TUNING digest 1028

John Gzowski here. Bart Hopkins has a book on instrument design and
construction, called, aptly Musical Instrument Design on See Sharp Press tel.
520-628-8720 ,P.O. Box 1731 Tucson AZ 85702. It contains tonnes of practical
advice on materials construction and tuning references. Anyone interested
should e-mail bart at ExpMusInst@aol.com. The book contains some theories and
formulas as well as contacts for materials and lots of plans for different
simple instruments. Helmholz's book contains a few more mathematical models
for resonance if that is what you need, but if you are making any kind of
instrument, get this book.

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On Sat, 29 Mar 1997, John Chalmers wrote:

>
> Anyway, I hope this sad incident serves to caution all of us not
> to take metaphysics, musical or otherwise, too far.
>
> it off-list to the interested parties. I agree with Brian Belet that
> metaphysics, however interesting, is off-topic for this list.
>

On the contrary, I feel that there are aspects of metaphysics that have
great bearing on music in general and tuning specifically. In David
Tame's book, The Secret Power of Music, Destiny Books, Rochester, VT,
1984, there is much evidence that 1) music has a profound impact upon the
physical, emotional amd mental, and "spiritual" nature of men and women
and 2) that the nature of the music dictates the nature of the effect.

"There is scarcely a single function of the body which cannot be affected
by musical tones."(p 136)

"So real and open to practical usage are music's psychological influences
that the art has been applied throughout the ages in order to bring about
emotional and mental effects."(p. 145)

I believe it is very important to explore this aspect of our
experimentation with tuning--the early experimenters with radioactive
materials were ignorant of its effects and suffered the consequences of
their ignorance.

Because there is limited scientific research in this area should not
preclude our exploring what is known and thoughtful speculation about such
effects--though I agree that unbridled speculation can waste alot of time.
I believe there is alot of evidence over the centuries that points towards
far reaching and subtle effects of music and its influence over men.

Bruce Kanzelmeyer


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"Jo A. Hainline" writes:
>On the contrary, I feel that there are aspects of metaphysics that have
>great bearing on music in general and tuning specifically. In David
>Tame's book, The Secret Power of Music, Destiny Books, Rochester, VT,
>1984, there is much evidence that 1) music has a profound impact upon the
>physical, emotional amd mental, and "spiritual" nature of men and women
>and 2) that the nature of the music dictates the nature of the effect.
>
>"There is scarcely a single function of the body which cannot be affected
[snip]

I've had this book for several years and find it fascinating... but I felt
that I should offer a little caveat for those who are intending to read it.

Basically, Tame is completely against all music of the 20th century.
To him, Beethoven and Wagner are the ultimate musics.

He claims that jazz introduces heart arhythms... that rock music makes
the listener tend to violence... I don't remember what he claims about
"New Music" but it wasn't very positive.

Not that he is necessarily way off-base... for example, I remember
reading several years ago in Science Times that there seemed to be
good documentary evidence that playing 20th century music did give
classical players more headaches, muscle and joint problems, etc.

But still, I'd recommend many grains of salt when reading "The Secret
Power of Music."

/t

Tom Ritchford tom@mvision.com

Verge's "Little Idiot" -- Music for the mentally peculiar.
1-800-WEIRDOS http://www.weirdos.com/verge

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Tom Ritchford wrote:
>
> "Jo A. Hainline" writes:

> >On the contrary, I feel that there are aspects of metaphysics that have
> >great bearing on music in general and tuning specifically. In David
> >Tame's book, The Secret Power of Music, Destiny Books, Rochester, VT,
> >1984, there is much evidence that 1) music has a profound impact upon the
> >physical, emotional amd mental, and "spiritual" nature of men and women
> >and 2) that the nature of the music dictates the nature of the effect.
> >
> >
>
> I've had this book for several years and find it fascinating... but I felt
> that I should offer a little caveat for those who are intending to read it.
>
> Basically, Tame is completely against all music of the 20th century.
> To him, Beethoven and Wagner are the ultimate musics.
>
> He claims that jazz introduces heart arhythms... that rock music makes
> the listener tend to violence... I don't remember what he claims about
> "New Music" but it wasn't very positive.
>
> But still, I'd recommend many grains of salt when reading "The Secret
> Power of Music."
>
I agree, and then some. In this book, Tame takes an overall tone of
European racial superiority. His objections to jazz reflect a general
objection to any strongly rhythmic music -- to all of the musical forms
of Africa and the Middle East, for example. He also objects to any music
that constitutes a meeting of different musical genres. I believe his
phrase was "grotesque -- as all half-breeds are grotesque." These
objections were explicit; however, I don't have the book anymore and
can't offer exact quotes. I got rid of it because I found it overtly
racist and offensive, and not particularly well-written.

Far better books on this subject are:

Berendt, Joachim-Ernst, _The World is Sound: Nada Brahma, Music and the
Landscapes of Consciousness (Rochester, VT: Destiny, 1983)
Campbell, Don, ed., _Music: Physician for Times to Come_ (Wheaton, IL:
Quest/Theosophical Publishing Co., 1991)
Gardner, Kay, _Sounding the Inner Landscape: Music as Medicine
(Stonington, ME: Caduceus, 1990)
Hamel, Peter Michael, _Through Music to the Self_ (Boulder, CO:
Shambhala, 1976)
Goldman, Jonathan, _Healing Sounds: The Power of Harmonics_ (Rockport,
MA: Element, 1992)

Kathleen Seidel


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