I am very proud to finally release my first book!
It has been over four years in the making, and a bit of a wild ride, but it is finally here, in digital form at least. This is my first time selling an ebook online, but if I've done this right there should be a PayPal Buy Now button at the bottom of this page taking you to payments, and then you should be redirected to a copy of the PDF itself, which you should be able to download from Google Drive. The file is around 100MB. To buy the book for NZD$42 (about USD$26), scroll down to the bottom of this post, and hit that Buy Now button.
For those who haven't heard anything about the book and want to know a little background, below is a copy of a post I made on Facebook a few weeks ago, leading up to the release, describing a little of the book, although even in those last few weeks the book has grown from 340 to over 400 pages, and I have made several reasonably big changes since then.
After about 4 years chipping away at it, I am ALMOST ready to release my first book, "Microtonality in 55 keys: An introduction to scales and chords on generalised keyboards in alternate tunings". I initially had intended to have it finished before July, where I would be talking about it at the UnTwelve microtonal music camp in the States just before the Lumatone Keyboard was due to be released, but due to Covid, that never eventuated, and since the Lumatone has been delayed yet again, I am still somewhat on schedule in a very loose way!
This is not going to be a book for everyone, and as you can probably tell from the title, the target audience is probably rather small. However, I hope it is a useful reference and guide for that target audience, and hope that in time, the small niche of generalised microtonal keyboard users grows. Over just the last few years we have seen a reasonable increase of people curious to delve into microtonality and music that isn't locked into being quantised to 12 equally spaced pitches per octave, from young prodigies like Jacob Collier to music YouTubers like Adam Neely, to prolific bands like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and even in this world where 12-tone pitch correction is king, we have heard even big pop artists using the occasional microtonal tweak or riff to bring new colours into the tapestry.
This book is far from a complete reference book, and I could spend many more years of days off and hours away from teaching and playing music adding more and more to it, tidying it up, and marketing it to a wider audience, however, through about 10 years exploring alternate tunings, and about 8 years exploring with the Axis49 generalised keyboard, I've seen this grow from a few pieces of paper penciled in with hexagons, note names and cent values to this currently 340-plus-page document. Although I could definitely do more with it, I’ve decided if I don’t release it soon, I’d just keep working on it and never move onto other projects. So, before long, it’s going out into the world.
I’m hoping this book will be helpful for the users of any generalised keyboard, including the forthcoming Lumatone, though with a particular emphasis on the Bosanquet layout, the only layout I’ve encountered so far where I feel like there is a perfect fusion of being able to transfer pretty much everything learnt at the traditional (Halberstadt layout) keyboard with a couple of rethinks for fingering, isomorphism, meaning one fingering and shape works for all possible keys, it shows enharmonic distinctions obviously with different “ranks”, and it means you can often play pretty similarly to how you would on a regular keyboard, plus you get to throw in whatever microtonal inflections you see or hear fit. The pentatonic - diatonic - chromatic - enharmonic - commatic sorts of pitch sets are also usually visible on the keyboard stretching outwards from the centre.
I have attached a few screenshots from my current version, though I am still making a few changes, so you can have a look through and gauge your interest. Please do leave a comment if you are interested, as I will be setting up sale of the book before too long.
I am hoping to sell the book in digital-only form for NZD$42 (around USD$26 at the current time) through PayPal, which I think is very reasonable for a one-of-a-kind guide to a very small number of keyboards, and introduction to a generalised framework applicable to all music making in different keys, tonalities, tuning systems, and styles. However I want to make sure there’s no barrier stopping anyone interested in the material from accessing it. Hopefully we see a rise in microtonal collaboration, and these little efforts make even more ripples in the waters of the wider music world. I did think about a print copy, but I don't think it is feasible for me right now.
A huge thanks to some of the people who have made this possible, most of whom I’ve met in this neat online community of microtonalists - Margo Schulter, Eric Ederer, Kite Giedraitis, Paul Erlich, Jacques Dudon, Vincenzo Sicurella, Lillian Hearne, Dave Keenan, Kraig Grady, Deja Igliashon, Mike Battaglia, Georg Vogel, Johannes Keller, and the late George Secor. Plus of course without the groundwork laid out by Robert Bosanquet and Ervin Wilson, this project wouldn’t have been possible. Plus of course my incredibly supportive partner Natsuki Nomichi, who has been by my side the whole way. Ngā mihi nui, and please let me know if you’re interested! Cam
For those who want a little look at some of what the book has to offer, below is a little preview featuring a page each from several sections in the book, so you can try before you buy. By my latest rough count the book has 404 pages, about 470 colour diagrams, and about 87000 words, so there should be plenty there to explore!
Although having a generalised keyboard means that you would get the most out of it, so that you can literally play through everything discussed, and discover the ways you might use these ideas in your music, the book might also be of some interest for musicians looking for more musical resources, or those who feel trapped in certain keys, since almost the whole book is written in a generalised notation that can be applied in every key.
Click the Buy Now button below to buy the book!
Thanks enormously for supporting my work in this little niche, helping discover a little more about how to extend conventional music understanding to incorporate tuning too!
I hope that some day soon this rather fringe interest and my work as a piano and music teacher will intersect more directly, with more musicians interested in instruments like the Lumatone or other generalised keyboards and other musical interfaces that support microtonality.
Although I haven't made much music for a while, here are a couple of links to my archive and soundcloud pages. If you are totally new to the world of microtonality, send me a facebook message or an email, or comment here, and I would be more than happy to make you a little listening list to ease you in to the world of music outside of 12-tone equal temperament! Ngā mihi nui,
Cam
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