The first Symposium on the Bohlen-Pierce Scale was held in Boston on March 7–9, 2010. The three days of lectures and concerts took place at Northeastern University, New England Conservatory, Berklee School of Music and the Goethe-Institut Boston.
Visit the Bohlen-Pierce Symposium website for an overview and the most up-to-date coverage!
The symposium offered for the first time an overview of the fascinating development of the scale system which was discovered by Heinz Bohlen and John Pierce, independent of one another in the 70s and 80s. More than twenty composers, theorists, interpreters, instrument builders and cognitive psychologists convened to exchange ideas and thoughts. The concerts offered new works hot off the press in addition to the Bohlen-Pierce classic repertoire.
One highlight was the World Premiere of a new work for four bohlen-pierce clarinets by Clarence Barlow, a pioneer in computer and microtonal music. This work was commissioned by Goethe-Institut Boston especially for the symposium.
The Symposium created quite a buzz in the media:
Boston Globe article (March 7, 2010): Symphony in j flat
WGBH Callie Crossley Show (March 15, 2010): Interview with Georg Hajdu and Psyche Loui
Thanks to Northeastern University, it is possible to listen to many of the compositions performed at the symposium. The recordings can be found atBohlen-Pierce Symposium recordings
What is a Bohlen-Pierce Scale?
At some point in our childhood, many of us ponder the use of the Base-10 system in math. What might math be like if we had evolved with a different number of fingers, and this number was used, instead, as the basis for calculations? In the 1970s Heinz Bohlen, an engineer lacking musical training yet knowledgeable in acoustics, asked himself a similar simple question: “Why must musical language always be based on the octave?” The octave, which is the framework for musical scales around the world, is the interval formed when one pitch vibrates at twice the frequency of a second, lower pitch (also the interval found between the first two partials in the overtone series). The octave therefore seems like the natural basis for our musical orientation. Bohlen wondered what would happen if we replaced the octave with the compound fifth—the interval in which the the higher pitch vibrates at three times the frequency of the lower (formed by the first and third partials in the overtone series). After some tinkering, Bohlen arrived at a new scale which not only lacks octaves, but also replaces the major triad with a chord derived from only odd partials of the overtone series. Some of the harmonies of this new scale create unfamiliar, yet very pleasant and strangely consonant sonorities, making the scale enticing not only for theorists, but also for musicians with a taste for microtonality and new sounds.
Around ten years after Bohlen formulated his scale, it was independently “discovered” again by John Robinson Pierce, another engineer, better known as the father of communications satellites, and also a close colleague of computer music icon Max Matthews. Pierce and Matthews soon dubbed the scale the “Bohlen-Piece Scale.”
The Bohlen-Pierce scale has since caught the imagination of composers, instrument builders and performers of different genres. Canadian clarinetist Stephen Fox has designed and built a number of “Bohlen-Pierce” clarinets, guitarist Ron Sword has built Bohlen-Pierce guitars, architect David Lieberman has designed an entirely new instrument named the Stredici, and there are panpipes, an organ, a kalimba, and a metallophone.
Visit the Bohlen-Pierce Symposium website for an overview and the most up-to-date coverage!
The symposium offered for the first time an overview of the fascinating development of the scale system which was discovered by Heinz Bohlen and John Pierce, independent of one another in the 70s and 80s. More than twenty composers, theorists, interpreters, instrument builders and cognitive psychologists convened to exchange ideas and thoughts. The concerts offered new works hot off the press in addition to the Bohlen-Pierce classic repertoire.
One highlight was the World Premiere of a new work for four bohlen-pierce clarinets by Clarence Barlow, a pioneer in computer and microtonal music. This work was commissioned by Goethe-Institut Boston especially for the symposium.
The Symposium created quite a buzz in the media:
Boston Globe article (March 7, 2010): Symphony in j flatWGBH Callie Crossley Show (March 15, 2010): Interview with Georg Hajdu and Psyche LouiThanks to Northeastern University, it is possible to listen to many of the compositions performed at the symposium. The recordings can be found at
Bohlen-Pierce Symposium recordingsWhat is a Bohlen-Pierce Scale?
At some point in our childhood, many of us ponder the use of the Base-10 system in math. What might math be like if we had evolved with a different number of fingers, and this number was used, instead, as the basis for calculations? In the 1970s Heinz Bohlen, an engineer lacking musical training yet knowledgeable in acoustics, asked himself a similar simple question: “Why must musical language always be based on the octave?” The octave, which is the framework for musical scales around the world, is the interval formed when one pitch vibrates at twice the frequency of a second, lower pitch (also the interval found between the first two partials in the overtone series). The octave therefore seems like the natural basis for our musical orientation. Bohlen wondered what would happen if we replaced the octave with the compound fifth—the interval in which the the higher pitch vibrates at three times the frequency of the lower (formed by the first and third partials in the overtone series). After some tinkering, Bohlen arrived at a new scale which not only lacks octaves, but also replaces the major triad with a chord derived from only odd partials of the overtone series. Some of the harmonies of this new scale create unfamiliar, yet very pleasant and strangely consonant sonorities, making the scale enticing not only for theorists, but also for musicians with a taste for microtonality and new sounds.
Around ten years after Bohlen formulated his scale, it was independently “discovered” again by John Robinson Pierce, another engineer, better known as the father of communications satellites, and also a close colleague of computer music icon Max Matthews. Pierce and Matthews soon dubbed the scale the “Bohlen-Piece Scale.”
The Bohlen-Pierce scale has since caught the imagination of composers, instrument builders and performers of different genres. Canadian clarinetist Stephen Fox has designed and built a number of “Bohlen-Pierce” clarinets, guitarist Ron Sword has built Bohlen-Pierce guitars, architect David Lieberman has designed an entirely new instrument named the Stredici, and there are panpipes, an organ, a kalimba, and a metallophone.
