Version 2.0, 1998 for Macintosh and PowerMacintosh
Shareware $23
Contact e-mail: ggrossk@tin.it
or write to:
Giovanni Grosskopf
via Petrarca, 66
20099 Sesto San Giovanni (MI)
ITALY - Phone: +(0)2-22479610 or +(0)338-7699200
The NTA addendum ╥NTA SmallChords.DB╙ is a SHAREWARE $3 database and it is available only to registered users of the NonTonalAnalysis2.0 application.
PLEASE READ THE INCLUDED FILES IN THE FOLDER NAMED ╥NTA2.0 MANUAL╙ FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION.
Introduction
The traditional classical music of the past ages was based on arranging all the tones and chords of a composition in relation to a central ╥key╙ note (called the ╥tonic╙), thus forming a system or an arrangement of seven tones built on a tonic key or note, which ought to be also the last note of the piece in order to obtain an effect of satisfying conclusion. This traditional system was also based on a number of mainly consonant well-known traditional chords which could be easily classified according to the well-known traditional rules of harmony. It was named ╥tonality╙. Pop, rock and non-classical music are still based on tonality nowadays. During the 20th Century, on the contrary, classical music has developed greatly, getting more and more different from tonality-based music: composers tried to avoid arranging music in relation to a conclusive sound, and began to employ even strong dissonances as ordinary sounds with wonderful astonishing suggestive effects, and irregular rhytms as ordinary rhytms, and also began to abandon the use of motives and of leading musical themes, focusing on tone color and timbre qualities rather than on melody. This new musical style is very distinctive of the contemporary classical music, sometimes called also ╥learned╙ contemporary music, or ╥new music╙, or ╥avant-garde╙ music. This fascinating, strongly evocative new style of music is not really ╥new╙ at present: it began to exist in European and Western music about the year 1900, and we must remark - for instance - that some of its features have always been part of ethnical musical traditions of many peoples in the world. It is not therefore a music without natural bases, of course, but it has only different natural bases. This new musical style is simply not based on tonality, so it is often referred to as ╥atonal╙ music.
What is NonTonalAnalysis?
Is the chord ╥C,C#,F#,B╙ more or less dissonant than the chord ╥E,F#,G,Bb,F╙? And how much? Do they have a dissonant effect for the same reasons or for different ones? How will I build another chord having a degree of dissonance placed between those two, to connect them without perceivable disparities? And which of the two is more similar to the chord ╥D,G,G#,C#,A╙ in sound and structure? And how can I have the complete list of - say - all the 3-notes chords that do not contain semitones but contain minor thirds and whose lowermost and uppest notes are not more distant than a minor seventh? Which are the proper chords to place under this atonal melody? And do these atonal chords I composed recall the traditional world of tonality or not?
NonTonalAnalysis is an almost essential help when you need to answer to questions of this kind!
NonTonalAnalysis (often referred to as ╥NTA╙ in this text) is a powerful application developed in 1997-1998 by Giovanni Grosskopf, an Italian composer and pianist, for the analysis of (mainly) atonal music. It is intended as a practical tool for frequent and common use, to help composers, musicologists, performers and music students. It is NOT based on seriality and dodecaphony (two ways of composing that are very much used in modern and contemporary classical music and were first developed by Schoenberg), but it uses concepts such as calculation of the dissonance level of chords, calculation of the tension level of melodies (in future versions of the program) classification of atonal chords in families and so on. The user can define in details what is to be considered as ╥dissonant╙ or ╥tensive╙. If you are a composer, a musicologist, a performer or a music student and you deal often with 20th Century classical music, NTA is made for you!
A very interesting case has happened to me: it is a well-known fact that strong dissonances are much less bearable if played on instruments that do not have a rich harmonic spectrum (and have therefore an almost sinusoidal waveform) and do not have the capability of changing the intensity of the sound during a long note. On the contrary, they are much more bearable when you play them on instruments that have a rich tone colour, can vibrate and can play crescendos and diminuendos.
I had to compose two pieces: one for organ and the other one for recorder quartet, two kinds of instruments belonging to the first of the above categories: they do not have a rich harmonic spectrum (and have therefore an almost sinusoidal waveform) and do not have the capability of changing the intensity of the sound during a long note. Now it has been really MUCH useful to find all (and really ALL, without forgetting anyone of them) the 3-notes chords that did not contain semitones, nor major seconds, and were less dissonant than a given limit using the NTA addendum ╥NTA SmallChords.DB╙. Despite the absence of strong dissonances, by strictly following all the indications given in the chapter ╥Comparing different chords╔╙ of the Manual I have obtained a typical atonal sound and full control on dissonance changes using the NTA application program.
The program performs the automatic analysis of atonal chords. It will accept any chord, provided it does not contain octaves nor unisons and only if the distance between two consecutive notes of the chord does not exceed a major ninth. This means that NTA distinguishes between a second and a ninth in any case, but not between a third and a tenth formed by two consecutive notes. This ╥consecutive╙ tenth will be considered as a third and the same will happen to all the larger intervals formed by two consecutive notes. Octaves will perhaps be allowed in future versions. If you try to introduce octaves or unisons NTA will display a warning and will not allow them.
