TUNING digest 951

PAULE wrote:

> Matt Nathan wrote,
>
> >If you had instruments which could provide you as easily with any pitch
> >as any other, would you still do this?
>
> Well, in that case I might not necessarily use equal temperaments, but I
> might not use just intonation either. For example, for diatonic triadic
> music I would use meantone temperament, perhaps changing the exact amount of
> temperament from one section of the piece to another, if it helped the mood
> get across.

Great. The play of deviation from gestalts is present in music as in other
arts. Musical tension or at least aural interest is produced by slight
deviation from the gestalt just intervals. People like a little phasing
sometimes. Your idea of changing the temperament throughout a piece to
increase and decrease this tension adds a level of expression. Nice.

Your response resonates with the point I was trying to make, which is that
one should choose pitches because they are the exact pitches required to
produce the desired musical effect, and not because they are the closest
available pitches drawn from an arbitrary set, such as from 41-et when
what you really wanted was 9-limit (Partch sense) JI. For your adjustable
meantone, the pitches are neither JI nor et, but are the exact pitches
needed for the musical effect.

> I prefer the deviations from just in 12-, 19-, 26-tet, or any
> other meantone tuning to the comma difficulties of 15-, 22-, 27-tet, or pure
> JI, when it comes to diatonic triadic music.

This raises another interesting subtopic. I never understood why people consider
commas a problem in pure JI. I think rather the idea of a "scale" as a limiter
of pitch choices is the problem. Each just triad has its ideal pitches. Commas
are not a problem in just triadic music if you allow yourself to use the pitches
required by the triads, and not try to fake them with pitches from a small
predetermined (say diatonic or chromatic) set. I personally like the sound of a
slight pitch adjustment in an inner voice corresponding with a change in harmonic
context. I find it almost a spiritual affirmation as the subtle correction is
made; it sounds so right.

Matt Nathan



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Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 22:19:10 -0800
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