MUSIC
To buy or stream my music please visit my Bandcamp pages. Or get in touch to buy direct.
Electroacoustic Music
Guitar
Digital collaborations
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
Compact Disc
Batlahatli (spazio di Hausdorff, 2021)
Giancarlo Toniutti/James Wyness
CD, 12 page booklet (details)
£13.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
Drookitarlùp (spazio di Hausdorff, 2020)
Giancarlo Toniutti/James Wyness
CD, 12 page booklet and folded score (details)
£13.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
They Don't Even Sound the Same (2019) [60:20]
James Wyness
CDR, card insert (contact me to purchase or buy on Bandcamp)
£7.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
Stirring Space with a Timestick (2018) [50:00]
James Wyness
CD, eco pack (details)
£13.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
Stultifera Navis (Mystery Sea, 2013) [26:56]
CD, card insert (details)
£12.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
Digital
The Macedonian Space Programme (mdira records, 2021)
James Wyness/Boban Ristevski
Bandcamp
Igavene Olevik (Crónica, 2016)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Dead Sound Ethnographics (2016)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Music Born of Solitude (2016)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Objects wrapped in objects wrapped in objects (taâlem, 2014)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Centre and Edge (2010)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Electroacoustic Music
Guitar
Digital collaborations
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
Compact Disc
Batlahatli (spazio di Hausdorff, 2021)
Giancarlo Toniutti/James Wyness
CD, 12 page booklet (details)
£13.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
Drookitarlùp (spazio di Hausdorff, 2020)
Giancarlo Toniutti/James Wyness
CD, 12 page booklet and folded score (details)
£13.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
They Don't Even Sound the Same (2019) [60:20]
James Wyness
CDR, card insert (contact me to purchase or buy on Bandcamp)
£7.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
Stirring Space with a Timestick (2018) [50:00]
James Wyness
CD, eco pack (details)
£13.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
Stultifera Navis (Mystery Sea, 2013) [26:56]
CD, card insert (details)
£12.00 + postage (UK £1.50, Europe £3.50)
Digital
The Macedonian Space Programme (mdira records, 2021)
James Wyness/Boban Ristevski
Bandcamp
Igavene Olevik (Crónica, 2016)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Dead Sound Ethnographics (2016)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Music Born of Solitude (2016)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Objects wrapped in objects wrapped in objects (taâlem, 2014)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
Centre and Edge (2010)
James Wyness
Bandcamp
MICROTONAL MUSIC
Hand-made microtonal instruments
I've been interested in just intonation tuning systems since the 1980s. In 2001 I finally got round to building a small chamber orchestra of simple microtonal musical instruments. I started with a zither, then I tried a slit drum, a psaltery, a set of steel tube marimbas, four long gongs, more zithers, another psaltery, more slit drums, a giant mbira. I later added cut glass bowls, found percussion, aluminium cymbals and gongs.
Apart from a later quartet of bowed zithers which have quarter sawn spruce and cedar tops with quality hardwood sides and bridges, my first materials were locally grown Douglas Fir, recycled furniture, steel tubes and aluminium sheets from a local engineering shop. I concur with Lou Harrison that building your own instrument is simply the most satisfying of musical projects.
Compositions and projects that make use of these instruments include
Acousmatic work (2004 - 2008), Zenconcrète, Music Born of Solitude, The
Canalisation Project, Maxwell’s Music, Koobi Fora Ash, Huisinis and s-wave.
I've been interested in just intonation tuning systems since the 1980s. In 2001 I finally got round to building a small chamber orchestra of simple microtonal musical instruments. I started with a zither, then I tried a slit drum, a psaltery, a set of steel tube marimbas, four long gongs, more zithers, another psaltery, more slit drums, a giant mbira. I later added cut glass bowls, found percussion, aluminium cymbals and gongs.
Apart from a later quartet of bowed zithers which have quarter sawn spruce and cedar tops with quality hardwood sides and bridges, my first materials were locally grown Douglas Fir, recycled furniture, steel tubes and aluminium sheets from a local engineering shop. I concur with Lou Harrison that building your own instrument is simply the most satisfying of musical projects.
