Problems in Notation

Gary Morrison: Since I'm no guitarist it took a few minutes to figure out
what you were trying to do. Then several ideas occurred (which I'm sure
are not new, but I haven't seen them). Why not use a darker line (instead
of the space) -- or colored one(s). If you have one red line, say, that's
always a given reference pitch/finger/fret, why not let it move freely to
keep the ledger lines above & below to a minimum? (Sort of like when a
cellist is asked to shift from bass cleff to tenor in the middle of a
measure in traditional notation.) It should be easier to train the brain
to follow the position of the ref line than to find a pitch on an extended
staff. ... on the other hand, that's easy for ME to say since I don't have
to do it. And come to think of it, even if it doesn't work, maybe it'll
be the next wave in abstract art (:*)>-=< Steve Soderberg


SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
From: Gregg Gibson
Subject: Re: La Musique Arabe
PostedDate: 07-12-97 02:04:35
SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH
ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
$MessageStorage: 0
$UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH
RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH
RouteTimes: 07-12-97 02:02:43-07-12-97 02:02:44,07-12-97 02:02:33-07-12-97 02:02:33
DeliveredDate: 07-12-97 02:02:33
Categories:
$Revisions:

Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2
9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C1256566.0005BCD1; Sun, 7 Dec 1997 02:02:40 +0100
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA08381; Sun, 7 Dec 1997 02:04:35 +0100
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 02:04:35 +0100
Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA08369
Received: (qmail 29255 invoked from network); 6 Dec 1997 17:04:30 -0800
Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1)
by localhost with SMTP; 6 Dec 1997 17:04:30 -0800
Message-Id: <348A581C.3032@ww-interlink.net>
Errors-To: madole@mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu

>In my experience the human ear
>cannot reliably distinguish intervals closer than those of the 19-tone
>equal, so the endless debates about minute distinctions between musical
>ratios, or about equal temperaments with more than 19 tones in the
>octave, seem to me rather beside the point.

Wow. I personally have never noticed anything to even close to that.

But perhaps that depends in what sense you're asking people to
"distinguish" those intervals. For example, I have no doubt that almost
anybody with even casual musical training could distinguish a chromatic
scale in ... oh, say 31TET ... from a glissando.

Perhaps that's too elementary of a distinguishing task though. But even
among some more subtle tasks, like noticing 19TET's flat M3 and P5, and
comparing that to 31's right-on M3 and slightly flat P5, or to 12TET's
way-sharp M3 and almost exact P5, I have found that there are many musical
settings where those factors are audible.

I certainly do agree that there are many musical settings where the
notes are just simply wizzing by too fast to hear those aspects of a tuning
as such. If that's the sort of distinction exercise you're talking about,
then I'd agree with your conclusion up to a point anyway.

But there certainly are many other ways in which the nature of the
tuning in which a composition is played can become apparent even if the
notes are screaming by too fast to carefully evaluate the tuning of each
one individually. For example, even a very fast melody, provided that it
is at least somwhat scalar, played in a tuning that has a comparatively
flat leading tone (like 19TET or 31TET), is easy to hear as having that
characteristic.

So, I guess I'd have to hear more about the nature of the limitation
you've noticed before I can comment on it in greater detail.

By the way, the fact that 22TET is not "cyclic" (I presume by that you
mean specifically that its major scale and its modes are not cyclic), opens
up some intriguing musical possibilities, like seemingly impossible
modulations.


SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
From: mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison)
Subject: Re: Problems in Notation
PostedDate: 07-12-97 11:02:02
SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH
ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
$MessageStorage: 0
$UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH
RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH
RouteTimes: 07-12-97 11:00:08-07-12-97 11:00:09,07-12-97 10:59:58-07-12-97 10:59:59
DeliveredDate: 07-12-97 10:59:59
Categories:
$Revisions:

Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2
9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C1256566.0036F0E1; Sun, 7 Dec 1997 11:00:06 +0100
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA08326; Sun, 7 Dec 1997 11:02:02 +0100
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 11:02:02 +0100
Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA08512
Received: (qmail 23982 invoked from network); 7 Dec 1997 02:01:39 -0800
Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1)
by localhost with SMTP; 7 Dec 1997 02:01:39 -0800
Message-Id:
Errors-To: madole@mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu