tunings on the march

There's a great article in the April 97 issue of the International
Musician, the monthly publication of the American Federation of
Musicians, on the "Gravikords, Whirlies, and Pyrophones" CD project. It
was written by Jeff Potter, and he was very enthusiastic; he also got the
details right, and mentioned Erv Wilson to boot. Write him, and get a
dialogue going about tunings.

It's encouraging to see such articles, and I believe there's been a trend
lately...there's been a lot of good press in the last few years about
tunings. This article, Catler's recent spot in Guitar Shop mag, some
wonderful concert articles from Denver, El Paso, Los Angeles, and New
York, all say to me that our labors have not been in vain. The word is
spreading, and I am sure this is just the beginning.

The Neanderthal flute debate is also very timely. Personally, since I
believe that the Harmonic series is such a natural part of the Creation
itself, it would not surprise me at all if "early" people sort of
naturally gravitated to it in their music. I also think that we get a bit
carried away trying to date everything...it seems to be a risky venture,
at best. And, more importantly, how "old" is old, anyway? The Hopis, and
I'm sure many other "old" cultures, have spoken of previous worlds and
civilizations, long destroyed by ancient disasters...they say this is the
4th world, with more to come. This seems pretty likely, to me...I think
the Universe is far, far older than contemporary "science," which seems
to think it's only 10-18 billion years since the "Big Bang." That ain't
much, I think...so, there might be flutes, and God knows what else,
buried or destroyed long ago...it is a valid path of study to speculate
about such things, and could lead to some incredible art...Hstick

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Interesting! I wonder how it sounds... I can only imagine.



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