Compositions and projects that make use of these instruments include
Acousmatic work (2004 - 2008), Zenconcrète, Music Born of Solitude, The
Canalisation Project, Maxwell’s Music, Koobi Fora Ash, Huisinis and s-wave.
bowed psalteries, matched pair
bowed psaltery: exotic ply top, cherry sides, ply bottom
36" six course zither: douglas fir top, back and sides
36" six course zither (detail)
48" six course zither: douglas fir top, back and sides
five string bowed zither: cedar top, beech sides, exotic ply bottom, oak bridges
five string bowed zither (detail)
steel tube marimba and beaters: hand cut steel tubing, dowel, douglas fir mount
steel tube marimba
Photography by Alan Perris
The tuning of hand-made microtonal instruments
Justly Intoned Pelogs and Slendros
My 1/1 (or fundamental tone) is 'A' at 110 Hz or multiples thereof.
1/1, 8/7, 7/6, 4/3, 3/2, 12/7, 7/4, 2/1
I chose this mode after studying Lou Harrison's Just Intonation tunings in his
biography and in editions 7 and 8 of the journal Xenharmonikon. They are
relatively easy to sing which opens the door to writing for voice, chorus and
some conventional orchestral instruments. I then settled on three slendros.
These have a 9:8 step size between 4/3 and 3/2 and either 7:6 or 8:7 step
sizes between the other tones:-
Si Aptos - 1/1, 8/7, 4/3, 3/2, 7/4, 2/1
Mills - 1/1, 8/7, 4/3, 3/2, 12/7, 2/1
Unnamed -1/1, 7/6, 4/3, 3/2, 7/4, 2/1
I've nicknamed the Unnamed slendro Faraway after the name of my house.
Next came Lou Harrison's "Nature's Own" with the beautiful minor triad on 4/3, 19/12, 1/1:-
19/12, 1/1, 9/8, 7/6, 4/3, 19/12 (partials 12, 14, 16, 19, 27).
After auditioning several pelogs (using an Ensoniq ASR-10 with Jeff Scott's L'il
Miss Scale Oven tuning software), two pelogs were chosen:-
Kyai Udan Arum - 1/1, 16/15, 7/6, 4/3, 22/15, 47/30, 9/5, 2/1 (partials 30,
32, 35, 40, 44, 47, 54)
Lou Harrison's - 1/1, 13/12, 7/6, 17/12, 3/2, 19/12, 7/4, 2/1 (partials 12, 13,
14, 17, 18, 19, 21)
Harrison states that this tuning is that of the 18th century gamelan "Kyai
Gunter Sari". The 17/12 is a very prominent blue note. Only occasionally are
these pelogs used strictly as pelogs in composition, ie in sets of five tones.
The steel tube marimbas have tubes tuned to all of the slendro and pelog tones.
The zithers, though retunable, are most often set up with the 36" and 48" six
course zithers tuned to Faraway and the 36" eight course to Kyai Udan Arum.
I have one psaltery tuned to Faraway down the right-hand strings and
Nature's Own down the left. Psaltery 2 has Kyai Udan Arum down the right and Nature's Own down the left.
The giant mbira or rumba box, a difficult instrument to tune accurately, but worth the effort, normally has two octaves of the Faraway slendro on the top row and two octaves of Kyai Udan Arum on the bottom row. The long gongs are tuned (ascending) 4/3 (below A =110), 3/2, 1/1 and 7/6. In using the zithers and psalteries as prepared instruments in combination with electronics, the tunings are less critical because the preparations, by their very nature, interfere with the freely vibrating string lengths. I adhere to the tunings nonetheless for two reasons - I enjoy the ritual of tuning the strings accurately and some of the most beautiful music can be made by simply bowing or beating the instruments gently, allowing the tunings to breathe.
Tetrachords
I chose the following tetrachords for the steel tube marimbas:_
• Avicenna's 13 limit Diatonic - 1/1, 14/13, 7/6, 4/3, 3/2, 21/13, 7/4, 2/1
• Barbour's (re-arranged) Chromatic - 1/1, 9/8, 8/7, 4/3, 3/2, 27/16,
12/7, 2/1
• Al Farabi's Diatonic - 1/1, 49/48, 7/6, 4/3, 3/2, 49/32, 7/4, 2/1
• Ptolemy's Homalon or Equable Diatonic - 1/1, 12/11, 6/5, 4/3, 3/2,
18/11, 9/5, 2/1
• Avicenna's 11-limit Diatonic - 8/7, 40/33, 4/3, 32/21, 12/7, 20/11, 2/1,
8/7
Eikosanies
In 2002 I began working with this elegant and versatile twenty tone tuning
system, first on tunable fm synthesisers, then on an unfeasibly large hand-
built steel tube marimba covering over two octaves of a complex interleaved
double Eikosany tuning. This was too much too soon, and besides, because of my ineptitude as a craftsman, it played like a piano with the dampers off,
shimmering wildly and preventing me from playing clear lines or harmonies. I
regained some ground by using the shimmer as a textural layer in various
electroacoustic compositions. Then I dismantled it and packed it away.
