The Fine Art of Combining Harmonics

There is no harmonic or melodic combination

that is not implied in the very structure
of a single sound.

Alain Daniélou

The Math Behind Music

In order to accurately represent the differences in pitch between sounds, a graphic system must be used that takes into account the way the human ear perceives
these differences. The image below is a musical number line. It is an accurate graphical representation of the harmonic series, both ascending and descending.
Every mark on the line represents a sound; the distance between sounds reflects the way we hear them.
The number line used to represent sounds has no direct connection with the divisions on the fretboard of stringed instruments.

This linear graph is just a simplified chart, a mathematical representation of the way we perceive differences in pitch,
and does not represent the lengths of strings or pipes used to generate those pitches.

The fundamental or first harmonic and its oscillating frequency is the "1" in the middle. All other harmonics are multiples or submultiples of it.

For example, harmonic 2 of the ascending series has a multiplication sign before it "×2", because it oscillates two times faster than the fundamental.
Undertone 2, being a harmonic of the descending series, has a division sign in front of it "÷2", because it oscillates two times slower than the fundamental.

Under the number line, the same values are given using the mathematical concept of raising a number to a power, called exponentiation.1

The undertone series features negative exponents; the overtone positive.

Normally, positive exponents do not have a "+" sign before them, but I'm writing it anyway, just to defy "normality".
Notice how the distance between 1 and 2 (in both directions) is the same as the distance between 2 and 4, the same as between 4 and 8, and so on.

The distance between 1 and 3 is the same as the distance between 3 and 9, the same as between 9 and 27.
This is also true for multiples of 5: the distances between 1 and 5, 5 and 125 and so on, and also for all other numbers - both under and overtones.

The pitches were represented on three different levels to avoid confusion.

They are part of the same group, although harmonics of such big numbers are unlikely to be observed naturally.
No matter how far they progress, harmonics of 2 will never add up to other harmonics -
in fact, no series of a single pure harmonic interval will precisely match up at any point with another series of a single pure harmonic interval. 15
The numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, ... form a series of doubles/halves of the same tone, while 3, 6, 9, 27, 81, 243, ... form successive triples/trisections.
The figures grow at an increasing rate, [soon becoming enormous,] yet musically we feel each interval to be the same. The rate of increase however is the same. 13

With other words, successive increments of pitch by the same interval result in an exponential increase of frequency,
even though the human ear perceives this as a linear increase in pitch. 16
The exponential increase in frequency is evident when writing the numbers using successively higher powers.
The linear increase in pitch is shown by the equal spaced marks on the number line.

This musical number line is called "logarithmic". The difference between a standard number line and a logarithmic one is this:
On a standard number line, the distance between each successive value is the same.
On a logarithmic number line, the distance between each successive exponentially increased value is the same.
The logarithm, invented by John Napier in 1614, is a mathematical operation that turns a multiplication into an addition,
and by the same definition, raising to a higher power into multiplication. 17
A logarithm is simply an exponent that is written in a special way. We'll take a look at the formula in a moment.
According to Dr. Albert A. Bartlett, The Greatest Shortcoming of the Human Race is Our Inability to Understand The Exponential Function.
The Exponential Function is used to describe the size of anything that is growing steadily.
The natural logarithm of 2 is used to calculate the doubling time of any growth. If you wanted to calculate tripling, you would use the natural logarithm of 3. 18
The natural process of doubling describes the genesis of life itself. Think of it: At the very beginning of our lives, we were only one cell.
The first thing that cell did was to doubled itself. One became two, then two became four, then four became eight, and the doubling continued until the numbers
became enormous. We came into this world by doubling.

Notice that even if the logarithmic number line has as base the number 2
(meaning it progresses in successive doublings and every interval based on the powers of 2 is equal), every interval based on the powers of 3 is again equal.
Same is true for all numbers. The only difference between different bases is when we compare them with a standard number line.
A tone of any frequency will have all intervals of 2 equal, just as it will have all intervals of 3 equal, no matter in which base the number line is drawn.
Watch the progression of exponents from the picture above. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are constant: the base 2 and 3 logarithmic number lines have these
numbers in the same place as the standard number line, but they are up as exponents (or powers) of their respective base.

