music-glossary: cluster
1.56 cluster
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ES: racimo, I: cluster, F: cluster, D: Cluster, NL: ?, DK: ?, S: ?, FI:
klusteri, cluster.
A _cluster_ is a range of simultaneously sounding pitches that may
change over time. The set of available pitches to apply usually depends
on the acoustic source. Thus, in piano music, a cluster typically
consists of a continuous range of the semitones as provided by the
pianoâs fixed set of a chromatic scale. In choral music, each singer of
the choir typically may sing an arbitrary pitch within the clusterâs
range that is not bound to any diatonic, chromatic or other scale. In
electronic music, a cluster (theoretically) may even cover a continuous
range of pitches, thus resulting in colored noise, such as pink noise.
Clusters can be denoted in the context of ordinary staff notation by
engraving simple geometrical shapes that replace ordinary notation of
notes. Ordinary notes as musical events specify starting time and
duration of pitches; however, the duration of a note is expressed by the
shape of the note head rather than by the horizontal graphical extent of
the note symbol. In contrast, the shape of a cluster geometrically
describes the development of a range of pitches (vertical extent) over
time (horizontal extent). Still, the geometrical shape of a cluster
covers the area in which any single pitch contained in the cluster would
be notated as an ordinary note.
[image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music" ]
See also
........
No cross-references.
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