The Eikosany was devised by theorist Erv Wilson and has been developed over many years by composer, instrument builder and theorist Kraig Grady, whom I eventually met in person in 2013 and to whom I am indebted for advice and guidance over the years. Using this tuning, in 2004 I composed the 8 channel work Hannah Throwing Stones - a version for electronics and a version for double string quintet. In 2005 I wrote Slow Kotekans Breaking for tuned sine waves. From 2007-2009 I designed and built a quartet of 5-string bowed zithers which gave me the twenty tones of the Eikosany in a homogenous string ensemble. For this quartet of instruments I wrote music born of solitude in 2010. For a clear understanding of the Eikosany, and it's worth the effort ifyou're looking for new musical resources, an article from the Anaphorian archives (pdf) will explain everything.
Resources
Instrument Making
Making Simple Musical Instruments (Lark Books 1995) - Bart Hopkin.
Sound Designs: A Handbook of Musical Instrument Building (Ten Speed Press
1995) - Reinhold Banek and John Scoville.
Genesis of a Music (Da Capo Press 1974) - Harry Partch.Tuning
Divisions of the Tetrachord (Frog Peak Music 1993) - John H. Chalmers Jr.
Harmonic Experience (Inner Traditions 1997) - W.A. Mathieu.
Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale (Springer 1999) - William A. Sethares.
Acoustics
On the Sensations of Tone (Dover Publications Inc. 1954) - Hermann
Helmholtz. Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics (Dover Publications Inc. 1990) - Arthur H. Benade.
Web
The Anaphorian site - Kraig Grady’s archive of seminal theoretical documents
on Just Intonation tuning systems (all generously made available for free
download). Kraig has been an inspiration and a friend throughout this project.
Cris Forster's site - this is how my instruments were meant to look.
Justly Intoned Pelogs and Slendros
My 1/1 (or fundamental tone) is 'A' at 110 Hz or multiples thereof.
1/1, 8/7, 7/6, 4/3, 3/2, 12/7, 7/4, 2/1
I chose this mode after studying Lou Harrison's Just Intonation tunings in his
biography and in editions 7 and 8 of the journal Xenharmonikon. They are
relatively easy to sing which opens the door to writing for voice, chorus and
some conventional orchestral instruments. I then settled on three slendros.
These have a 9:8 step size between 4/3 and 3/2 and either 7:6 or 8:7 step
sizes between the other tones:-
Si Aptos - 1/1, 8/7, 4/3, 3/2, 7/4, 2/1
Mills - 1/1, 8/7, 4/3, 3/2, 12/7, 2/1
Unnamed -1/1, 7/6, 4/3, 3/2, 7/4, 2/1
I've nicknamed the Unnamed slendro Faraway after the name of my house.
Next came Lou Harrison's "Nature's Own" with the beautiful minor triad on 4/3, 19/12, 1/1:-
19/12, 1/1, 9/8, 7/6, 4/3, 19/12 (partials 12, 14, 16, 19, 27).
After auditioning several pelogs (using an Ensoniq ASR-10 with Jeff Scott's L'il
Miss Scale Oven tuning software), two pelogs were chosen:-
Kyai Udan Arum - 1/1, 16/15, 7/6, 4/3, 22/15, 47/30, 9/5, 2/1 (partials 30,
32, 35, 40, 44, 47, 54)
Lou Harrison's - 1/1, 13/12, 7/6, 17/12, 3/2, 19/12, 7/4, 2/1 (partials 12, 13,
14, 17, 18, 19, 21)
Harrison states that this tuning is that of the 18th century gamelan "Kyai
Gunter Sari". The 17/12 is a very prominent blue note. Only occasionally are
these pelogs used strictly as pelogs in composition, ie in sets of five tones.
