I-missRichardTee Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Without utilizing rhythm or a repeated note, or a change of octave, how many different ways can you play eg A and B? 2 ways 1x2=2. Same question A B C = 6 ABC ACB BAC BCA CAB CBA Most of you know this, as have I; yet when I reflect on this, and start adding more notes, I revisit my amazement at the possibilities. ABCD BACD CABD DACB ABDC BADC CADB DABC ACDB BCDA CBDA DBAC ACBD BCAD CBAD DBCA ADBC BDAC CDAB DCAB ADCB BDCA CDBA DCBA = 24 possible ways. 24 ways to arpeggiate a seventh chord or any four tones. If you feel this is boring, my apology for boring you.. nevertheless A simple chromatic scale is 13 tones The number staggers my imagination. Remember the infinitude of melodic rhythm has not been factored in, nor harmony, nor counterpoint. Just the combinations alone: for a chromatic scale it is an awesome 6,227,020,800 ways to melodically combine A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Even a 13th chord C E G Bb D F(#) A seven notes, is 5020 combinations. In the past people said all the music had been written, or music was exhausted... these numbers suggest this is untrue. Finally this... how many times have I been thinking untrue thoughts that eg,,, Satin Doll is boring... same old ii-V . This reminder about permutations is an exciting reminder for me, and I hope some of you. You don't have ideas, ideas have you We see the world, not as it is, but as we are. "One mans food is another mans poison". I defend your right to speak hate. Tolerance to a point, not agreement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willf Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Even a 13th chord C E G Bb D F(#) A seven notes, is 5020 combinations. I think you mean 5040 permutations . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr88s Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Even a 13th chord C E G Bb D F(#) A seven notes, is 5020 combinations. I think you mean permutations . The math geek in me wants to point out that the solution here would definitely be 7p4, not 7c4. Nord Stage 2 Compact, Yamaha MODX8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willf Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Even a 13th chord C E G Bb D F(#) A seven notes, is 5020 combinations. I think you mean permutations . The math geek in me wants to point out that the solution here would definitely be 7p4, not 7c4. As order is important it is a permutation and therefore n!/(n-k)!. So if I understand the OP correctly it is 7P7 = 5040 permuatations. (I hadn't bother to check the calculation in my earlier post). As I am sure you are aware 7P4 would be the number of possible permutations of 4 notes from a 'group' of 7 - which I do not think the OP was hinting at : perhaps he can enlighten us . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr88s Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 You are correct. I was assuming a 4 note chord. 7p7 it is. Nord Stage 2 Compact, Yamaha MODX8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I-missRichardTee Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Ok I do not know math as you two guys do. I know the following any two tones, eg A and F# there are a total of 2 ways to play them.. the A first followed by the F# OR the reverse. No other options. Again, I said no repeated notes, no change of octave, no melodic rhythm. math wise I believe this is simple arithmetic.. 1x2=2 2 possible combinations for any 2 tones. 3 tones is 1x2x3=6 eg A C E would be A C E // A E C // C A E // C E A // //E A C // and finally E C A // a total of six combinations. It doesn't matter whether these three tones are five octaves apart from one another.. the math holds Take it from there 4 tones 1x2x3x4= 24 combinations 5 tones 1x2x3x4x5= 120 combinations 6 tones 720 7 tones 5040 by the time you get to 13 tones ( all the notes in a chromatic scale including the octave the immensity of the number, just astonishes me.. Isn't ANYONE curious about the musical.. compositional , or jazz, or improvisational applications of this ? You don't have ideas, ideas have you We see the world, not as it is, but as we are. "One mans food is another mans poison". I defend your right to speak hate. Tolerance to a point, not agreement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonksDream Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Indeed we are, Tee. However the number of possible combinations and the number of musically useful combinations are different; the former is much larger than the latter. Instrumentation is meaningless - a song either stands on its own merit, or it requires bells and whistles to cover its lack of adequacy, much less quality. - kanker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.