This master's thesis explores how to make new music and compositions based on ancient Greek musical theory, practice, and fine-tuning. One part of the thesis aims only to outline the various ancient Greek devices (i.e., scales, fine-tunings, etc.). Another part inquires into how the Greeks themselves may have used these, although with a modern lens. This section does not intend to draw definitive conclusions, but rather to inform modern use. The remaining and primary section explores possible modern applications. This entails the more conventional devices, such as the modes, in both monophonic and polyphonic textures, and discerning their respective functions and characteristics. Here, the thesis proposes that an effective method in discerning modes is to identify their respective leading tones, or lack thereof, and their direction. By this line of reasoning, it is then observed that the Greeks' most traditional mode has unidirectional leading tones in a descending direction that can be exploited in composition. Regarding the more peculiar devices, this thesis suggests that the microtonal and chromatic notes may be viewed as non-chord tones, such as passing tones (as previously suggested by another scholar), as well as neighbor tones, suspensive tones, anticipative tones, and so on. Some of these non-chord tones serve a leading function, while others just add color. Regarding fine-tunings, the thesis proposes that they may be understood through the degree of resonance. For instance, pure thirds that are chord tones constituting major resonance (a high agreement of partials and fundamentals) can be fine-tuned into a variant of the same interval of minor resonance, such as neutral or septimal thirds. This will make thirds function as non-chord tones instead, practically. Small fine-tuning adjustments such as this will thus change a tone's context in phrases, such as making a resolution note into an additional tension note.
Asbjørn Berg (Fri,) studied this question.