In June 1982, I began a project to realize a pure tuning system for orchestral and chamber ensemble works. The tuning is a mirror reflection of the actual complex tones which make up the ideal, harmonic structure of the physical wave energy produced by a vibrating string. This system necessitated the design and construction of instruments which could be tuned directly to the exact intervals of the first seven octaves of the harmonic series (128 notes). This tuning makes it possible to determine and produce specific resultant (or differential) tones. Compositional structures have been determined by the logical geometric symmetry of the harmonic series. The series is a natural phenomenon which exists as a physical manifestation of symmetry and form. The existence alone of this language in nature seems to explain itself as a reflection of its own logic. The existence of this language as music seems to indicate music as reflection of the movement of its own sound waves net a symbolic, but a literal expression of dynamic symmetry in time. Ideally every aspect of the tuning, instrument design, compositional structure and performance should reflect the logic of the harmonic series.