While working, you may see many different alert windows displaying a warning message. You must always answer them to go on working. Most messages will concern the fact that the chords you have chosen can recall the traditional sound of tonality chords: NTA is specifically made for atonal music. Of course, you may want to introduce chords that belong to the realm of tonality in your work. Although, they may alter the coherence of a completely atonal composition. This is why NTA warns you if it founds major or minor chords (with a Number of Notes ▓7, since it is impossible to avoid major or minor chords using more than seven different notes) or consecutive notes forming major or minor chords (conventionally called ╥consecutive╙ chords in the dialogs) or uncomplete chords of 7th (in three notes chords) or diminished 7th chords or some other less frequent note combinations that may recall tonality.
In all these cases NTA will immediately display an alert dialog when it discovers the problem.
System Requirements, Shareware Info, Registering, Obtaining Updates and Contacting the Author
To use NTA you should have at least:
a 14╙ Monitor, a 68030 Macintosh computer, System 7.0, 2050 K of free RAM, 1MB of free hard disk space. A 68040 Macintosh and System 7.5 are recommended. NTA is fully compatible with PowerPC computers (including 32-bit addressing memory) and with System 8. It has been tested on an 8600 PowerMac with a 250MHz processor without any problem as well as on an old 68030 LCII Mac and on a Performa 630 68LC040 Mac.
Mathematical coprocessor (FPU) is not required, but it can speed up calculations. Balloon help is fully supported under System 7 or higher. To use it Choose ╥Show Balloons╙ from the ╥?╙ Menu (Italian Users: choose ╥Mostra Aiuti╙ under System 7 or ╥Aiuti Veloci╙ under System 8 from the ╥?╙ menu).
Another version of NTA called ╥NonTonalAnalysis2.0.1old╙, compatible with 68020 computers and System 6, is available from the Author at the same shareware conditions (a 14╙ Monitor is strongly recommended also for this version, though not strictly indispensable).
(Contact e-mail: ggrossk@tin.it).
Please contact the Author to register. NonTonal Analysis, version2.0, is SHAREWARE $23. This means you can copy ONLY UNREGISTERED copies of this program and give them to your friends or colleagues, copy them online, publish them on a CD-ROM and so on, provided you include all the files contained in the ╥NonTonalAnalysis2.0 ─╙ folder. If you publish NTA on a CD-ROM please notify the fact to the Author. SHAREWARE means also that you may use NTA freely for 10 times, and after that all the unregistered copies will expire and will cease to work until you register or reinstall the complete ╥NonTonalAnalysis2.0 ─╙ folder again. To go on using the software, you will have to register paying 23 U.S.Dollars or the same amount in Italian money or EURO. You can pay via International Money Order (for Italians: ╥Vaglia postale╙), specifying on it that you are paying for the ╥Registration of the software NonTonalAnalysis version╔╙ (and here you put the correct version number). Let me know your name and address or e-mail (you can also write) and a personal registration code will be sent to you by e-mail or ordinary mail as soon as your payment has been registered. If you register all those annoying messages will disappear for ever and you will be able to use the program without any limitation. When you ask to register please let me know also which computer model you are using, if you are a composer, a musicologist, a music student and/or an instrument player (or a combination of these) and what kind of music you are usually involved with. After you have registered, you can at any moment ask me to destroy all the copies of your personal data and it will be done immediately, according to the Italian law. If you want this, however, I will not be able to notify to you any news about the future NTA developments. On the contrary, you may also ask to be contacted by other NTA users and to contact them, to exchange information and ideas about music, concert organization, working projects of analysis, new composition projects, new music you have composed or known of, and so on. I myself am very much interested to receive news of this kind!
The useful addendum ╥NTA SmallChords.DB╙ can also be sent to registered users of NTA (and ONLY to them) for additional 3 U.S. Dollars via e-mail or ordinary mail (on a floppy disk). Please see the previous chapter named ╥About ╥NTA SmallChords.DB╙╙ in this Manual for information about it. You may register for both the NTA program and the addendum at the same time by sending the correct amount of money. Registered users of NTA will also receive news about updates or about future versions of NTA.
News about you, about the way you use NTA, questions and suggestions will always be welcome!
Please contact:
e-mail: ggrossk@tin.it
Giovanni Grosskopf
via Petrarca, 66
I-20099 Sesto San Giovanni (MI)
ITALY
Phone: international dialling code+(0)2-22479610 (late morning and evening - in Italy, of course!) or+(0)338-7699200 (afternoon).
In the ╥NonTonalAnalysis2.0 ─╙ folder you must find: ╥NonTonalAnalysis2.0╙ (the program itself), the ╥NTA Preferences╙ file (which must always be in the same folder with the application, cannot be renamed in a different way and cannot be locked), a ╥ReadMe╙ file, the ╥NTA2.0 Manual╙ folder containing the manual documents, a ╥Version history╙ file and a ╥Frequently Asked Questions╙ file.
Launching NTA
The application ╥NonTonalAnalysis╙ must be in the folder named ╥NonTonalAnalysis2.0 ─╙. In that folder you must find: ╥NonTonalAnalysis2.0╙ (the program itself), the ╥NTA Preferences╙ file (which must always be in the same folder with the application, cannot be renamed in a different way and cannot be locked) a ╥ReadMe file╙ (this file: you are reading it!), the ╥NTA2.0 Manual╙, ╥Version history╙ and ╥FrequentlyAskedQuestions╙. Always run NTA from your hard disk.
Copy the whole folder named ╥NonTonalAnalysis2.0 ─╙ to your hard disk before launching the program.When you launch the program, you will see a presentation window. Press OK to dismiss it. (If you have an unregistered copy you will see a dialog before the opening: answer ╥OK╙). TO GO ON╔ PLEASE SEE MANUAL!