Thus the following formulas are the same thing, written in two different ways.

The formula containing the term "log" returns the value for the standard number line. It basically takes the exponent down, to the other side of the equation.
This is useful when you want to draw the musical number line yourself, using standard units of measurement.
The doubling distances are all the same, but to figure out where overtone 3 fits in for example, you'll have to calculate log23.
The formulas and their meaning remain the same when numbers are written as fractions.

The same is true for negative exponents. These mathematic concepts applied to music are all you need in order to understand what music really is.

Logarithmic measurements reflect the way we hear pitches relative to one another. This is also true for the way we hear volume changes in sound.
I realized this while fading out songs. When using a linear fade, the sound seemed like suddenly coming to a halt.
With a logarithmic fade, the song felt like smoothly going away into silence...

What The Harmonic Series Really Is

The Harmonic Series Is Nature's Tuning System.

The songs of birds and whales and the lullaby a mother sings to her baby are made of intervals derived from the harmonic series.
The great living orchestra of Mother Nature is tuned according to the harmonic series and that's why the harmonic series is the basis for every single note,
on any musical instrument.
But is it really impossible to have an instrument tuned precisely according to the harmonic series? Not for me.

This family of musical notes is being used by every sound making life form on earth.
The fact that such a system can be considered impracticable has nothing to do with its nature.
This is how it looks and sounds like:

The Undertone Series: starting from 1/1, the fundamental, and going down to the left.
The Overtone Series: starting from 1/1, the fundamental, and going up to the right.
The first note, the one, among the ancients is not yet even considered a number but rather a principle.
The two, also not yet a number, is another mystery – one of the mysteries which make music possible. In one sense, it only duplicates itself and brings nothing new.
Thereby however it can always provide another double to bring more tones to birth.13

I first heard about tuning to the overtone series from Sergio Aschero, doctor in musicology. Dr. Aschero calls this "Afinación Armónica" - spanish for Harmonic
Tuning and his theory and the harmonic (overtone) model are presented in detail in his work "Opus ad Libitum".

The process of expressing these ratios in number of oscillations per second called Hertz is a very simple math multiplication.

Choose your fundamental frequency (in my audio examples 1/1 is 256 Hz) and multiply that with all the ratios to get the complete system.

How Tuning Really Works and How To Interpret Ratios

One, the fundamental tone, contains within it the possibility for every other tone.

The process through which one becomes many starts by doubling. Every further successive double creates more tones - actually, two times more every time.
This can be seen on the number line, by counting every colored number between the green ones - including only the first green.
(Between 1 and 2 there is 1 - total 1; between 2 and 4 there is 2 and 3 - total 2; between 4 and 8 there is 4, 5, 6, and 7 - total 4; and so on.)

While every harmonic from the harmonic series is related to the Fundamental, they are also related to each other.
Each of them can be, at the same time, a harmonic of the ascending series, a harmonic of the descending series (having their own fundamental),
and a fundamental having its own harmonic series.
Still, inside the first double/half - which is a rather large interval - there are no in-between tones.
The main question being answered here is how are created the tones inside the interval between the fundamental and the second harmonic.
Together, they will form different "tuning systems" - different ways of arranging intervals in a kind of abstract ladder of sounds called a scale.19

There are many ways of creating these systems; parallel paths of arriving at the same result.
I'm going to present all of them - basically, saying the same thing with different words, or looking at the same process from different perspectives.
So far there is the harmonic series, both ascending and descending. It could be considered a linear system.

The two series can interact if the angle between them is changed.

We don't have to know about ninety-degree angles to see that a building is leaning, or to balance our way across a log bridge. We can know and respond to
straight-up-and-down without knowing what we know, or that we know. Even if we have never actually seen a perfect ninety-degree angle (who has?),
our balance proceeds from the perfect sense of the ninety-degree angle our body makes between the center of the earth and the horizon – a built-in norm.20
Now, all we need to do is draw lines from one point to another.

For example, Overtone 3 and Undertone 2 combine to make the ratio 3/2.

