JI & ET: Simpler Way to Put It

I figured out a simpler way to put it:

Just because small whole number ratios are the ideal basis for pitch
relationships doesn't necessarily mean that people always want to hear
ideal pitch relationships.

As with any other aspect of music, when and how to break the rules is
every bit as important as when and how to obey them.



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Second post. I think the first one fell off the edge of the world.

Someone wrote that Paul E Says:

>Another way of saying this is that Just Intonation has no
>"puns", or notes taken in two different senses, and typical JI
>theory does not admit punning. However, in creating intervals in
>JI, you will eventually come across some very complicated ratios
>that are so close to simple ones that they will function as
>consonances rather than dissonances. So the typical JI
>small-integers=consonance / large-integers=dissonance approach
>falls flat on its face.

It is true that JI has no puns, but a similar sort of joke could be done
a slightly different way. Take Bach's Prelude (No.1 from well-tempered
Clavichord) which must be one of the punniest pieces around.

Each arpeggio is played twice, and the first time its meaning matches
the tuning of the previous arpeggio and the second time it matches the
following arpeggio. So in JI the frequencies should reflect this and
change slightly between the first and second playing. In most cases
some notes would stay the same and some change by small amounts such as
81/80, 64/63 and such. It would be interesting to hear it done this
way.

OK, for the purests, that was not the intended joke.

-- Ray Tomes -- rtomes@kcbbs.gen.nz -- Harmonics Theory --
http://www.kcbbs.gen.nz/users/rtomes/rt-home.htm

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