Mosh

The Mosh scale, or 3L 4s, serves as a common framework for many temperaments and structures generated by a stack of diatonic thirds in the neutral to major range, or diatonic sixths in the minor to neutral range.

General scale theory

The Mosh scale has seven modes, whose names are given by Andrew Heathwaite.

Modes of Mosh

Mode Name	Pattern	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
Dril	LsLsLss	M	P	M	M	A	M
Gil	LsLssLs	M	P	M	M	P	M
Kleeth	LssLsLs	M	P	m	M	P	M
Bish	sLsLsLs	m	P	m	M	P	M
Fish	sLsLssL	m	P	m	M	P	m
Jwl	sLssLsL	m	P	m	m	P	m
Led	ssLsLsL	m	d	m	m	P	m

Like all MOS scales, tunings of Mosh can be placed into two categories: soft and hard. Soft tunings have a generator between 2\7 (343c) and 3\10 (360c), while hard tunings have a generator between 3\10 (360c) and 1\3 (400c). Notice that soft tunings are structured such that two generators will always make a diatonic fifth, whereas hard tunings create an antipentic generator; this creates a clear divide in how these two types of tunings are handled.

The qualities of scale degrees in soft and hard Mosh can be compared to diatonic qualities with neutral, augmented, and diminished intervals:

Mosh vs. Diatonic

Mosh Degree	Mosh Quality	Soft	Hard
2	minor	dia n2	m2
	major	dia M2	A2
3	diminished	dia m3	d3
	perfect	dia n3	dia M3
4	minor	dia P4	dia d4
	major	dia A4	dia AA4
5	minor	dia d5	dia dd5
	major	dia P5	dia A5
6	perfect	dia n6	dia m6
	augmented	dia M6	dia A6
7	minor	dia m7	dia d7
	major	dia n7	dia M7

Chords and tendency tones

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Soft Mosh

In the soft tuning of Mosh, we may notice that two generators create an approximation of 3/2, and thus the generator sequence creates useful tertian chords; on most degrees, these chords will be "neutral," splitting that fifth in half. The minor fifth degree, on the other hand, roughly approximates 13/9, which makes the characteristic triad of the Jwl mode roughly approximate 9:11:13, and the characteristic triad of Led roughly approximates its utonal counterpart, 1/(13:11:9). For clarity's sake, these chords will not be given new arcane names, and will simply be referred to with the names of their modes.

Unlike in diatonic, soft Mosh does not possess clear leading tones, with the smaller of its two step sizes representing a size category between the whole tone and semitone of diatonic; this Mosh minor second step is not tense, but still creates tendency tones as its motion is sweet and concordant compared to the more sturdy and sure sound of the major second. Because each mode of Mosh contains a minor second interval either above or below its tonic degree (with Bish uniquely having both), there is a clear path to resolution in all modes, and a means of creating secondary leading functions in melodies extended to chromatic harmony.

Whereas the location of the tritone in diatonic is often the clearest way to orient oneself in a mode, the "diminished third" interval of the Mosh scale is similarly a very clear way to orient oneself in a mode. Specifically, this tension tends to resolve inwards by minor second intervals to reach a unison; this causes the degrees which form this diminished third to become important tendency tones.

From all this, we can see a presently emergent paradigm for functional harmony in Soft Mosh, a "neutral tonality" which can be described cleanly with the Kleeth mode as its default tonal center. Below are the chords of the Kleeth mode; tendency tones are shown in bold.

Chords of Kleeth

Degrees	Quality	Functional description
1 - 3 - 5	Neutral	Tonic triad.
2 - 4 - 6	Led	Useful predominant function. Creates motion towards III by way of tendency tones 2 and 4.
3 - 5 - 7	Neutral	Primary dominant chord, containing the tendency tone 7 and moving about the generator circle.
4 - 6 - 1	Neutral	Expansion of subdominant area. Creates motion from tonic to elsewhere.
5 - 7 - 2	Neutral	Expansion of dominant or predominant area, containing degree 2 (creating pull towards 3).
6 - 1 - 3	Neutral	Primary subdominant chord, "opposite" of III. Creates motion from tonic to elsewhere.
7 - 2 - 4	Jwl	Useful predominant function. Creates motion towards III by way of tendency tones 2 and 4.

Note that in the above analysis, subdominant (motion away from tonic) and predominant (motion towards dominant) are treated as different tonal areas, unlike in diatonic-based harmony where these functions use the same chords and thus become functionally identical.

The functional paradigm for tonal music in Mosh is therefore some form of T - (Sd) - (Pd) - D - T, with the clearest representation of these functions being I - (VI) - (vii) - III - I; this motion is roughly analogous to the I - (IV) - V - I skeleton which is characteristic of diatonic music.