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.
| 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\4 (400c). Notice that soft tunings are structured such that two generators will always make a diatonic fifth, whereas hard tunings explicitly do not; 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 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
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.
Unlike in diatonic, Mosh tends to voice lead most powerfully via large steps rather than its small ones; this is because the large step (which would be a neutral second by diatonic standards) creates a soft concordance that smoothly pulls to the target tone (usually the tonic), in contrast to the small-step resolutions of diatonic which create tension that releases onto the target tone.
From this, we can see a presently emergent paradigm for functional harmony in Soft Mosh.
