TUNING digest 1150

Could we please avoid the term *quartertone* for anything but the unit of
24-tET? As soon as you say a quartertone is the unit of 31-tET, you might
as well use the term to describe any small interval, with the result
becoming terminologically chaotic. If desired, the 31 unit could be called
a fifthtone, as long as we realize there's a diesis lurking. In other
words, a 31-tone scale has 6 whole tones divided into fifths plus a
diesis. (6 x 5 + 1 = 31.) Each of the fiftones is of course the diesis
itself. (Not a JI diesis, needless to add...)

I am reminded of a story Easley Blackwood often told. When he mentioned to
a student that he was working on his project involving all the ETs between
13 and 24, the student replied, "Oh, you mean quartertones."

(Don't take the story too literally--maybe E B was talking about
microtonality in general. I don't remember.)

The notation pithily described by Paul Erlich has been used for 19 and 31
for a long time. There is no reason to change it for tonal/modal (centric)
music that I know of. The symbols + and - have a long history too and are
thoroughly annoying on a five-line staff. I suggested some time ago
changing them to / and \ or shorter variants thereof.

Paul Rapoport



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