RE: more Bach

> I am afraid, at times, that the intellectual theory of non 12 music
> takes precedence over the making of great music...perhaps when that
> changes, non 12 music will find a place in people's hearts, which is
> where all great art eventually winds up...Hstick

I think that is due in large part to the fact that writing in
alternate tunings is still in a stage of experimentation. Bach mastered
the tonal system, but 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.
The intellectual systems of a medium in an art form must be
internalized before they can produce really great art. I think it was Dennis
Eberhard who said that a composer must learn the musical past so well that he
can internalize it and not think about it consciously. Whatever system of
tuning (or compositional method, for that matter) a composer is using, it must
be learned so well that he doesn't have to think about how the system works.
Then the humanity and emotion can be communicated through that system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morgan Ellington Smith | When all else fails,
smithme@hiramb.hiram.edu | lower your standards.
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