Music and the Brain

My name is Brian Carlson, I live in Denver and play a 19 tone steel
string acoustic guitar and another with the frets spaced at the following
ratios - 21/20 9/8 7/6 6/5 5/4 21/16 4/3 7/5 35/24 3/2 14/9
8/5 5/3 7/4 9/5 15/8 and 35/18. Mark Rankin worked out these ratios
to include the 7 limit ratios and also keep the frets spaced far enough
apart to be playable. Jon Starrett did a great job on refretting both
instruments.

The study involving Mozart and IQ testing raises some interesting
issues. When we listen to music, everything and anything that is
contained in a piece of music can enter into one's brain (at various
levels of consciousness) and become part of an unbelievably complex state
of affairs. Really, when you are listening to Mozart, in a sense you are
hearing Mozart's mind in the music. Music is a very powerful form of
communication. One's deepest thoughts and feelings can be communicated
through music and when we listen to music, the style and structure of the
music can stimulate the brain in new and unknown (and difficult to
quantify) ways. Perhaps the study should be performed again while one
group of students listens to Stravinsky and the other to John Tesh.

Anyway, relating to tuning, non 12et music will have very different
structures than 12et music. I am curious to hear what people think about
microtonal music and the effects it has on their way of thinking. How
has playing or composing or listening to microtonal music changed the way
you think about music, and has it had other effects as well?

This forum has been an excellent source of information on tuning, from
the minute technical details to the universal implications of tuning,
all extremely important. Looking forward to hearing any ideas...

Brian Carlson
Denver, Colorado

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