19

Gene said something the other day that I thought was very important:"...if you don't take the trouble to experience different ways of using 19, you won't know about them, whether you use it for 18 years or 80." Absolutely correct, and I would imagine one could say the same thing about any tuning. I would like to add to that comment by saying that I've recorded 5 CD's with 19 tone tunes on them, as well as produced the old tuning@eartha mills.edu,<mailto:tuning@eartha%20mills.edu,> which had another 4 19 toners that I played on, as well. And, in the span of those CD's, I've composed/played with 19 in the styles of rock, blues, jazz, classical, space music, jazz fusion, reggae, ska, country, Western swing, and several tunes that are rather hard to classify. And, I have a number of more compositions waiting in the wings as well, which will appear on upcoming CD's (my 6th is almost done, and there's 3 in 19 on there too).
Gene also mentioned that I might want to check out "negri," "Hanson," and "magic" tunings as well. But, you know, I'm a might busy feller overall, and I find that, especially as I am aging (rather rapidly), I just do not have time to investigate every opportunity that presents itself, unfortunately. So, I have not followed the development of those systems, and don't really know what makes them tick. But, that's ok, I believe, because I am always studying music, whether practicing, reading, composing, recording, teaching, or just simply thinking about it...it's really all I do (besides take care of my kid, cats, dog, weasel, and spiders). In fact, I find myself rather obsessed with music in many ways, of which tuning is only one part, but a very important part. So, even if I don't keep up with all the tuning list developments, I feel I'm going to do ok in my study of tunings. For one, I am constantly listening to music from all over the world, and learning about how different cultures tune. And, for example, I have a rather large stack of papers that Erv Wilson sent me a few years ago, which could probably keep me busy late at night until a few lives from now.
And, a comment on the tunings that Gene mentioned...as a full time teacher, I constantly look for ways to make complex subjects seem as simple as possible, and I believe I do ok with that effort; at least my students seem to think so. And, the tunings that Gene are talking about (and there's a few others as well, I believe) seem to be a dialogue between just a few people on the forum; I don't believe I've ever seen them mentioned anywhere else, in any book or paper that I've yet read. Seems like you have to be a member of a pretty small group of tuning enthusiasts to keep up, or even understand what is being talked about. And, believe me, nothing wrong with that, I don't begrudge anybody their way of enjoying music/tunings...it just, (to my way of seeing it), makes the whole rather difficult subject of tuning theory even more difficult, and I want to go in the opposite direction. So I will...
Nice discussions, see you all later...Hstick
myspace.com/microstick

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Hi Neil,

> Gene also mentioned that I might want to check out "negri,"
>"Hanson," and "magic" tunings as well. But, you know, I'm a might busy
>feller overall, and I find that, especially as I am aging (rather
>rapidly), I just do not have time to investigate every opportunity
>that presents itself, unfortunately. So, I have not followed the
>development of those systems, and don't really know what makes them
>tick. But, that's ok, I believe, because I am always studying music,
>whether practicing, reading, composing, recording, teaching, or just
>simply thinking about it...it's really all I do (besides take care of
>my kid, cats, dog, weasel, and spiders). In fact, I find myself rather
>obsessed with music in many ways, of which tuning is only one part,
>but a very important part. So, even if I don't keep up with all the
>tuning list developments, I feel I'm going to do ok in my study of
>tunings.

I'm sure that's true. I can't think of any reason NOT to try these
scales, though. Except that it might not be clear what they are!

>Seems like you have to be a member of a pretty small group
>of tuning enthusiasts to keep up, or even understand what is being
>talked about. And, believe me, nothing wrong with that, I don't
>begrudge anybody their way of enjoying music/tunings...it just, (to my
>way of seeing it), makes the whole rather difficult subject of tuning
>theory even more difficult,

I couldn't agree more. On the other hand, this stuff is pretty new,
and if it takes a few years to make it into a more digestible form it
won't be too bad. In the meantime, don't let the terminology scare
you, it's very simple:

"Hanson" was named after Larry Hanson. It's playable in both 19
and 34. Since you have a guitar from him, you might want to check
these scales out. The 7-tone version is about:
0 - 249 - 317 - 566 - 634 - 883 - 951 - 1200 cents. The step pattern
is [L s L s L s L] where L is 4 steps in 19 or 7 steps in 34, and s
is 1/19 or 2/34. This scale is based on a chain of minor 3rds
instead of a chain of 5ths. It's loaded with chords.

Magic works well as a 7- or 10-tone scale in 19. The step patterns
are [s L s L s L s] and [s M s s M s s s M s], where s = 1/19, M = 4/19,
and L = 5/19.

Play around with these, and I'll bet you be glad you did. I'll leave
Negri for another time (it isn't great in 19 or 34).

-Carl

Igs...nice to see your testimonial for 19. I've been recording in it since 1993, and have blues, jazz, reggae, Afro Pop, country, space music, solo acoustic (classical?), rock/fusion, and a piece for electric guitar with chamber orchestra. In other words, about any style you can think of. 19 is a great way to twist people's heads a bit, cause it can sound familiar, but with a twist or two. And if you ever hear my piece "Spider" (from "Other Worlds"), it's obvious that it can also sound very...other worldly...and more to come. I'm recording John Starrett's 19 tone piece "Charlene" for my upcoming CD, about a woman with a very ugly mother...somewhere between blues/country rock...best...Hstick

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On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 7:01 PM, Neil Haverstick <microstick@...> wrote:
>
> Igs...nice to see your testimonial for 19. I've been recording in it since 1993, and have blues, jazz, reggae, Afro Pop, country, space music, solo acoustic (classical?), rock/fusion, and a piece for electric guitar with chamber orchestra. In other words, about any style you can think of. 19 is a great way to twist people's heads a bit, cause it can sound familiar, but with a twist or two. And if you ever hear my piece "Spider" (from "Other Worlds"), it's obvious that it can also sound very...other worldly...and more to come. I'm recording John Starrett's 19 tone piece "Charlene" for my upcoming CD, about a woman with a very ugly mother...somewhere between blues/country rock...best...Hstick

Just one to throw out, although it's not 19-TET related, that your
piece "Beautiful Springtime" I think it was called, off of that album
is one of my favorite compositions of all time.

-Mike

Spider is excellent. Well recommended.

Neil - I can share it online for you if you so desire / need.

On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 7:01 PM, Neil Haverstick <microstick@...> wrote:

>
>
>
> Igs...nice to see your testimonial for 19. I've been recording in it since
> 1993, and have blues, jazz, reggae, Afro Pop, country, space music, solo
> acoustic (classical?), rock/fusion, and a piece for electric guitar with
> chamber orchestra. In other words, about any style you can think of. 19 is a
> great way to twist people's heads a bit, cause it can sound familiar, but
> with a twist or two. And if you ever hear my piece "Spider" (from "Other
> Worlds"), it's obvious that it can also sound very...other worldly...and
> more to come. I'm recording John Starrett's 19 tone piece "Charlene" for my
> upcoming CD, about a woman with a very ugly mother...somewhere between
> blues/country rock...best...Hstick
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Yes, I agree to this too. My it is favorite from Fretless. Besides
loving the composition - having played my fretless guitar for a while
I find the technique involved for playing those chords is truly
impressive.

On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 7:13 PM, Mike Battaglia <battaglia01@...> wrote:

>
> Just one to throw out, although it's not 19-TET related, that your
> piece "Beautiful Springtime" I think it was called, off of that album
> is one of my favorite compositions of all time.
>
> -Mike