Goethe calls it the world of concentration (also an Indian concept, since in India the subjective
world of the imagination is accessed through meditative concentration). Goethe goes on, in a
letter to a colleague from which I have been quoting: "The major mode is the expression of all
that excites, exalts, and propels the soul toward the outer world. And, if you will, the minor is the
mode of inward concentration. But concentration is in no sense synonymous with sadness. No, a
thousand times, no! What is there sad about the polonaises, for example, that are in a minor key?
The polonaise is a social dance and the society is drawn together into closest contact. How could
this be sadness, when it is in fact the height of voluptuousness.?"

Thus, we are looking at a principle which will inform all of our work in music, reflecting a
symmetrical polarity that resembles our own human experience of the inner and outer world.

Experience Polarity at the Keyboard

Now that we've looked at the full series, let's be clear about the fundamental concept, which is
the discovery of the fifth above and below the tonic, based on the ratios of 3:2 and 2:3. The
notated results of course are:
It is important that you have an experience with this concept. Thus, I need you to go to a
keyboard and do the following:

1. Sit down a relax.

2. Find a note near middle C that is comfortable in your singing range. For me it's the Bb
below. It could be as low as A or Ab. Use a note that you can sustain for a good long time
without strain.

3. While singing this note (without sounding it simulataneously on the piano) , play on the
piano the note an octave a fifth higher. If you're singing middle C, you'd play the G on
top of the staff. In my case, I play the F.

4. Keep pounding the high fifth until your singing voice is perfectly in tune.

5. Now, while still singing the note, play the reciprocal tone, an octave and a fifth below. If
you're singing middle C, you'd play the F at the bottom of the staff, as in the diagram
above. In my case, I play the Eb.

6. Again, keep playing this note until you here the pure perfect fifth resonance betwen your
voice and the piano.

7. Repeat this process a number of times until you hear the polar relationship.

What you are discovering here is the fundamental concept of "fifth above, fifth below," in
beautiful symmetry. When you play or sing the high fifth, you are tuning to the upper partial of
the tone. When you play or sing the low fifth, you are tuning to the note which is the generating
tone of the note you are singing. This is the intuitive, metaphysical experience. A note both
generates a fifth and is itself the product of a tone that is silent, but present within the silence.
The central tone is the creator of the higher fifth, but the central tone itself is the product of
another creative principle, which we can find reciprocally an octave and a fifth below. (I am
speaking poetically, of course, but it is a poetry rooted in an ancient tradition).

What you might notice in this exercise, if you really hold to your sung note, is the very subtle
shift you have to make as you play the higher fifth and then the lower fifth, back and forth. This
is of course due to the fact that the piano is not tuned to perfect fifths, so you're having to make
that little adjustment in your voice to retune to the genearating tone.

Now, you can add the final steps, which are to sing the low tone that is the generating tone of a
central pitch, and then to sing the upper partial of the central tone.

First, you are going to sing the high fifth, which is already a common experience for you if
you've sung at all in a capella groups. Play the low tone that you sounded before, your F or Eb or
whater, and then sing the 3/2 interval an octave and a fith above. Tune it.

Finally, sing the reciprocal tone. For this, you'll probably need to change key a little. Consider
what your lowest comfortable note may be. For men, it's usually F or G. Once you're clear on
this note, first sit at the piano and play what will be the note an octave and a fifth above. It will
probably be middle C or D. Then sing the low tone, tuning your voice to create a perfect fifth,
2/3, below the central tone. Tune it

Alaudin Mathieu, in his book Harmonic Experience (the work that began my explorations along
these lines), calls this the mother-father principle. Here is how he puts it, referring to how the F
below seems to "create" the C above:

Of all the mysterious events in music, we have come to perhaps the most myserious of all—
mysterious because of how the tables have turned: instead of resonating with a note that has
already been placed into the musical space by a generating tone, we have invented—created—a
note that contains the generating tone in its harmony. It is one thing to produce a vibration that is
already given, that is "already there." It is quite another to become that vibration which produces,
as one of its children, the very tone you started with.

