Steps To The Sea
By Julia Werntz
Julia Werntz’s manual “Steps to the Sea: Ear Training and Composing in a Minute Equal Temperament,” is available together with several other excellent articles on microtonal music, in the book 1001 Microtones, published by von Bockel Verlag in Hamburg, Germany—edited by Sarvenaz Safari and Manfred Stahnke. “Steps to the Sea” contains ear training and compositional exercises, and analysis. It is the text now used in the Microtonal Composition Composition and Performance class at the New England Conservatory, taught by Werntz since 2007 (created by Joseph Maneri in 1979—see thumbnail images for more information). The process of ear training, understanding, and beginning to compose is broken down into manageable steps. Numerous audio examples are provided—the composition exercises beautifully performed by violist Mat Maneri, and the simple ear training drills with midi.
Note: “Steps to the Sea,” and four other articles in the book, are in English, while the remaining four are in German.
1001 Microtones is available for purchase here: (If that link doesn’t work, go to http://shop.positionen.net/index.php and enter “1001 Mikrotone” in the search field.) Alternatively, you can order the book by email from bestellung@bockelverlag.de
Preliminary Studies in the Virtual Pitch Continuum
By Joseph G. Maneri and Scott A. Van Duyne
Preliminary Studies in the Virtual Pitch Continuum is a book of ear-training and compositional exercises using 72 equal divisions of the octave. For over two decades it was used in the New England Conservatory’s legendary Microtonal Composition and Performance class, created by Joseph Maneri. Accompanying CD contains audio tracks for all musical examples in the book. Supplementary microtonal ear-training CD by Julia Werntz included.
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