The fraction 3/2 means "Overtone 3 of Undertone 2 (of Fundamental)", and the other way around:

3/2 means "Undertone 2 of Overtone 3 (of Fundamental)".

No matter how the fraction is interpreted, the tone's implied harmonic genesis means that Overtones will always be over and Undertones under the fraction bar.

This is easily visualized by counting segments on the actual strings (or pipes) used to produce the tone.

Following the same thought, lines are drawn from Undertone 3 to Overtone 2, who combine to make the ratio 2/3.
The fraction 2/3 means "Overtone 2 of Undertone 3 (of Fundamental)", and of course the other way around:

2/3 means "Undertone 3 of Overtone 2 (of Fundamental)".

Overtones are still over and Undertones under the fraction bar.

Let's see this interaction by counting segments on the actual strings (or pipes) used to produce the tone.

No matter how you might interpret a fraction used in music to describe, among others,
the pitch of a tone, its implied harmonic genesis will always be a ratio between an Overtone - above - and an Undertone - below the fraction bar.

DO IT YOURSELF WITH THE MONOCHORD, JUST LIKE PYTHAGORAS!

Can you figure out how to arrive at the ratio 4/3? How about 3/4?
Could you show the interaction between the Ascending and Descending Harmonics 3 an 4 using string lengths? .
Let's see how the newly created intervals integrate between the intervals of the original harmonic series.
This is done by tracing projections from the intersection points down to the original number line.
The purpose of this is to show visually where the new tones are situated, in the acoustic context defined by the original harmonic series.
The number line bent at a right angle depicts the interaction between the ascending and descending harmonic series.
If a line is drawn from every harmonic, every undertone will meet every overtone in a harmonic matrix.
Because it is also an accurate visual representation of the way we perceive differences in pitch,
I call this interlocking field of harmonics "The Logarithmic Pythagorean Lambdoma".

By changing the angle of the number to its initial position, the tuning derived so far appears on the horizontal number line.

The interaction between the harmonic series can also be described linearly, although this process is a bit more complicated.

The idea is to brake again the line at its midpoint, and slide it sideways in both directions for a distance equal to the interval between the first and second harmonics.

Consider the undertone series depicted on the number line above sliding to the right. The Fundamental is now the second overtone.

Because the whole undertone series relates to the Fundamental, and the Fundamental is now the second overtone.
Every element of the descending series will now relate to the second overtone.
Same is true for the overtone series that slides to the left, until the Fundamental becomes the second undertone.
Every element of the ascending series will now relate to the second undertone.
On the Logarithmic Pythagorean Lambdoma this process looks like this:

There are now two ascending harmonic series: the "original" starting from the fundamental 1, and the "derivate" starting from the second undertone.

There are now two descending harmonic series: the "original" starting from the fundamental 1, and the "derivate" starting from the second overtone.

Many ratios from the "derivate" series will simplify. They get reduced by the biggest number that can divide both terms.
For example, 2/2 will be reduced to 1/1, 2/4 to 1/2, 6/2 to 3/1 and so on; all numbers have as common divisor the number 2.
By tracing projections from all intersection points down to the original number line, all the simplified fractions will meet their "original" counterparts,
proving that any vertical projection on the Logarithmic Pythagorean Lambdoma contains the same ratio.

Let's see how the tuning derived so far would look on the strings of an incomplete imaginary piano. It is imaginary because it has never been built, although the
possibility of building it is absolutely real, and incomplete because only some of the keys have tuned strings.

Standard pianos are different, in that they are tuned in a highly practical but slightly out-of-tune system. 20
All Tones Are Really Undertones and Overtones and all ratios express that. Yet another way of interpreting ratios becomes evident from the above image.

A fraction used in music to describe among others the pitch of a tone, also describes, in its inverted form (or if read from the bottom up),
the length of string or pipe used to produce that tone. This length has meaning only when related to the length of the fundamental.

For example, the fraction 3/2 read from the bottom up is 2/3, meaning that the string used to generate this tone will be 2/3 meters long (=0,666...)
- if the fundamental string has 1 meter. String lengths / intervals and oscillating frequencies / harmonic genesis exhibit a reciprocal relationship,
that is, the top and bottom numbers involved in the fractions switch places.

