The January 2022 tonality of the month is Aeolian (natural minor), a diatonic heptatonality.
1) Aeolian — very calm sound sample — Dec. 2021 — 3:30 loop — plays until stopped or you go to another page on this tab2) Aeolian — calm sound sample — December 2021 — 2:28 loop 3) Aeolian — rhythmic sound sample — December 2021 — 2:44 loop4) Aeolian — short rhythmic sound sample — June 2020 — 0:40 loop
The tonality of the month of January 2022 is Aeolian (natural minor), a regular diatonic heptatonality that is fully anchored. The octave of the diatonic tonality matrix includes five whole steps and two half steps (or semitones). And either two or three consecutive whole steps, a pair and a trio, alternate in separating the two individual half steps from each other.
You may enjoy a sound sample loop, such as the one of the tonality of the month, as sound mantra for contemplation or meditation, for upliftment, focusing, or simply for relaxation and regeneration as soothing background sound. Further, you could hum or chant along, for example using Ōṁ / Aum ॐ, HU, or another mantra syllable that suits you, and tune yourself to the fundamental.
The miracle of the present moment — December 2021 — near Grächwil / Meikirch, Switzerland
This December 2021 Tonalibus update extends an invitation to an upcoming concert in Basel on February 10. Further, it announces the Fidibus shop release of playlists for free continual listening. And it touches on the completion of the catalogue of tonalities and the expansion of the glossary. Finally, an inspiring quote concludes this Tonalibus update.
Invitation to a cooperation concert in Basel, Switzerland
(More info and program highlights forthcoming in January.)
Fidibus shop news: Free playlists
Tonalibus playlists offer easy and free continual listening and downloading of individual pieces. Tune in and enjoy!
The playlists offered at this time in the Fidibus shop are:
High mountains on fire, light, and sound — playlist Tonalibus D — so far: five new pieces, 33 minutes — a work in progress, accumulating like snow on the mountains
Riding the wave’s crest — playlist Tonalibus C — ten pieces, mid 2021, 67 minutes
Relishing the present — playlist Tonalibus B — nine pieces, early 2021, 45 minutes
Creative joy of a new life — playlist Tonalibus A — twelve pieces, 2020, 39 minutes
Tonalibus news: Catalogue completion
The Tonalibus catalogue of anchored tonalities, after all, appears reasonably complete with its eighty entries. A recent concluding addition was the TetraNa progression. Besides the previously announced tonality TetraNa, this progression presents the three TetraNa inversions: Norcor, Locor, and Upcor.
“Inversion progression, from here to there and back” — 8-string guitar, bass, Tibetan (tingsha) cymbal pair — TetraNa inversion Norcor, progression to Dorian via PentaMinLa / Pentabal and back — 7:26 — as loop on a separate tab — TetraNa progression visuals and plain sound samples you find on the page TetraNa progression
Harmony is when opposites meet and circles close in unity — while remaining open-ended. The TetraNa progression exemplifies this quite visibly in its relative simplicity.
TetraNa, as tetratonality, spans only four notes, the fundamental and initial three overtones of the harmonic series. This progression rounds off the Tonalibus catalogue of tonalities, after growing to a considerable number of entries. It unifies the overtone foundation with pattern progression, full and partial, progressive and regressive, as well as anchored and to some extent also not anchored.
Harmony in its widest sense includes and remains open to everything and all. This progression stands for how the Tonalibus catalogue is to remain open-ended after reaching some level of completeness of something that in its entirety will always escape complete human grasp, will always be greater and go further — harmony, here in its expression as myriad of anchored tonalities.
Tonalibus news: Glossary expansion
The glossary defines basic and unique terms and names used by Tonalibus. It is the first option under Concepts in the top menu or on the Concepts page. Now it includes also the various key syllables used by Tonalibus in tonality names. Thus, a tonality name can express the inherent structure of the corresponding tonality.
The terms in the glossary are ordered alphabetically. However, this order differs from one language to another. This website automatically pulls up the version corresponding to the language of your system or your geographic location, e.g., with the links mentioned above. With the following links though you may see the different language specific glossary versions. The glossary in English translates to German, French, and Italian but keeps the alphabetic order of the terms in English. While the versions of the glossary in German, in French, and in Italian remain in the given language and list the terms in proper alphabetic order accordingly.
Spiritualibus quote
“The essential nature of words is, therefore, neither exhausted by their present meaning, nor is their importance confined to their usefulness as transmitters of thoughts and ideas; but they express, at the time, qualities which are not translatable into concepts. This is like a melody which, though it may be associated with a deep meaning, cannot be described by words or by any other medium of expression. It is that irrational quality which stirs up our deepest feelings, elevates our innermost being, and makes it vibrate with those with whom we are closely related in love and work.”
“All that is visible clings to the invisible, the audible to the inaudible, the tangible to the intangible, and, of course, the thinkable to the unthinkable.”
— The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, Books One & Two, Paul Twitchell, pp. 414-415
Happy holidays and the best 2022!
The miracle of the present moment — December 2021 — near Grächwil / Meikirch, Switzerland
The December 2021 tonality of the month is HexaLocorMin, a hexatonality.
