uniquely just music

Bill Alves asked on November 7:
> Just out of curiosity, why couldn't the piano be tuned? Was the tuner or
> the piano's owners unwilling? Or were there physical reasons why it could
> not be done?

It's not a technical reason; we have a limited number of suitable pianos,
and they are all used 24-7. Univ. of Miami couldn't spare a piano for a
couple of days.

Adam said the previous day:
> >(perhaps) the 4:5:6:7 chord
> >is too stable to provide directed tonal motion to a consonance, and that
> >moving from complicated (higher-number) sonorities to simpler sonorities
> >is not interesting enough in itself to sustain a piece of music.

B. Alves:
> This sounds like someone who hasn't had a lot of experience with JI
and who
> has a very narrow view of what tonal music is, how motion can be defined,
> and how interest in music can be created. It sounds like he claims that one
> can't have a dissonance in JI, which is not true, at least to my own
> definition of dissonance.

Could it not be that the ambiguity caused by confounding enharmonic tones
is the basis for traditional goal-directed motion? His idea (as I
understand it) is that a JI V7-I progression simpy moves from one
consonance to another, and that the resolution is "undeserved".

> To me, tonal music does not
> necessarily imply harmonic progression towards a goal - that's just what
> European common-practice music was. Nor does a composer have to employ
> harmonic progression towards a goal to create interest in a tonal
> composition. There are often theorists who say that this or that kind of
> music "can't work," when I think they are finding justifications for their
> own personal preferences rather than arriving at universal rules

By this definition, must JI music be static, or can it be founded in
tension/resolution relationships? La Monte Young thinks
so, but his meditative style of music does not inspire the adrenaline
release that I seek in music. I am trying to reconcile this dichotomy.
Certainly, one should not simply "just"-ify (pardon the pun)
common-practice music, but seek a way to create this inspiration within
the spirit of JI in a manner that could not be done by other means.

> I don't really understand how "tonal motion" and "common-tone modulation"
> are considered opposite directions, but I certainly think that JI can
> support tonal motion. One need only to listen to much of the JI written to
> hear that.

Whose music truly has tonal motion?
Harry Partch's -no
La Monte Young's -no
James Tenney's -no
All of the other JI composers that I can think of "off the cuff" are
imitators of either these styles or of traditional styles. I have heard
the JI Network compilations, and probably at least a sample of most
harmonically progrssive music that is available on the market. I know
that it's a poor sampling, so feel free to laugh. If you can recommend
music that fills my tall order, I beg you to recommend it and tell me
where to find it.

Perhaps a good avenue to pursue is *what does create harmonic tension in
JI?*. Do all of the Baroque definitions apply? Neighbor tones may,
only if they are not part of the same harmonic series. Suspensions work
well under the same conditions.

Adam B. Silverman
asilverm@email.ir.miami.edu


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