Lingua Franca Notation

I hope this thread continues to be of interest to the list and I hope,
too, that we can proceed in a fashion that is without a shadow of a doubt
flameless. This slow prelude to my comments follows a year of internet
experiences which seem to demonstrate a propensity for misunderstanding
in using the medium.

Perhaps it is the notation that is at fault, since it symbolizes intent.
Maybe we will eventually communicate more fully in music. :)

That said, I think it's time to dig up an old enthmusicology chestnut:
There are 2 kinds of notation - prescriptive and descriptive. For
example, when a composer writes things for him- or herself that only he
or she fully comprehends, that is dscriptive (of the music). To be
prescrptive is to notate for others to enact the music. Ben's notation
leans to heavily back to descriptive based on past experiences with his
music. No Ben was not happy with the "slow performance" of his Hockett
for bassoon and tuba. The tubist could only go so fast with his
quartertone instrument making all the pitch adjustments, following an
incredible amount of study to calculate the pitches "perscribed."

Maybe this is where theory breaks away from practice. Please give me the
information that the computer is privy too if it is performance you
want. If you want me to translate from Hertz, then you are providing a
serious impediment before an eventual performance.

I like the idea of a Lingua Franc, especially since I have always
believed that all music is microtonal from a cross-cultural
perspective. No, one should change the notation for Charles Ives, for
example, because Ives wanted flats "flatter" and sharps "sharper" (his own
directions fully corraborated by Kirckpatrick and in several palces by Ives).

However I have to change Carrillo's number notation to cents in order to
achieve performances (except for the 96-tone harp which does well in
int). MicroMay '97 will feature a double choir work of Andrea Gabrieli
which I transcribed from neumes. Is this permissible in order to achieve
performance?

Performances, if it is deemed important for the future of microtonal
music (and just intonation composers never fail to include themselves as
"microtonalists" when a possible performance of their works is involved),
need every advantage to suceed. Frankly, they are endangered in our
culture. It has been most helpful that the word "microtonal" has been
adopted so readily in the past 5 years. Similarly, it would be terrrific
if today and tomorrow's players could count on understanding how to read
and perform any and all tunings. Cents makes the most sense.

Johnny Reinhard
Director
American Festival of Microtonal Music
318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW
New York, New York 10021 USA
(212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495
reinhard@ios.com


Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 30 Oct 1996 18:00 +0100
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA04370; Wed, 30 Oct 1996 18:01:23 +0100
Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA03063
Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
for id JAA17679; Wed, 30 Oct 1996 09:01:20 -0800
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 09:01:20 -0800
Message-Id: <91961030170119/0005695065PK5EM@MCIMAIL.COM>
Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu