Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup mills-tuning-list RE: 88CET Name

Brian's mention of Modernism makes me think of a question about the arts in
general: Is this the first time in history when we've managed to progress past
the current "modern" era into something recognizably different ("post-modern")
without ever coming up with a name for the "modern" era?

The theory behind this question of course is the ... abstraction at least ...
that every era - Baroque, Classical, whatever - was viewed as modern until they
thought up another word for it.

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🔗alves@osiris.ac.hmc.edu (Bill Alves)

> Brian's mention of Modernism makes me think of a question about the arts in
>general: Is this the first time in history when we've managed to progress past
>the current "modern" era into something recognizably different ("post-modern")
>without ever coming up with a name for the "modern" era?
>
> The theory behind this question of course is the ... abstraction at
>least ...
>that every era - Baroque, Classical, whatever - was viewed as modern until they
>thought up another word for it.

This is true in the sense that modern means contemporary. However,
ModernISM to me means something much more specific. It refers to an
aesthetic in which being MODERN, and, hence, innovative, becomes a
priority. Thus things that refer to the past, if only a few years in the
past, become "backward-looking" or "conservative." While this is an
oversimplification, as are all labels, and doesn't take into account
movements like neoclassicism, it does aptly describe a major preoccupation
around the beginning of this century.

By the way, few if any of the familiar historical labels we use were in use
(at least in the same way) at the times we associate with them now. And, of
course, their usage has evolved quite differently in music, art,
literature, and philosophy (witness the current confusion about the way
postmodernism is used by philosophers and literary critics and the way it
is used in music, literature, and the visual arts).

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)621-8360 (fax) ^
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🔗Gary Morrison <71670.2576@...>

> Recently, US Snail brought me the latest tapes by Warren Burt and Gary
> Morrison. While both of these composers have asked me not to review their
> work in public, they probably wouldn't mind my saying that their latest work
> is excellent.

Thanks, Brian!

Actually, I wouldn't mind Brian reviewing my (88CET) music in public.
Perhaps he's refering to the fact that I asked him not to duplicate the tape?

Anyway, both of those statements go for others of you who have received
copies of my 88CET demo. You're welcome to review my 88CET demo on this forum,
and I also ask you not to copy it. Stan Hoffman, Randy Winchester, Steve
Curtin, and several others have given me some very useful constructive criticism
along areas that I hadn't considered. So thanks to all of you as well.

Here's something else I'd love to hear what you folks have to say about, if
anything:

Perhaps the most important thing I've learned from their constructive
criticism is that attempting to simulate "very convincing orchestral wind and
percussion ensembles" (to use Brian's words), is a risky business. Our ears are
VERY picky about classical music. It's kind of like discussing which is the
better violinst between Guidon Kramer and Itzak Perlman: Violinists can debate
that question for hours on end, but the undeniable truth of the matter is that
they're both excellent. So when an electronically synthesized violin
performance comes along, it's just not even on tens-of-parts-per-million kind of
scale (puns intended of course) we normally use to evaluate classical
performances. Not even CLOSE! That even though, in the big picture, it could
be 95% of the way up the naturalness scale with Itzak Perlman at the top, and a
1968-vintage Moog at the bottom.

Or as I'm fond of putting it, when you move from analog and FM synthesis, to
physical modeling, sampling, or additive synthesis, you find that your
instrument simulations ... improve (?) ... from impressive imitations to what
sound like ungodly hideous real instruments!

Any thoughts, anybody?

And my reviewers have pointed out another very amusing risk in attempting the
simulate classical ensembles - one especially relavant to xenharmonic
realizations: Traditional timbres carry a strong weight with them. One
reviewer (perhaps I ought not mention names) pointed out that my "Night and Day"
(scored for flute quartet, trumpet, three horns, bass trombone, and percussion)
felt a lot like listening to Junior High School orchestra performance, because
it contained a lot of out-of-tune notes on orchestral instruments! (Or at least
reasonably good simulations of them.) If it were on abstract electronic timbres
instead that sort of image would never have come up. Along similar lines,
another reviewer wasn't sure whether to take my short 88CET fife, drum, and
bugle corps piece, called A Different Drummer, for the cute little scherzo I
intended it to be, largely because it was rendered on serious-sounding
instrument simulations, in a militaristic style.

Any thoughts on that?

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🔗Gary Morrison <71670.2576@...>

> > Adding a new definition to the synonym stew only risks novices thinking
> > that the two mean two subtly different things.
> Hmm, I don't see that. Many words have an inherently vague meaning,
> including "pure". If you take every word literally, life would become
> difficult.

Yeah... That's certainly true, and I can see value in keep definitions
as vague as we realistically can in this particular field. Music is not a
precise science by any means. Or accurately I should say that it's neither
precise nor a science!

But there's always the risk that nebulous definitions will cause
misunderstanding too, so I suppose it's something of a fine line to tread.

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RE: 88CET Name

🔗"J. Pusey" <pusey@...>

🔗Gary Morrison <71670.2576@...>

🔗alves@osiris.ac.hmc.edu (Bill Alves)

🔗Gary Morrison <71670.2576@...>

🔗Gary Morrison <71670.2576@...>