RE: tuning thirds in triads

(re-sent due to dissappearance of issue #1065)

Paul E. said
>So it is possible that the best thirds for the major triad are different
>that the best thirds for the minor triad. It destroys a lot of the
>mathematical beauty of 5-limit theory by bringing in the 19th harmonic, but
>I have to let my ears be the final arbiter, and in this case they tell be
>that the 19th harmonic is important.

You go, boy! Math can be mighty purty, but when the goal is music, ears
rule. Actually, I guess, ears should be second in command to hearts.

I'm admittedly relatively new to the subject of tunings, and have only a
little experience with each of the various tuning options. What I have found
so far is that scales including intervals with some of those higher prime
numbers provide a more exciting sound than those that are purely within the
5-limit. I especially like intervals based on the 17th and 19th harmonic
overtones in "minor" keys or modes (is there a better term for "minor" in a
JI context?).

It can be harder, of course, to get a variety of good-sounding triads with a
handful of fixed pitches that way but melodies tend to be more muscular, I
think. As technology frees us increasingly from the limits of 12 pitches or
so, we'll see whether our ears like having all those different pitches thrown
at us in a short span of time. My guess is, we'll learn to like it.

David J. Finnamore
Just tune it!

Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Mon, 12 May 1997 19:16 +0200
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA10052; Mon, 12 May 1997 19:16:54 +0200
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 19:16:54 +0200
Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA10080
Received: (qmail 23187 invoked from network); 12 May 1997 17:16:49 -0000
Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1)
by localhost with SMTP; 12 May 1997 17:16:49 -0000
Message-Id: <970512130928_777718622@emout07.mail.aol.com>
Errors-To: madole@mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu