just to throw something different into the mix...
I often work with multi-octave scales. Usually, I build these using tetrachords. This works very nicely, as you can get very rich harmonic textures, yet also preserve the natural beauty of stepwise motion inherent in diatonic scales. This was kind of inspired by Schillinger, in that I make scales which take two or three octaves to repeat (his different levels of symmetry).
Mind you, you pretty much have to start shifting your thinking to counterpoint, or at least layering of linear (horizontal) material -- traditional harmony tends to break down a little with multi-octave scales. (Though Schillinger has that very slick notion of scale expansions, which can produce harmonic continuities for pretty much any scale...) Not much talk of counterpoint here... hmm... anybody? And unless I didn't read properly (very possible) nobody's mentioned octatonic scales, which can create wonderful textures and melodic gestures, and can also jump around different harmonies quite freely, being composed of superimped diminished chords. But then, maybe my problem is that I really always think in scales/intervals, not in "chords", per se.
cheers,
J.
I often work with multi-octave scales. Usually, I build these using tetrachords. This works very nicely, as you can get very rich harmonic textures, yet also preserve the natural beauty of stepwise motion inherent in diatonic scales. This was kind of inspired by Schillinger, in that I make scales which take two or three octaves to repeat (his different levels of symmetry).
Mind you, you pretty much have to start shifting your thinking to counterpoint, or at least layering of linear (horizontal) material -- traditional harmony tends to break down a little with multi-octave scales. (Though Schillinger has that very slick notion of scale expansions, which can produce harmonic continuities for pretty much any scale...) Not much talk of counterpoint here... hmm... anybody? And unless I didn't read properly (very possible) nobody's mentioned octatonic scales, which can create wonderful textures and melodic gestures, and can also jump around different harmonies quite freely, being composed of superimped diminished chords. But then, maybe my problem is that I really always think in scales/intervals, not in "chords", per se.
cheers,
J.