TUNING digest 1199

J. Reinhard wrote:

<"Microtone" by itself may not have any utility. It is vague and signifi=
es

So, let us just substitute adjectival cognates of two terms that Reinhard=

considers equivalent and we end up with:

''The American Festival of Insignificant Music''

Surely, that is not what you intend! The substantive ''microtone'' is
indeed
useful for describing all intervals smaller than a semitone, and the
adjective
''microtonal'' aptly describes something that uses such intervals. For
example,
''the interval 16/9 differs from the septimal minor seventh (7/4) by a
microtone''; or ''Erickson's trumpet melody in _Kryl_ moves microtonally'=
'.

Reinhard continues:


If I parse this sentence correctly then Reinhard is using ''Microtonality=
''
to refer to all music using pitches. Since this would then probably
include by far the greater part of human music making, I am forced
to wonder why Mr. Reinhard sees any need at all to use the term. =


<1200 is a convenient number at the very threshold of pitch


e?

a

No. By Mr. Reinhard's definition, Egyptian music (and I must wonder
what exactly he means here - modern Arabic popular music from Egypt?
Coptic Church Music? Muezzin calls?) would be ''microtonal'', and since,
according to his definition above ''microtonal'' equals ''insignificant''=
,
Mr.
Reinhard would call Egyptian music insignificant. I am unable to refer to=

the Harvard dictionary, but I find much music made in Egypt to be
significant,
and often significant precisely because the pitch content is both
interesting
and beautiful. And while I cannot recall melodic use of microtones (the
Muezzin calls aside; the faithfull would not consider this to be ''music'=
'
in
the first place!), I have often heard intervals used that differ from
diatonic
pythagorean intervals by microtones, thus the music can be heard as havin=
g
a microtonal dimension, and quite possibly one that goes back to the
chromatic and enharmonic genera of the ancient mediterranean. =


As to metal flutes, I cannot follow Reinhard's comment at all: perhaps he=

would like to hold me responsible for all of the errors in the Harvard
dictionary, a curious burden as (1) the book was written before my birth
and
(2) is named for an institution I have never even visited. For the record=
,
though, I played baroque flute some years ago, and the only metal on it
was on the single key; one of the flutists playing in my recent orchestra=

piece
used a beautiful modern instrument with an ebony body. =


SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
From: mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison)
Subject: Re: Tape Swap release
PostedDate: 07-10-97 16:01:57
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