Editing Paul Lansky (section)

==Harmony==
Most of Lansky's works are basically tonal. In general terms this means the apparent background source for his pitch language is the diatonic scale rather than the chromatic or microtonal scale. He frequently uses traditional tonal syntax. During 1969–72 he collaborated with [[George Perle]] on an expansion of Perle's 12-tone tonality, which led to Perle's book of the same name. This approach basically establishes another metric for measuring and relating harmonies that has to do with symmetry. It is related to some music by Bartok. Some of Lansky's work such as ''Notes to Self'', for piano, and ''It All Adds Up'', for two pianos, use this approach.  Lansky's instrumental music generally eschews extended instrumental techniques.  He writes that he scratched that itch with computer music.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Still Time, for computer synthesized tape {{!}} De... |url=https://www.allmusic.com/composition/still-time-for-computer-synthesized-tape-mc0002533790 |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=[[AllMusic]] |language=en}}</ref>

A long-term interest of Lansky's is music "about" music. Earlier examples of this are his computer pieces ''Guy's Harp'', about blues harmonica, and ''Not So Heavy Metal'', about rock and roll guitar. More recent examples are ''Book of Memory'', which comments on music from Machaut to Scriabin, ''Ancient Echoes'', based on late-16th-century dance music, and ''Ricercare Plus'', inspired by 17th-century counterpoint.