1) HexaLocorMin — rhythmic sound sample — 2:27 loop — plays until stopped or you go to another page on this tab.2) HexaLocorMin — calm sound sample — 8-string guitar — August 2021 — 2:03 loop
The tonality of the month of December 2021 is HexaLocorMin, a (Lo)Cor hexatonality that is partially anchored. Its lower half consists of Core pitches and the upper is PhrygAeolian. Locor tonalities include the three initial of the four corners of the sound temple, i.e. North, East, and South, but not West. Another Locor tonality is HexaLocorReach. Further, HexaLocorMin is closely related to BlueMin, LoReachUpMin, and ReachUpMin. They all include two, BlueMin even three, consecutve half steps. Plus HexaLocorMin is in various degrees related to other Core tonalities, especially HexaCorMix, BlueMix, LoReachUpMix, and ReachUpMix.
You may enjoy a sound sample loop, such as the one of the tonality of the month, as sound mantra for contemplation or meditation, for upliftment, focusing, or simply for relaxation and regeneration as soothing background sound. Further, you could hum or chant along, for example using Ōṁ / Aum ॐ, HU, or another mantra syllable that suits you, and tune yourself to the fundamental.
Tonalibus office and balcony before sunrise — August 2021 — Grächwil, Switzerland
This October/November 2021 Tonalibus update presents select sound samples of tonalities recently added to the Tonalibus catalogue. It touches on the massive, now concluding expansion of the tonalities catalogue of the past months. The total number of distinct, fully and partially anchored tonalities present now rose to eighty. Finally, a quote on mast fruiting ends this Tonalibus update.
Select new sound samples
The following recordings are all from November 2021. There was a two months break, because of travel and the failure of a technical component in the Tonalibus studio.
This year brought about many refinements and additions to the Tonalibus catalogue. By now, the total number of distinct tonalities in the catalogue has doubled from initially around forty to eighty. At first, it was just a trickle of new additions. Then, in recent months they grew to quite an avalanche. One trigger was finding that some pitches can be more harmonious when approached from one side than from the other. Another trigger was a deeper study and application of the harmonics or overtone series.
This year’s catalogue refinements included additional tonality classifications and naming improvements. As such, the secondary groupings of Pro(gressive) and Reg(ressive), Cor(e), and Na(tural harmonics) tonalities came about. Further, new subgroups now help keep the number of tonalities in a group and the corresponding website menu structure more manageable — i.e. for Reach, hexa-, and pentatonalities. The latter two benefited from individual name improvements, while all tonalities came to have the initial letter of each component in their name capitalized.
New additions to the catalogue were mentioned in previous Tonalibus updates, e.g. seventeen of them in the September update. Since then, another ten tonalities appeared in the catalogue: BlueMin, LoloReachMin, LoloReach, LoloReachMix, LoReachUpMaj, HexaBluNa or HexaLolo, HexaNaTriMin, HexaNaTriMix, PentaBluNa, and PentaNaTri. The main triggers for their appearance are mentioned above. But there was one further, particular impetus to reevaluate and then accept LoReachUpMaj. This was the only tonality still missing to complete the mapping of a specific heptatonality in the catalogue to each of the I Ching hexagrams, an ongoing Tonalibus project.
From The Council of Pecans — Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
“If one tree fruits, they all fruit — there are no soloists. Not one tree in a grove, but the whole grove; not one grove in the forest, but every grove; all across the country and all across the state. The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. Exactly how they do this, we don’t yet know. But what we see is the power of unity. What happens to one happens to us all. We can starve together or feast together. All flourishing is mutual.” — p. 15
“Through unity, survival. All flourishing is mutual. … all are the beneficiaries of reciprocity.” — p. 20
“There is something like a mycorrhizal network that unites us, an unseen connection of history and family and responsibility to both our ancestors and our children… standing together for the benefit of all.” — p. 21
Stay tuned for more Tonalibus developments — and fare well! — Autumn hydrangea, photo by Karin Gsöllpointner
The November 2021 tonality of the month is LoloReachMaj, a Reach heptatonality.
1) LoloReachMaj — rhythmic sound sample — 3:15 loop — plays until stopped or you go to another page on this tab.2) LoloReachMaj — calm sound sample — 8-string guitar — August 2021 — 3:26 loop
The tonality of the month of November 2021 is LoloReachMaj, a fully anchored Reach (or harmonic) heptatonality. Also known as Ionian #2 of the Neapolitan scales, it actually is Ionian with the raised major second. Belonging to the subgroup of Lolo Reach tonalities, it is their first present in the Tonalibus catalogue. Further in this subgroup are LoloReachMin, LoloReach, and LoloReachMix. These very recently qualified as coming additions to the catalogue, along with the closely related tonalities HexaBluNa and PentaBluNa.
You may enjoy a sound sample loop, such as the one of the tonality of the month, as sound mantra for contemplation or meditation, for upliftment, focusing, or simply for relaxation and regeneration as soothing background sound. Further, you could hum or chant along, for example using Ōṁ / Aum ॐ, HU, or another mantra syllable that suits you, and tune yourself to the fundamental.
Color explosion of a hydrangea in late fall — October 2021 – Grächwil, Switzerland — photo by Karin Gsöllpointner
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