Maat DeMeritt - The Infinite Kiss (Official Video)

The Infinite Kiss is a solo, acoustic piano composition written in an experimental pi- and phi-based tuning. More generally, this tuning is a subset of an irrational number based tuning framework that incorporates irrational numbers and their geometric, arithmetic, and harmonic means.* The tuning has a built-in "backbone" or "anchor:" a single, just intonation major chord of the ratio 4:5:6. I added the 6:5 due to the compositional needs of the song.

I was inspired to explore pi- and phi-based tunings due, in part, to my learning that the ratio of pi to phi squared is nearly equal to 1.2 - the just intonation minor third (6:5). In other words, the musical ratio of pi:1 divided by two golden ratio intervals (phi:1) stacked on top of each other equals 1.19998. This is only off from a just minor third by about 0.04 cents, which is negligible, musically speaking. I'm also exploring the general relationship between the golden ratio and tuning, like, for example, with regard to quarter-comma meantone temperament and 5-limit JI.

I was amazed by how quickly this project came about from start to finish. I sense that this tuning has a deep, mysterious quality and a heavy emotional import, perhaps having something to do with the extreme juxtaposition of the simplest rational numbers and the extremely irrational ones, including the "most" irrational number phi.

* Or the numbers for which irrational numbers are the various means OF. For example, the square root of 3 is the geometric mean of this interval 3:1, which is an octave plus a perfect 5th. The square root of 5 is the geometric mean of 5:1, which is two octaves plus a major third, and the golden ratio is the arithmetic mean of the square root of 5.

Music written and performed by Maat DeMeritt
Video produced and edited by Maat DeMeritt

Special thanks to visual artists Mikhail Nilov (https://www.pexels.com/@mikhail-nilov/), Merlin Lightpainting (https://www.pexels.com/@merlin/), and others over at Pexels.com for their work appearing in this video.