Gems from the Wilson Archives
A presentation of documents of Erv Wilson that don't lend themselves to a separate section in the archives yet are illuminating in their thought or implications. Often comprised of sketches or notes found among his papers
Monday, November 12, 2018
Comma ZigZag Patterns
A new 4 page file has been added tohttp://anaphoria.com/wilsonscaletree.html entitled Comma ZigZag Patterns which you can see here http://anaphoria.com/CommaZigZags.pdf
Some common comma are used to find their location on the scale tree as an example which could be explanded. Of interest is how the epimores of succeeding zigzags are used to point out the commas inherent in each the scales presented. Also Wilson points out some hidden Epimores in the scale tree. A sample below
Saturday, March 31, 2018
An unusual 22 tone 7- limit tuning
Today's puzzle is 7 limit 22 tone scale based on a 1 9 15 35 set where the result in the lattice finds each factor is two simple ratio steps from each other. The center tetrad of 0. 3. 4. 20. in 22 tone step units is a 'tetrad' within a hexany whose outer points form two diamonds. The chart in the up left corner reflects Wilson interest in transforming a structure in a given tuning by multiplying the unit sizes, here limited to odd numbers in 22. The choice of units might reflect the all interval sets found in 13 here embedded in 22 as two interlocking diamonds.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
IN MEMORY: I REMEMBER ERV WILSON
Invited are all memories and/or comments in tribute to Erv Wilson. Please post your own recollections below or just share your thoughts in memory of this man.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
A 22 TONE 11 LIMIT CONSTANT STRUCTURE FORMED FROM A SPECIAL HEXANY STELLATION METHOD

Tuesday, March 1, 2016
SOME 5 LIMIT PENTATONICS (1982)
This is an unlabelled set of pentatonic scales in rotation in what first appeared to be a process similar to that used in his Purvi papers but was not in the end. Adjacent pages carry the year 1982. This set of 5 limit scales he has mapped over 53 squares with the whole set comprising 17 different pitches. In 53 unit sizes would be 53232323-53232323-9 implying two tetrachordal like blocks of 4/3 repeated with a 9/8 disjunction. Each interval shift involve the difference of a 25/24. The paper deserves more more attention. Comments and observations are welcome on this one.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
MAKING A DIAMOND SEEDED FROM A SCALE TREE LAYER
In this document novavotreediamond.pdf an inspection reveals that the sequence of notes is determined by common tone modulations of the top hexad. That is by shifting the hexad over one place at a time similar to going through the modes on a common tonic, a 23- note diamond like structure results illustrated at the bottom.
What is unusual is the choice of 6 notes that make up the seed to the process. It turns out this hexad is formed by the scale tree section seeded by 1/1 and 2/1 shown on page 2 and borrowed from another document. This section of the tree was the focus of Novaro who also played with some triangles that do not repeat at the octave mention in this blog in the past. so i have added an example of what type of result we can expect from that process. Here instead of using the tree a reseeding of the meru triangle is used to show another way one can visualize the sequence. What occurs in on the other side of the 2/1 differs only by commas with the lower set of pitches. This could be used as possibly a layout where one only has rooom for centain notes in each traditional octave space.
What should not be lost is the unique type of diamond presented here. It is neither a harmonically or melodically based one, but one that is formed by the tree or a descent down Mt. Meru triangle.
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The Lone Page Showing a Unique 7 limit Diamond. The Centerpiece of a File Now illustrating a Diamond Formed From the Scale tree or the Mt. Meru Triangle |
What is unusual is the choice of 6 notes that make up the seed to the process. It turns out this hexad is formed by the scale tree section seeded by 1/1 and 2/1 shown on page 2 and borrowed from another document. This section of the tree was the focus of Novaro who also played with some triangles that do not repeat at the octave mention in this blog in the past. so i have added an example of what type of result we can expect from that process. Here instead of using the tree a reseeding of the meru triangle is used to show another way one can visualize the sequence. What occurs in on the other side of the 2/1 differs only by commas with the lower set of pitches. This could be used as possibly a layout where one only has rooom for centain notes in each traditional octave space.
What should not be lost is the unique type of diamond presented here. It is neither a harmonically or melodically based one, but one that is formed by the tree or a descent down Mt. Meru triangle.
Friday, July 10, 2015
CONSIDER OLYMPOS
Consider Olympos is a preliminary paper to The Marwa Permutations and augments some details that might not be clear in general. First that a generator of a scale can be thought to be a variable within set limits and also shows how the chain can be used as a sequence to generate larger scales.
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Page one of Consider Olympos-a draft of a paper that would become his Marwa Permutations |
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