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3/2: Circles of Fifths and the World Wide Musical Web

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Circles of Fifths and the World Wide Musical Web

Music is the universal language of mankind.  ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Figure 3-1: The World Wide Musical Web

The reason music is a “universal language” is because there is an underlying principle uniting all of the world’s musical traditions. The World Wide Musical Web is a visual expression of that principle. It is actually simpler than it looks (see Figure 3-1 above). One musician called it “the cycle of fifths on steroids.”  Another person called it a “musical mantra.” Both are true. It’s a detailed diagram of all the pitches in 53-equal and how they function musically. Almost all the ancient scales plus new scales and chords never before imagined are accessible with this single musical template. I use this diagram every time I compose, and there’s a lot of information packed into each pitch unit on the web. As you will see, the bottom ¾ of the mantra is unlikely to have much musical use, but in the top ¼ of the wheel, you’ll find almost every musical scale ever used by the ancients anywhere in the world. With a little study, it will become easy to see how they can interact together, and how they all arise from the same meta-principles…

If you would like to learn more about this chapter, “Circles of Fifths,” and a detailed explanation of this and in a complete  website of “The World Wide Musical Web,” you can buy the entire book, The Grand Unified Theory of Music, in pdf form or the entire website for $25 with hundreds of embedded musical examples of scales and chords from all over the world.

A free introduction to what The Grand Unified Theory of Music offers is on this website and includes both text and a few musical examples from each webpage. If you would like to learn more about this chapter and the full contents of this entire e-book, you can buy The Grand Unified Theory of Music for $25, with hundreds of embedded musical examples of scales and chords from all over the world — and ideas for how to set up your computer system —

HERE.

You’ll get a personalized password you can use to see the entire e-book. Inside the full book, you will also get a link to the complete pdf file of this e-book, which you can read on your Kindle or similar device. The links to the hundreds of mp3 sound files – the same ones you can hear on the website — will also be included. This is “Version 1.0” of The Grand Unified Theory of Music. Because it is an e-book, additions, corrections and improvements in the sound may be added at any time. The Grand Unified Theory of Music is Copyright © 2018 by Christopher Mohr. All rights reserved.

One person per password. Sharing this password with others is a violation of copyright. Do not allow others to use your password or link to the pdf file!

Next Page: 3/3 – The Skhisma; Keyboard Design