This can be confusing. In order to keep things clear, I leave the fractions unchanged and interpret them like this:
whenever I think of harmonic genesis and oscillating frequency I read the fractions just as they are.
When I think of string or pipe lengths and intervals, I read them from the bottom up.

For example, 2/3 - two thirds - read the other way around, from the bottom up (or right to left), is three halves (using the customary english fraction pronunciation).
If the fundamental string has 1 meter, then the string used to generate the 2/3 tone will be three halves, or one and a half bigger: 1,5 meters.

Another way of looking at the tuning process is by interpreting every fraction as an interval. A musical interval is the sonic distance between any two harmonics -
either of the ascending or the descending harmonic series.
If starting from the fundamental, harmonics were added one at a time, once the third harmonic is introduced,
the system expands with one extra interval: the one between the second and the third harmonics.

The distances between sounds are now as follows:

• The interval between the first and second harmonics (1/2, respectively 2/1)
• The interval between the first and third harmonics (1/3, respectively 3/1), and
• The new created interval between the second and third harmonics (2/3, respectively 3/2)

The fractions tell how the harmonics of either the ascending or the descending series relate to each other.
The fraction 3/2 means "the interval between the second and third overtones".
The fraction 2/3 means "the interval between the third and second undertones".
Intervals from both series are expressed as a distance from left to right. The inverted form of the fractions is used again.
This is due to the fact that all sounds on the right are harmonics of 1, while 1 is, by turn, harmonic of all sounds on the left.
The intervals thus derived are really the already existent intervals between the second and third harmonics, having as starting point the fundamental.

Different ways of representing the intervals between harmonics 2 and 3:

Historically, the interaction between the ascending and descending harmonic series has been explained through the process of "justification" - a process through
which a tone is divided or multiplied by 2, in order to be brought inside the limits. The logic behind this is that any doubling or halving of a tone's frequency
represents maximum consonance and the resulting new tone is considered to be the same with the fundamental.

This of course limits the interaction to multiples of the second harmonic.

That is, the ascending harmonic series will interact just with subharmonics 2, 4, 8, 16 and so on,
while the descending harmonic series will interact just with overtones 2, 4, 8, 16 and so on,
creating the limited version of the Logarithmic Pythagorean Lambdoma presented above.
More than that, because for a large period in history only the existence harmonic 3 was recognized, the sonic interactions became even more depleted. All these
aspects will be covered as this study continues.

The problem I have when presenting such theories, is that I cannot accept something to be different, and at the same time the same.
Still, for "backwards compatibility", that is, for the sake of understanding all previous studies of music, which use the same obsolete concepts, here it is:

For filling the gap between 1 and 2, there will be no interval larger than 2 taken into consideration. Intervals in the image above are possible candidates. They are
by no means the only available options.
If we consider the fundamental sound - 1/1, and then look for further intervals, the first we come across will be that of the second harmonic.
As strange as might sound, we'll have to advance in order to find more intervals, and the next step takes us to the third harmonic.
Although the limit imposed by the second harmonic is exceeded, there is a way to bring that third harmonic inside the main interval.
The same primary cause that made possible the existence of the second harmonic can be used to halve/double the third,
making it fit in the interval between first and second harmonics .

With other words, if we look at 1/1 and consider it the result of 2/1 divided by 2 (or 1/2 multiplied by 2),
while considering it the same note as 2/1 (and 1/2),
then 3/1 also could be divided by 2,
the result 3/2 being the same note .
(1/3 also could be multiplied by 2, the result 2/3 being the same note).

This of course is based on the acoustic sensation of maximal similarity between any two tones having a doubled/halved frequency.
Even though they are different, they sound like the same tone, and thus are considered being the same note.
Dividing and multiplying by 2 - justification - is actually the process of taking as fundamental the second harmonic from above/below.
These new notes represent the interval between the second and third harmonics, having as starting point the fundamental.
The process described so far applies to other intervals as well. In order to create a scale - any scale, even the 12-note standard scale
(or at least a harmonic, untempered version of it) - different intervals are brought together inside the interval created by the first and second harmonics.
Depending on the sonic flavour desired, the intervals can come either from the ascending or descending harmonic series, or from both.

