Compositional theory

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A xen music theory or a compositional theory is a framework that governs the way tuning-related elements (intervals, chords, and scales) are used in music, analogous to Western 12edo functional harmony (commonly called "music theory").

Importance

The concept of a compositional theory is distinct from tuning theory in that tuning theory tells you things like

• cent values in a tuning
• what chords, structures, and JI/DR chords (approximations or not, and approximation quality) various tuning systems have
• LCJI is a psychoacoustic effect
• DR is a psychoacoustic effect

These things don't tell you how to write music any more than an understanding of human color vision or the ways colors mix tells you how to make visual art. In contrast, a compositional theory, or compositional theories, tell you how to write music. Absent such a theoretical framework, one might unintentionally copy Western frameworks when writing xen music, though using elements of Western 12edo theory in xen music is by no means inherently bad, as long as they're used intentionally.

Examples

Examples of compositional theories:

• Jaimbee's 13edo oneirotonic functional harmony (see the 13edo article)
• Xenmodalism, which can be summed as "depict the emotion/scenery/setting/event using the chords or modes you/the listeners associate with the feelings"
• Neobaroque / Neoclassical extension to different Well Temperaments, Nejis, Mosses and Just Intonation
• Primodality, and scale-based voiceleading