The steel tube marimbas have tubes tuned to all of the slendro and pelog tones.
The zithers, though retunable, are most often set up with the 36" and 48" six
course zithers tuned to Faraway and the 36" eight course to Kyai Udan Arum.
I have one psaltery tuned to Faraway down the right-hand strings and
Nature's Own down the left. Psaltery 2 has Kyai Udan Arum down the right and Nature's Own down the left.
The giant mbira or rumba box, a difficult instrument to tune accurately, but worth the effort, normally has two octaves of the Faraway slendro on the top row and two octaves of Kyai Udan Arum on the bottom row. The long gongs are tuned (ascending) 4/3 (below A =110), 3/2, 1/1 and 7/6. In using the zithers and psalteries as prepared instruments in combination with electronics, the tunings are less critical because the preparations, by their very nature, interfere with the freely vibrating string lengths. I adhere to the tunings nonetheless for two reasons - I enjoy the ritual of tuning the strings accurately and some of the most beautiful music can be made by simply bowing or beating the instruments gently, allowing the tunings to breathe.
Tetrachords
I chose the following tetrachords for the steel tube marimbas:_
• Avicenna's 13 limit Diatonic - 1/1, 14/13, 7/6, 4/3, 3/2, 21/13, 7/4, 2/1
• Barbour's (re-arranged) Chromatic - 1/1, 9/8, 8/7, 4/3, 3/2, 27/16,
12/7, 2/1
• Al Farabi's Diatonic - 1/1, 49/48, 7/6, 4/3, 3/2, 49/32, 7/4, 2/1
• Ptolemy's Homalon or Equable Diatonic - 1/1, 12/11, 6/5, 4/3, 3/2,
18/11, 9/5, 2/1
• Avicenna's 11-limit Diatonic - 8/7, 40/33, 4/3, 32/21, 12/7, 20/11, 2/1,
8/7
Eikosanies
In 2002 I began working with this elegant and versatile twenty tone tuning
system, first on tunable fm synthesisers, then on an unfeasibly large hand-
built steel tube marimba covering over two octaves of a complex interleaved
double Eikosany tuning. This was too much too soon, and besides, because of my ineptitude as a craftsman, it played like a piano with the dampers off,
shimmering wildly and preventing me from playing clear lines or harmonies. I
regained some ground by using the shimmer as a textural layer in various
electroacoustic compositions. Then I dismantled it and packed it away.
The Eikosany was devised by theorist Erv Wilson and has been developed over many years by composer, instrument builder and theorist Kraig Grady, whom I eventually met in person in 2013 and to whom I am indebted for advice and guidance over the years. Using this tuning, in 2004 I composed the 8 channel work Hannah Throwing Stones - a version for electronics and a version for double string quintet. In 2005 I wrote Slow Kotekans Breaking for tuned sine waves. From 2007-2009 I designed and built a quartet of 5-string bowed zithers which gave me the twenty tones of the Eikosany in a homogenous string ensemble. For this quartet of instruments I wrote music born of solitude in 2010. For a clear understanding of the Eikosany, and it's worth the effort ifyou're looking for new musical resources, an article from the Anaphorian archives (pdf) will explain everything.
Resources
Instrument Making
Making Simple Musical Instruments (Lark Books 1995) - Bart Hopkin.
Sound Designs: A Handbook of Musical Instrument Building (Ten Speed Press
1995) - Reinhold Banek and John Scoville.
Genesis of a Music (Da Capo Press 1974) - Harry Partch.Tuning
Divisions of the Tetrachord (Frog Peak Music 1993) - John H. Chalmers Jr.
Harmonic Experience (Inner Traditions 1997) - W.A. Mathieu.
Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale (Springer 1999) - William A. Sethares.
Acoustics
On the Sensations of Tone (Dover Publications Inc. 1954) - Hermann
Helmholtz. Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics (Dover Publications Inc. 1990) - Arthur H. Benade.
Web
The Anaphorian site - Kraig Grady’s archive of seminal theoretical documents
on Just Intonation tuning systems (all generously made available for free
download). Kraig has been an inspiration and a friend throughout this project.
Cris Forster's site - this is how my instruments were meant to look.