Happy Holidays

Well, it's that time of year again -- time for the Microtonal Bach radio
program on Christmas Day on WKCR-FM, 89.9 in New York from 11 a.m. to 3
p.m. Today I will have flutist Andrew Bolotowsky demonstrate the
difference between Werckmeister III and 12ET on a baroque flute in the
Bach solo for flute in A-minor.

It is interesting to me that C minor has all notes a bit lower that 12 ET
points, while D minor has all notes a bit higher, and A minor mixes it up
a bit.

To John: Armenians are reputed to be descended from Phrygian pioneers
(Herodotus) that landed in the old Urartu area (which apparently
imploded). I'm not suggesting Phrygian scales, of course, only that
Armenian culture has a sure footing in the Greek music frame. Turkish
does apppear to be the resultant of 24 cycles of fifth (which I believe is
expressed by d'Erlanger). However, Iranian is based on tetrachords and
has a distinct tuning modas operandi. The Iranian dastgah seems more in
line structurally with Bulgarian music: it has an immutable 4th with 2
mutable inner notes.

An interesting aside, Turks read from sheet music, while Iranians use the
equivalent of a "fake book" called the Radif (which I have recently heard
is instrument specific).

Johnny Reinhard
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


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