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Chorale Interpolator

Try mousing over (or touching, if your device is touchy) the image below:

You need a browser that supports the canvas element
and has javascript enabled for this to work.

You can actually pick out individual notes and voices if you want. If you're getting no sound, make sure you have an up-to-date version of Safari, Chrome, or Firefox. If it still doesn't work, let me know. I will drop everything else and concentrate on fixing this as my sole concern.

So what the heck is this?

Well, it started when I was talking to a friend about harmonic transitions and about how a big part of what makes a harmonic motion work is smooth voice-leading (as discussed, for instance, in A Geometry of Music). This got me to thinking: what if one were to take a Bach chorale and interpolate between each of the successive harmonies microtonally, effectively glissing between adjacent notes in each voice. What transitional, microtonal harmonic wonders would be uncovered?

Well, now we have the answer.

Edit: For those of you who prefer their Bach uninterpolated, simply drag the slider below to "Von Bach will ich nicht lassen."

Von Bach will ich lassen Von Bach will ich nicht lassen