HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

George Secor (November 8, 1943 – March 2, 2020) was an American musician, composer and music-theorist from Chicago. He was the discoverer of
miracle temperament George Secor (November 8, 1943 – March 2, 2020) was an American musician, composer and music-theorist from Chicago. He was the discoverer of #Miracle temperament, miracle temperament and eponym of the #Secor, secor. As an inventor, Secor and Her ...
and eponym of the
secor SECOR (Sequential Collation of Ranges) was a series of small United States Armed Forces satellites launched in the 1960s for geodesy measurements that precisely determined the locations of points on the Earth's surface, particularly of isolated ...
. As an inventor, Secor and Hermann Pedtke's ''Motorola Scalatron'' (1974) is an example of a Bosanquet
generalized keyboard Generalized keyboards are musical Keyboard (music), keyboards, a type of isomorphic keyboard, with regular, tile-like arrangements usually with rectangular or hexagonal keys, and were developed for performing music in different Tuning (music), tuni ...
featuring a multicolored arrangement of 240 tunable oval keys, about which Secor said: "There is not much point in using this alternative keyboard for systems below 31 tones in the octave."Vail, Mark (2000). ''9780879306038'', p.101. Backbeat Books. . However, "even if it were completely impractical musically, it would make a wonderful prop for a futuristic movie." Though its synthesizer capacities may not reach performance level, according to Easley Blackwood, "It has rock-steady tuning capabilities; you can always count on it to be right." George demonstrating the micro-tonal keyboard instrument can be seen in thi
demonstration video
George was also an accomplished musician and proponent of the Moschino Free-Bass Accordion system.


Moschino Accordion Performances

A
YouTube channel
with some of George's performances on Moschino Accordions illustrates his abilities on their unique keyboard, which allows for chromatic runs and open chords with the left-hand buttons, a
Free-bass system A free-bass system is a system of left-hand bass buttons on an accordion, arranged to give the performer greater ability to play melodies with the left-hand and form one's own chords. The left-hand buttonboard consists of single-note buttons wi ...
, rather than the more common
Stradella bass system The Stradella Bass System (sometimes called ''standard bass'') is a buttonboard layout equipped on the bass side of many accordions, which uses columns of buttons arranged in a circle of fifths; this places the principal major chords of a key (I, ...
, which has fewer bass notes, plus preset chord buttons. George was interviewed in 2018 about the origin and organization of the Moschino accordion syste
here


The Moschino Accordion System Explained

The system is explained in
video
Additionally, a written discussion of the organization of the system, including Georges own explanations and diagrams is included o
accordionists.info


Secor interval

In music, a secor is the interval of 116.7 cents () named after George Secor. Secor devised it to allow a close approximation, generated from a single interval, to
Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...
's 43 tone just intonation scale. All 11-limit consonances are approximated to within 3.32 cents.Secor
, ''TonalSoft.com''. Accessed: July 2013
It is approximated in 31 , 41 , and
72 equal temperament In music, 72 equal temperament, called twelfth-tone, 72-TET, 72- EDO, or 72-ET, is the tempered scale derived by dividing the octave into twelfth-tones, or in other words 72 equal steps (equal frequency ratios). Each step represents a frequency ...
. For tuning purposes, a secor of seven steps of 72
equal temperament An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...
is often used. Two secors (233.4 cents ) approximate an 8:7 interval (231.17 cents), a
septimal whole tone In music, the septimal whole tone, septimal major second, or supermajor second is the musical interval exactly or approximately equal to an 8/7 ratio of frequencies.Andrew Horner, Lydia Ayres (2002). ''Cooking with Csound: Woodwind and Brass ...
. Three of these 8:7 intervals (693.51 cents), or six secors (700.2 cents ), approximate a fifth (701.96 cents). A neutral third of 11:9 (347.41 cents) is approximated by three secors (350.1 cents ).


