RE: "Blackwood's proof"

I don't think Blackwood really said anything new here. The point is
that, at least for early works, the Western common practice idiom works
in any tuning where the syntonic comma vanishes. Only in such tunings is
it possible to construct a diatonic scale where all thirds are 5-limit
consonances. So JI and ETs 15, 22, 34, 41, 53 are all no-gos, but any
meantone tuning including ETs 12, 19, 31, 43, 50, and 55 is OK (with
some provision, perhaps, for exaggerated leading tones). The former
tunings require one to insert comma inflections into the score to avoid
wolves, with the typical result of a piece drifting several commas away
from its initial key, and in tunings where the syntonic (pseudo-)comma
is large, messing with the thematic integrity of the development of
essentially heptatonic ideas.

Of course, once enharmonic equivalents (i.e., vanishing diminished
seconds) enter the repertoire, some variant of 12-tET is necessary for a
truthful interpretation. I don't think we need a Blackwood or anyone
else to prove this to us!

To me, this is all the more reason for modern microtonalists to focus on
the "forbidden" tunings; the challenge is to find a perhaps
non-heptatonic framework, possibly using higher than 5-limit harmony,
for thematic development. Certainly Blackwood's own attempt at composing
in 22-tET makes the case against trying to adhere to traditional
harmonic/melodic practice in that tuning. I think Schonberg may have
been right that diatonicism had been played out, but in abandoning the
concepts of tonality and scale he threw the baby out with the bathwater.
Many of the octatonic experiments of the post-tonal composers are a nice
middle ground between controlled and emancipated dissonance and between
tonality, polytonality, and atonality. But what if these composers could
write in 15-tET, where similar symmetrical scales actually allow for
circle-of-fifths chords progressions as well as better 7-limit tetrads?
The 12-tone system forced the serious, innovative composers into an
increasingly academic corner as the vast majority of music lovers
gravitated toward recyclings of older ideas that their ears could still
digest. The 20th century was an amazing century for Western music
primarily due to the incorporation of non-Western influences. Perhaps
the 21st will see a breaking down of the 12-tone barrier and a flood of
new tonal ideas.

Today is my last day as a full-time employee of an investment company. I
already spend almost all my free time playing music, and virtually all
of that is 12-tone. My latest 4-track improvisation is some sort of
octatonic funk music; novel perhaps but not revolutionary by any
stretch. With more free time, I hope to kick myself into putting some
serious time into exploring microtonal realms. It's hard what with all
the great musicians around playing 12-tone; I'll have to say, "No sorry,
can't play with you today, gotta go home and play microtonal by myself."
Will I do it? I don't know. It's a pretty tough barrier to break in the
musical culture we're living in.

I'm off to NY and SF for two weeks, hopefully for some inspiration. In
the meantime, happy tuning!


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From: Carter Scholz
Subject: Re MIDI Tuning Spec
PostedDate: 01-10-97 05:53:32
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>It would be much nicer if we could
>compel every manufacturer to include 64 or 255 tuning tables, all accessible
>and switchable the same way. We can't, so instead we wrote a (mostly
>ignored and obsolescent) standard so that at least the sysex codes might be
>the same for different instruments.
>
>Still, to use the standard practically for dynamic JI you need some
>software pre-processing tool (like Justonic).

Or switch to ZIPI instead of MIDI, where every note is addressable (as
opposed to channels) and there is a much higher bandwidth. But I don't see
the manufacturers rushing out to implement that on their products either.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)607-7600 (fax) ^
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SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
From: Rune Bystrom
Subject: Ensoniq MR-rack resolution
PostedDate: 01-10-97 18:38:37
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