Within the boundaries of music, the generating tone does behave somewhat like a creation
principle. It is the god of its tonal world. C is the god of the realm of all C modes, of all the
music "in C." But when you sing F, you create C. How can you create the creative principle?
How does one go about giving birth to a musical god? That is the work of the Musical Mother.
Hello, Mother. You who dare to sing F in the C world beome the embodiment of the creative and
the sacred.

This is only a way of talking, of course, but it is an old and useful way...

Having established the basical principle of dualism, let's make some further observations on the
two series and explore a fundamental dichotomy.

The Harmonic Series

The Harmonic Series should be known by every musician. It is closely related to the Pythagorean
principle, since it is based on simple integer divisions, although of course the integers involved
are greater than those of the 3-limit system. In this case, the intervals are not derived from the
monochord but from the actual, physical attributes of a vibrating body, such as a string or tube of
air.
The existence of the harmonic series has both a practical and a theoretical aspect. From a
practical aspect, it informs how instruments are invented and created, such as the valved brass
instruments and chromatic woodwinds. But from a theoretical, compositional point of view, it
brings up many reactions. Theorists in historical times, such as the godfather of modern theory
Rameau, who were excited about the confirmation and codification of the harmonic series drew
some conclusions:

1. Beginning with Rameau, who was writing his Treatise on Harmony at the same time that
scientific experiments were being conducted on vibrating bodies, the discovery that the
4th, 5th and 6th degrees of the harmonic series form a perfectly tuned (in pure 5-limit just
intonation) major triad created a tremendous amount of practical and philosophical
speculation regarding this "chord of nature." It no doubt fueled the developing centrality
of the major triad during the common practice period.

2. Important theorists such as Hemholtz in the 19th Century (in his On the Sensation of
Tone) and Hindemith in the 20th (The Craft of Musical Composition) have concluded that
the major triad is the fundamental structure of harmonic thought, invoilable due to its
existence within the naturally vibrating system.

3. From this, it seems clear, as it was to Schenker, that the major mode is the natural mode,
and all others are in some ways inferior or "unnatural."

Other theorists, however, have been less sanguine about the musical importance of the harmonic
series from a theoretical or compositional point of view. They (Levy and Levarie among them)
note that:

1. The "chord of nature" concept is over-rated, since in fact most musical cultures, while
having full access to hearing this chord within any naturally vibrating system, do not
immediately gravitate towards the major third or the major triad (to the extent that they
have any triadic thinking at all). Indeed, the less "outwardly directed" the culture, the
more is there a preponderance of non-major thirds (variants on the minor third).

2. Even within western music, the minor triad remains a consonance, not a dissonance. The
concept, to the critics, that the minor third is somehow a "turbid" or altered major third
led Goethe to offer this perceptive comment: "If the third is an interval provided by
nature, how can it be flatted without being destroyed? How much or how little may one
flat or sharp it in order that it may no more by a major third, and yet still be a third? And
when does it cease being a third altogether?

3. Among believers in the use of the harmonic series as a basis for music theory, there is a
curious lack of attention paid to the seventh harmonic. The decision to "stop at the sixth
harmonic", since the seventh is out of tune and "not part of our system" seems arbitrary.
If the centrality of the major triad is based on our "listening in" to the harmonic series,
why is the "out of tune" seventh harmonic not brought into the system? It's energy
(loudness) is not so far from the energy of the 7th harmonic (the second fifth in the
series). This fact suggests that our harmonic system does not derive from the "natural"
 harmonic series, but from a philosophical approach that is, ultimately, a choice made
within a myriad of harmonic possibilities that give order to the chaos of sound. Nature
reflects this order, but does not create it.

The Reciprocal Series

The Reciprocal Series is derived from continuing the process that you experienced in finding the
2/3 fifth below your tone-monad. When the multiplications (which, parodoxically, correspond
with the inward direction of the tone-mandala) continue, a beautiful minor triad below the
reciprocal fifth is formed, as we saw above.

I don't about you, but I find this both logical and liberating. The polarity of major-minor, which
after all is central to our experience as musicians, is accurately reflected in this system. When I
sit at the piano and play , especially when I improvise, the minor triad and minor tonality takes
on a great depth of meaning and connection, due to this new awareness of it being derived from
the polarity of major (outward) with minor (inward). It speaks to me musically, logically,
spirtually and creatively.