88CET Demo Once Again

A number of people have asked what they need to do to get a copy of the 88CET
demo I mentioned earlier. The answer is to just send me your mailing address
that's all. I'm not charging for it or anything like that.

Much of the music on the demo I expect to release on my up-coming CD, so all
I ask for it is that: 1) You don't copy it around too much (or claim it's your
own music obviously), and 2) If you have any comments on the nature or quality
of the music, I'd be delighted to hear them.


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> few composers today can say that they have mastered
> any non-12 tunings. (If you have, congratulations!) There's so much to be
> learned about it; entire worlds of possibilities exist.

Yes, I certainly agree. Also, the more unusual the tuning the less you can
draw from centuries of exploration in traditional tunings, and the more you have
to make up for yourself.

As I've opined a couple of times before, we xenharmonic composers have to be
super(wo)men. We have to derive the equivalent of centuries of theory, and then
write music that is enjoyable even if it weren't xenharmonic. And we often also
have to perform our own music too because nobody else can play our weird
tunings. It's just simply a tough job, no matter how you slice it.

But there's certainly no point in giving up, because I've found it to be a
fun and rewarding task, despite the difficulty! And we've seen some really
exciting success stories in recent times.


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Where is the microtonal Beethoven? is a common enough complaint. Here was a
man's who's music improved as he went deaf.

Why not accept that for J.S. Bach, writing in a full cycle of 12 major and
minor keys _was_ "microtonal." Despite the fact that there was no concept
of "absolute pitch," he mastered improvisation regardless of intonation. He
often showed off on keyboards that were limited by meantone tuning,
emphasizing the howling of the wolves (old Silbermann story).

That Bach springs divine is a tribute to him and not to any subtle variation
of key characteristics...certain. But there is no clear connection between
this success story and those of us challenging ourselves creatively with a
tabula rasa, daily.

Living and breathing music as Bach, Beethoven, et al. did allowed for a
mastery of craft that resonates with greatness. It came with no guarantees.
There were many others that tried and didn't pass muster.

Bach's special qualities that I can hear distincltly brought to bear in his
music when tuned in Werckmeister III - is my preference. To understand as
completely as possible why I like it so, I have spent some academic time and
earned some academic dues. But they 'ain't nothing compared to playing the
music. It's like the difference between reading a printout and being
plugged directly into cyberspace with all its functions available.

BTW, those in the NYC metropolitan area, please feel invited to tune in to
the 8th annual "Microtonal" Bach radio show which I host on WKCR-FM, 89.9 FM
on Christmas Day, December 25th from 11 AM to 3 PM. It is part of an annual
week-long BachFest.

Johnny Reinhard
American Festival of Microtonal Music
reinhard@styx.ios.com
Andre Stein
email: andre@magna.com.au
PO Box 645 Chatswood NSW 2057 Australia

NOTE: I AM IN THE USA UNTIL FEBRUARY 1996 AND WILL ONLY BE CHECKING
MY EMAIL INFREQUENTLY.

TO CONTACT ME DURING THAT TIME:
email: stein@fsg.prusec.com
tel: (212) 477 7066
Apartment 1112A 24 Fifth Ave, New York City, NY, USA


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> Why not accept that for J.S. Bach, writing in a full cycle of 12 major and
> minor keys _was_ "microtonal." Despite the fact that there was no concept
> of "absolute pitch," he mastered improvisation regardless of intonation.

Far be it from me to question a truly excellent composer-performer-producer
like Johnny Reinhard, but I've never equated microtonality with anything as
general as mastering improvisation in absense of an agreed pitch standard. It
seems like it has to be more specific than that, involving new musical sounds
stemming from fundamentally nontraditional pitch relationships. I find it hard
to conceive of any nontraditional pitch relationships in Bach's work. That
especially since, ever since Mendelsohn, Bach's music (the Chorales especially)
has been the very vehicle of teaching musical tradition.

I personally (and others I know as well) take the term "microtones" to be far
more specific than that: a generalization of the concept that originally
emerged under the name "quartertones".

But I certainly don't claim to be a great authority on Music History.


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Gary is right to question why I tied improvisation to microtonality in
Bach. Let me try some examples of implied Bach microtonality.

Bach's virtuoso use of the piccolo trumpet which had no pistons and is
rarely if ever used in modern performances was using higher number just
relationships.

Bach's favorite keyboard was reputed to be the clavichord, even though he
was known widely as an organist and wrote for harpsichord, and never as a
pianist. The clavichord Bewebungen changes pitch discreetly by the
weight of the hand.

Since each keyboard was tuned differently in a variety of temperaments,
Bach would need to have an especially flexible intonation schemata for
his fertile imagination to be realized. Not only was there no concept of
absolute pitch, there was a dualistic "chamber" and "church" pitch
usually about a whole tone apart. Since equal temperament was "unnatural"
to the ear in the sense that it is tuned by in the present day by
outsiders, tuners.

Bach would tune a harpsichord in 15 minutes. No interval could be given
with authority to a musician unless he gave it. To write music that
would favor the most advanced temperament schemes, and yet be fully
functional and aesthetically pleasing in alternatives and variations,
combined with the knowledge of his prowess in improvising to the point of
musical duels, leads me to believe that he was a great micrtonalist indeed.

He has the most microtonal title of any established composer (The
Well-tempered Clavier). His Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue takes full
advantage of the best that Werckmeister III has to offer, and he replaced
to pitch-restricted viola da gamba with the fretless cello.

Gary, ultimately it's an intuitive thing, that to imagine as an
improvisor as must have would require the greatest of microtonal minds to
navigate at such a level of distinction.

Johnny Reinhard
Director
American Festival of Microtonal Music
318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW
New York, New York 10021 USA
(212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495
reinhard@styx.ios.com


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