TUNING digest 874

Re: Johnny Reinhard on cent notation.

There is a deeper aesthetic issue behind the notation question. If it is my
intention to compose in a texture of fixed pitches, then cents are a
reasonable notation. If however, my intention is to have just intonation in
a harmonic texture, then it is more appropriate to ask the players to
locate the tones by intervals expressed as ratios (perhaps with cents as an
ancillary notation) and to tune these intervals by eliminating beats.

In my String Trio _Figure and Ground_, I used a cent notation in the first
version of the third movement. Even with the best players, the results were
unsatisfactory, because points of reference were lost as the general pitch
level tends to drift, rendering fixed cent intervals all but useless. A
renotation with ratios attached solved all the problems and the Thuermchen
ensemble has since played the piece with real success (a cd will be
released next year).

In my second string quartet, _Field Work_, I require a serious retuning of
15 of the sixteeen open strings. In that the pitches are relatively prime,
and only open strings and natural harmonics are used, I find that what is
essentially a tablature notation suffices. But in this case, the players
are not asked to locate pitches during the performance as the locating has
taken place beforehand (via electronic tuning instruments and reduced
beating).

Of course, there are countries like France or Belgium where a fixed do
solfeggio has been drummed into the heads of all _conservertoire_
musicians, and there are some musicians with so-called _absolute pitch_.
In these cases, the chances of obtaining a just intonation via reduced
beating are practically hopeless. (I myself have a good pitch memory, but
Choir singing and trombone playing have taught me to turn this facility on
and off in deference to relative pitch)

Daniel Wolf, Frankfurt

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