Some Calculations Needed for the Building of Acoustic Instruments

Tuning an instrument symmetrically according to both descending and ascending harmonic series works best for keyboard-type instruments (like the piano or reed
organ) which have a distinct sound producing body (string or reed pipe) for every tone. Instruments such as the flute or monochord use only one sound producing
body (flue pipe or string), whose length can be modified with the fingers in order to create different tones. Because of their construction, these instruments cannot
play more than one note at a time, as opposed to keyboards.

The guitar, together with many similar stringed instruments, integrate both concepts: it can play many tones simultaneously, each changing pitch according with the
fingerings on the fretboard. The image above is an idealized concept, that has no practical application. Its purpose is to show that when tuning an instrument to the
descending harmonic series, holes and frets are equally spaced, and when tuning to ascending harmonics holes and frets get closer and closer.

Regular pianos encompass a wider sonic range, and their tuning is but an approximation of the harmonic series. Regular guitars have all strings tuned to an
approximation of a mixed tonality of the combined descending and ascending harmonic series. Contemporary flutes follow the same abstractions.
 The Harmonic Series as a Logarithmic Spiral
© Erv Wilson / The Wilson Archives / Anaphoria

01.
Shmoop Editorial Team, "Exponents and Powers - Whole Numbers," Shmoop University, Inc.,11 November 2008,
http://www.shmoop.com/number-types/exponents-powers-whole-numbers.html (accessed August 27, 2013).
02. Dale Pond - "Atlin - Knowing I AM"
03. Alain Daniélou - "Music and the Power of Sound ..."
04. Dale Pond & others - "Universal Laws Never Before Revealed - Keelys Secrets to Understanding the Science of Sympathetic Vibration"
05. John Stuart Reid - "Sound Gives Birth to Light"
06. John Stuart Reid - cymascope.com
07. Thomas Frederick Harris - Handbook of Acoustics for the Use of Musical Students (8th ed) [1910]
08. Dale Pond or others - wave's 4 phases
09. John Stuart Reid - Harmonic Voice Mandala
10. Hermann L. F. Helmholtz - "On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music"
11. Leonard Bernstein - What is harmony YouTube
12. Skye Løfvander - overtones.cc
13. The Spiritual Basis of Musical Harmony - Graham H. Jackson [2006]
14. Harry Partch - Genesis of a Music
15. Rex Weyler and Bill Gannon - The Story of Harmony
16. Interval (music) on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_%28music%29)
17. Manuel Op de Coul - Logarithmic Interval Measures (http://www.huygens-fokker.org/docs/measures.html)
18. Dr. Albert A. Bartlett - "Arithmetic, Population and Energy" (lecture - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6A1FD147A45EF50D);
"The Essential Exponential! For the Future of Our Planet"
19. Dane Rudhyar - Magic of Tone and the Art of Music
20. W. A. Mathieu - The Musical Life

What Sacred Geometry Really Is

In a world where individual achievements are ignored, one man who explored on his own changed physics forever. Jon DePew's original discovery challenges and
brings the world of science to a whole new level of understanding nature's energy. The original research of Jon DePew solves mankind's greatest mystery: The True
Meaning of All Sacred Geometry. There are a Ton of esoteric teachings with Sacred Geometry all through them. Yet no one really knew what Sacred Geometry
REALLY represented: The segmented BLUEPRINTS to ENERGY; The Mathematical Formula of CREATION.

Sacred Geometry represents the Segmented Blueprints of Magnetic Currents & Neutral Particles of Matter. 1
The Harmonic Series Creates the Basic Geometric Pattern of Existence
It should be stated from the start, so as to not disappoint anyone: First of all, I'm not trying to please anyone at all.
Most important, the information you're looking for cannot be shared at the moment, and will not be made available - at least not before I publish an article about it.
Sorry if you came here having expectations.

