The mathematical operations of multiplication have several applications to music.

Other than its

application to the frequency ratios of intervals (e.g., Just intonation, and the twelfth root of two
in equal temperament), it has been used in other ways for twelve-tone technique, and musical set
theory. Additionally ring modulation is an electrical audio process involving multiplication that
has been used for musical effect.
A multiplicative operation is a mapping in which the argument is multiplied (Rahn 1980, 53).
Multiplication originated intuitively in interval expansion, including tone row order number
rotation, for example in the music of Bla Bartk and Alban Berg (Schuijer 2008, 7778). Pitch
number rotation, Fnferreihe or "five-series" and Siebenerreihe or "seven-series", was first
described by Ernst Krenek in ber neue Musik (Krenek 1937; Schuijer 2008, 7778). Princetonbased theorists, including "James K. Randall [1962], Godfrey Winham [1970], and Hubert S.
Howe [1967] were the first to discuss and adopt them, not only with regards to twelve-tone
series" (Schuijer 2008, 81).

Contents
[hide]

1 Pitch class multiplication modulo 12

2 Pitch multiplication
3 Mirror form of multiplication
4 Z-relation
5 References
6 Further reading

[edit] Pitch class multiplication modulo 12

When dealing with pitch class sets, multiplication modulo 12 is a common operation. Dealing
with all twelve tones, or a tone row, there are only a few numbers which one may multiply a row
by and still end up with a set of twelve distinct tones. Taking the prime or unaltered form as P0,
multiplication is indicated by Mx, x being the multiplicator:

The following table lists all possible multiplications of a chromatic twelve-tone row:
M
0
1
2
3

M (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11) mod 12
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
0 3 6 9 0 3 6 9 0 3 6 9

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

8
10
0
2
4
6
8
10

0
3
6
9
0
3
6
9

4
8
0
4
8
0
4
8

8
1
6
11
4
9
2
7

0
6
0
6
0
6
0
6

4
11
6
1
8
3
10
5

8
4
0
8
4
0
8
4

0
9
6
3
0
9
6
3

4
2
0
10
8
6
4
2

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Note that only M1, M5, M7, and M11 give a one to one mapping (a complete set of 12 unique
tones). This is because each of these numbers is relatively prime to 12. Also interesting is that
the chromatic scale is mapped to the circle of fourths with M5, or fifths with M7, and more
generally under M7 all even numbers stay the same while odd numbers are transposed by a
tritone. This kind of multiplication is frequently combined with a transposition operation. It was
first described in print by Herbert Eimert, under the terms "Quartverwandlung" (fourth
transformation) and "Quintverwandlung" (fifth transformation) (Eimert 1950, 2933), and has
been used by the composers Milton Babbitt (Morris 1997, 238 & 24243; Winham 1970, 65
66), Robert Morris (Morris 1997, 23839 & 243), and Charles Wuorinen (Hibbard 1969, 157
58). This operation also accounts for certain harmonic transformations in jazz (Morris 1982,
15354).
Thus multiplication by the two meaningful operations (5 & 7) may be designated with M5(a) and
M7(a) or M and IM (Schuijer 2008, 7778).

[edit] Pitch multiplication

Pierre Boulez (1971,[page needed]) described an operation he called pitch multiplication, which is
somewhat akin to the Cartesian product of pitch class sets. Given two sets, the result of pitch
multiplication will be the set of sums (modulo 12) of all possible pairings of elements between
the original two sets. Its definition:

For example, if multiplying a C major chord {0,4,7} with a dyad containing C,D {0,2}, the result
is:

In this example, a set of 3 pitches multiplied with a set of 2 pitches gives a new set of 3 2
pitches. Given the limited space of modulo 12 arithmetic, when using this procedure very often
duplicate tones are produced, which are generally omitted. This technique was used most
famously in Boulez's 1955 masterpiece Le marteau sans matre, as well as in his Third Piano
Sonata, Pli selon pli, Eclat (and Eclat multiples), Figures-Doubles-Prisms, Domaines, and

Cummings ist der Dichter, as well as the withdrawn choral work, Oubli signal lapid (1952)
(Koblyakov 1990; Heinemann 1993 and 1998).

[edit] Mirror form of multiplication

Chromatic scale into circle of fourths and/or fifths through multiplication as mirror operation
(Eimert 1950, cited in Schuijer 2008, p.80) Play (helpinfo) or chromatic scale (helpinfo),
circle of fourths (helpinfo), or circle of fifths (helpinfo).
Herbert Eimert spoke of the "eight modes" of the twelve-tone series, all mirror forms of one
another, the inverse obtained through a horizontal mirror, the retrograde and retrograde-inverse
through a vertical mirror, and the "cycle-of-fourths-transform" or Quartverwandlung and "cycleof-fifths-transform" or Quintverwandlung obtained through a slanting mirror (Eimert 1950, 28
29).
Furthermore, one can sort of move the mirror at an angle, that is the 'angle' of a fourth or fifth, so
that the chromatic row is reflected in both cycles...In this way, one obtains the cycle-of-fourths
transform and the cycle-of-fifths transform of the row.
Eimert, (Eimert 1950, 29, trans. Schuijer 2008, 81)

[edit] Z-relation
Some Z-related chords are connected by M or IM (multiplication by 5 or multiplication by 7),
due to identical entries for 1 and 5 on the APIC vector (Schuijer 2008, 98n18).