The Circle of Fifths clock tells time with sound using the music theory of the Circle of Fifths. The clock will help train your ears to hear pitch and will make sense to those who can already do so. The 12 tones of the chromatic scale correspond to the 24 hours of the day. Every half hour, music sounds and the waveform of the music is displayed on a screen. The clock is structured so that one complete piece of music is played every day.

The Circle of Fifths, which works in a clockwise fashion (counter-clockwise would yield the circle of fourths) and is sometimes known as the Cycle of Fifths, explains the relationships between the 12 tones of the chromatic scale. It shows patterns that composers use to write music. The Circle of Fifths is so powerful that anyone without any understanding of music could write a beautiful piece of music with the chart below and a basic understanding of the relationships it describes. Simply explained, any note on the circle is the major fifth of the previous note in the cycle. However there are many other ways to explain the circle. Every casual musician should know it.

The clock works by playing the chord associated with a given note in the circle every hour. C major, generally considered the root of Western music, is a happy chord and represents 12:00 noon. The rest of the p.m. hours are represented by the rest of the notes that complete the major circle (G = 2, D = 3, and so forth). The A minor chord is more somber and represents midnight. The a.m. hours grow more intense with minor chords leading up to noon/C major.

The half-hours are marked by a I/V cadence, which gives a sense of the day progressing as one long musical piece. The V which finishes most cadences is the chord that will be played at the top of the next hour. 11:30 a.m. is the only half-hour that is not represented by a I/V cadence. This time begins the transition to 12:00 noon and C major, so we need a ii/I cadence here from D minor to C major. Since ii/I is not a very strong resolution, the piece is actually infinite - as infinite as time itself!

This clock can be installed on any computer running Java and connected to a screen. This clock is in the proof of concept stage and the concept is in development.* I'm working on increasing the resolution of time without jeopordizing the concept and the music will be rewritten. Hopefully at 5 o'clock people will start saying, "Drinks at B major!", or maybe, "B is for beers!"

the clock

the circle of fifths

*the clock may not render perfectly in all browsers.