After two months of eating only raw food, years of exercising regularly and doing perfect pitch ear training / tone meditation with harmonically tuned intervals for
nine months, I finally was ready to be the carrier for the answer to one of my deepest questions.

Basically, I discovered the connection between Music and Sacred Geometry, between The Harmonic Series, Pi and Phi.

To my knowledge, there is no REAL, TRUE model of this connection. If you happen to know otherwise, please share that with me.
The Harmonic Series is the hidden code, the starting point in creating the basic patterns of sacred geometry.
The Seed, Flower, Fruit and Tree of Life, Vesica Piscis and the Borromean Rings, Metatron's Cube and The Platonic Solids (Tetrahedron, Hexahedron, Octahedron,
Dodecahedron, and Icosahedron), Golden Mean Spirals and The Torus, The 64 Strands of DNA, The Sri Yantra, The Endless Knot, Ankhs and The Human
Merkaba - THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME THING, AND THEY ALL COME FROM THE HARMONIC SERIES.

This is the mechanism through which nature transforms the linear or hertzian Harmonic Series into non-linear, non-hertzian, scalar waves.
(A rough definiton of Scalar Waves would be a multi-dimensional standing wave pattern.)
This discovery makes possible understanding what the MUSIC OF THE SPHERES really is.
Einstein's belief was that geometry holds the key to creating a unified equation of the universe.
The understanding of the holographic and fractal nature of the Universe, and the relationships that exist between all things led Nassim Haramein to conclude that
Nature builds Life by a Perfect Blueprint.2 It is the (unified) equation of this blueprint that Nassim may have discovered
Sacred Geometry is just that: the blueprint of Creation and the genesis of all form.3 Out of this, an equation can be derived at any level of manifestation.

But what is the blueprint of Sacred Geometry? How are the patterns of Sacred Geometry generated, how does Mind (Energy) turns itself into mass?
The answer is Music. The Harmonic Series is the perfect blueprint of the perfect blueprint - the creative force behind the creative force (of Sacred Geometry).
In the Vedas of the Hindus we read: Nada Brahma - sound, being the Creator. In the works of the wise of ancient India we read: 'First song, then Vedas or wisdom'.
When we come to the Bible, we find: 'First was the word, and the word was God', and when we come to the Qur'an we read that the word was pronounced, and all
creation was manifest. This shows that the origin of the whole creation is sound.
In the very depth of man's being the harmony of the working of the whole universe sums up in a perfect music.
 Therefore:
THE MUSIC WHICH IS THE SOURCE OF CREATION, THE MUSIC WHICH IS FOUND NEAR THE GOAL OF CREATION,

IS THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES.

Every thought, every word has its form. Sound alone is free from form.

When one looks into the past, the present and the future one sees that life is eternal, and what one can discover is that which has always been discovered by those
who seek. Philosophy or science, mysticism or esotericism will all agree on one point if they touch the summit of their knowledge, and that point is that behind the
whole of creation, behind the whole of manifestation - if there is any subtle trace of life that can be found, it is motion, it is movement, it is vibration.

Music is behind the working of the whole universe. Music is not only life's greatest object, but music is life itself.
The religions of the world, the prophets and mystics who existed ages ago knew these things, [knew] that this is something which has always been known,
and has been spoken of by those who knew it - but in spiritual terms.
The Vedanta speaks of Nada Brahma, the Sound-God, the sound that is God, of which all things are made.
Sufis call it sawt-e-sarmad, the sound that intoxicates man. The Qur'an says: 'Kunfa-yakun - when God said "Be", it became'.
Before this world was, all was in sound, God was sound, we are made of sound. 4

1. Jon DePew - from multiple sources Coral Castle Code - coralcastlecode.com MAGNETICSPECTRUM.COM Physics Past Papers / CoralCastleCode: Summary Part 1 (YouTube)

2. THE CONNECTED UNIVERSE film trailer based on Nassim Haramein's physics paper "Quantum Gravity and the Holographic Mass"

3. All of Creation Is Moving Light sacred-geometry.com

4. Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882 - 1927) The Mysticism of Sound and Music [1996]