Differential notes - Baka Pygmies

David R. Canright said :

>That's a very interesting idea you propose, of adaptive vocal inflection
>organized around pentatonic scales. You mention measuring basic steps of
>7/6,
>8/7, and 9/8. As it happens, Rick Tagawa, a composer who studied
>ethnomusicology at UCLA, used the same intervals in reconstructing African
>scales (I can't remember from where). However, the particular scale he used
>in composing with an African sound was:
>
>tones: 1/1 8/7 21/16 3/2 7/4
>steps: 8/7 147/128 8/7 7/6 8/7
>
>which has the unusual step 147/128 (239.6 cents), rather close in size to an
>8/7 (231.2 cents) step, and has no 9/8.
>
I thank him for his comment. I'd like to find a way to locate Rick Tagawa.
I encountered some examples of the scale described above too, but I
explained the presence of 147/128 (239.6 cents) by this operation : 7/6
(267) + 9/8 (204) - 8/7 (231) = 240 cents.

Vincent Kenis



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