Hello, and Seeking Boomsliter and Creel's Second Interim Report

Greetings!

My name is Kathleen Seidel and I'm a new subscriber to the list. I'm a
sometime librarian and an appreciative listener, a fan of Harry Partch
since I first heard his work in 1972, and since then of many alternative
tuners (Lou Harrison, Terry Riley, Michael Harrison, and especially
LaMonte Young), of gamelan, and of Indian and Turkish classical music.
My husband, David Seidel, is the guitarist who performed "Go Guitars" on
Lois V Vierk's recording _Simoom_.

I am hoping that list members might enjoy the following story, and that
someone might be able to help with a quest.

Two years ago I was reading W.A. Mathieu's book _The Musical Life_, and
came across a footnote that referred to an "nth-generation photocopy" of
the "Interim Report on the Project on Organization in Auditory
Perception at the State University College, Albany, New York, February
1962," by Paul C. Boomsliter and Warren Creel. Mathieu's description of
the author's insights into musical hearing was so intriguing that I
decided to set out in search of the report. I lived outside of Albany at
the time, so I called the SUNY library, but the librarians were unable
to locate it; neither could the Music Department or the Albany Medical
Center.

I then called Dr. Boomsliter's widow, who told me that her late
husband's library and files had been donated to the Capital Area Speech
Center in Albany. The people there were very gracious, and let me spend
several hours looking through Dr. Boomsliter's papers. I located the
report I was looking for, the final project report ("Extended Reference:
An Unrecognized Dynamic in Melody," _Journal of Music Theory_, Spring
1963), and reprints of several interesting articles. I was also allowed
to borrow the original reel-to-reel of the tape accompanying the Interim
Report. Professor Drew Hartzel of the SUNY Music Department then
generously copied the tape to cassette for me, using his home equipment.

The articles are fascinating reading, and the tape is revealing and
entertaining. Dr. Boomsliter had built a "Referential Organ" out of
Estey reed organ actions, and showed a real sense of fun throughout the
demonstration. After my visit to the CASC office, I had a conversation
with Mr. Creel's daughter, who had soldered the organ together for her
father. It was dismantled and discarded by SUNY in the early '80's, by
then considered an inessential, dust-catching dinosaur.

When I told Mrs. Creel that my interest in scales and intonation had
grown, in part, out of my love of Turkish and Indian classical music,
she laughed and said, "That's the way to do it! That's how it happened!"
Her father, Dr. Boomsliter, and a few other colleages at the Acoustical
Society of America had formed the "International Society for the Study
of Vibratory Motion." Their sole organizational activity was to visit
Middle Eastern nightclubs to watch the belly dancers and listen to the
music. From there they went on to this project.

In the final report of the Project, "Extended Reference," note #4 refers
to a "Second Interim Report, mimeographed, Oct. 1962." So far I have
been unable to locate this report. It was nowhere in Dr. Boomsliter's
archives, or the Danforth Foundation (which funded the project), the
Acoustical Society of America archives, or the Catgut Archive at
Stanford. I have recently written to the ASA office manager and their
journal editor to see whether they could publish a notice in the Journal
or in some other way issue an inquiry to long-time members, to see if
anyone has a copy tucked away in their files.

In the meantime, I wonder whether any readers of this list might have a
copy of Dr. Boomsliter's elusive Second Interim Report.

Best regards,
Kathleen Seidel


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