JCself came about by itself

Between tonal and serial

Calculating and weighting

In tonal music some notes weigh more than others: the tonic first, then dominant and subdominant. And every note has a function – everything relates to everything else, strives, resolves, leads back. These weights and relationships are given before the piece begins: by the composer, by tradition.

Serial music does not weight. All twelve notes are equal; the row fixes their order, and duration, dynamics and timbre follow rows of their own. The composer sets the row, and also how it is handled – inversion, retrograde, transposition. Everything is calculated, and the calculation rules out any preference.

JCself stands in between. From serial music it takes the calculating: every note is computed, not invented. From tonal music it takes the weighting: some notes weigh more than others, and everything arranges itself around them. Only one thing it does not take: function. No note is tonic or dominant from the outset. And nobody sets which notes gain weight – no tradition, no row, no handling of a row: it arises in the calculating itself. Like virtual particles, notes appear and vanish again; what gathers weight stays and steers the next choice. So hills form, a peak arises, and duration, dynamics, space and accompanying voices align with it. It grows, holds, fades, and another takes its place.

The calculating from serial music, the weighting from tonal music – and no function: that is JCself.