Miracle temperament

In music, miracle temperament is a
regular temperament Regular temperament is any tempered system of musical tuning such that each frequency ratio is obtainable as a product of powers of a finite number of generators, or generating frequency ratios. For instance, in 12-TET, the system of music most ...
discovered by George Secor in 1974 which has the eponymous
secor SECOR (Sequential Collation of Ranges) was a series of small United States Armed Forces satellites launched in the 1960s for geodesy measurements that precisely determined the locations of points on the Earth's surface, particularly of isolated ...
as a generator, serving as both the 15:14 and 16:15 semitones. Because 15:14 and 16:15 are equated, their ratio 225:224 \left(\tfrac\div\tfrac = \tfrac\right) is tempered out, and two secors give an 8:7 interval, a
septimal whole tone In music, the septimal whole tone, septimal major second, or supermajor second is the musical interval exactly or approximately equal to an 8/7 ratio of frequencies.Andrew Horner, Lydia Ayres (2002). ''Cooking with Csound: Woodwind and Brass ...
. Three of these 8:7 intervals, or six secors, make up a fifth, so that 1029:1024 \left(\tfrac\div\left(\tfrac\right)^3 = \tfrac\right) is also tempered out. This gives the
seven 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...
-
limit Limit or Limits may refer to: Arts and media * ''Limit'' (manga), a manga by Keiko Suenobu * ''Limit'' (film), a South Korean film * Limit (music), a way to characterize harmony * "Limit" (song), a 2016 single by Luna Sea * "Limits", a 2019 ...
version of miracle. A septimal whole tone of 8:7 as we have seen is approximated by two secors, and a neutral third of 11:9 by three secors. In miracle, a minor third plus a septimal whole tone is also equated with the 11th
harmonic A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
. This means that the gap between a minor third plus a septimal whole tone \left(\tfrac \times \tfrac = \tfrac\right) and the 11th harmonic (an 11:8 ratio), 385:384 \left(\tfrac\div\tfrac = \tfrac\right), is also tempered out. Miracle, therefore, is the temperament tempering out 225:224, 1029:1024 and 385:384 at the same time. For tuning purposes, a secor of seven steps of 72
equal temperament An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...
can be used. While this also tempers out 4375:4374 (the ''
ragisma In music and tuning, the ragisma is an interval with the ratio of 4375:4374,Haluska, Jan (2003). ''The Mathematical Theory of Tone Systems'', p.xxviii. . ≈0.396 cents (a superparticular ratio). It is usually defined as the difference between t ...
''), doing this is not regarded as a part of the definition of miracle temperament. Miracle temperament, particularly in the ten note Miracle scale () and the
distributionally even scale In scale (music) theory, a maximally even set (scale) is one in which every generic interval has either one or two consecutive integers specific intervals-in other words a scale whose notes (pcs) are "spread out as much as possible." This proper ...
known as ''Blackjack'' (). The twenty-one note Blackjack scale is derived from twenty successive secors and has been used by several composers, including New York composer
Joseph Pehrson Joseph Pehrson (August 14, 1950 – April 4, 2020) was an American composer and pianist. Life Pehrson comes from Detroit, Michigan. He studied at the University of Michigan and Eastman School of Music. (D.M.A. 1981). His teachers include Lesl ...
.Miracle Temperaments
, ''Xenharmony''.
;''s'' is a secor, ''q'' is the difference between 10 secors and 1 octave, and ''r'' is the difference between ''s'' and ''q''. If the Miracle scale is: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0' s s s s s s s s s s +q q +r q +r q +r q +r q +r q +r q +r q +r q +r q +r +q ;then the Blackjack scale is: 0 >0 1 >1 2 >2 3 >3 4 >4 5 >5 6 >6 7 >7 8 >8 9 >9 <0 0' q r q r q r q r q r q r q r q r q r q r q this may also be viewed as a chain of 20 secors: >0 >1 >2 >3 >4 >5 >6 >7 >8 >9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 <0 s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s


References


Further reading

*Secor, George (1975).
A New Look at the Partch Monophonic Fabric
''Xenharmonikon'' 3. Frog Peak, N.H. Located a


External links

*
George Secor
, on ''Xenharmonic Wiki''. *

, ''Graham's Website: Intonation Information''. Accessed: July 2013 *
The Motorola Scalatron
", The Motorola Scalatron on "120 years Of Electronic Music" {{DEFAULTSORT:Secor, George Commas (music) American male composers American composers Linear temperaments 1943 births 2020 deaths