Event overview
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Microtonal Guitar Music
Microtonal guitar music has developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Whereas the standard guitar has fixed frets which are adjusted to the 12-tone equal-temperament system, recent innovations in guitar design allow microtonal music to be played, as a result of which microtonal pieces have been added to the guitar repertoire.
The ‘Adjustable Microtonal Guitar’ is one such guitar; it was designed by Tolgahan Çogulu in 2008. All the frets on the fretboard are movable along the channels under each string; in addition, any number of frets can be inserted into or removed from the fretboard. Since 2008, more than thirty composers have written microtonal pieces in various tunings for this guitar.
In this lecture-recital, topics such as microtones, microtonal music, the history of microtonal guitars, adjustable microtonal guitar design, compositions for this guitar and arrangements of polyphonic microtonal Turkish makam music for microtonal guitar will be discussed, and some microtonal guitar music pieces will be played.
The first prize winner at Georgia Tech Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition in 2014, Tolgahan Çogulu, designed his "Adjustable Microtonal Guitar" in 2008. His first CD with microtonal guitar, Atlas, was published in 2012 by Kalan Music. His microtonal and fretless guitar duo and lecture recital, ‘Microtonal Guitar Music,’ has taken him to many festivals and universities in 32 countries. Tolgahan is building a repertoire for microtonal guitar with more than thirty composers involved at this point. In 2013, he became an Associate Professor in Guitar at Istanbul Technical University’s Turkish Music State Conservatory, where he had founded the classical guitar department in 2010 and the world’s first microtonal guitar department in 2014. His second CD ‘Microtonal Guitar Duo’ has been published by Kalan Music in June 2015. His recording of William Allaudin Mathieu’s three-movement ‘Lattice-Isi’ in just intonation was published in the US in 2016. He moved to Bristol in 2016 for a research project entitled ‘Historical Tunings on Microtonal Guitar’ at the University of Bristol.
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The Music Research Series is designed to help postgraduate students advance their research and careers. The events stimulate exchange, hones skills, facilitates the creation of professional networks and helps to consolidate the department’s postgraduate community, all over a glass of wine! Attendance is strongly recommended for all postgraduate students (MA, MMus and PGR) in Music but of course undergraduates, music researchers, and visitors from across the college and the community are also most welcome to these public lectures.
The venue is on New Cross Road, (nearly) opposite New Cross Gate train station, London SE14 6AF
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Mar 2017 | 6:00pm - 7:30pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
