more on indian tuning

I understand that the 7 cap intervals are used in erotic ragas almost
exclusively. As the flute scales differ from the 5 limit tunings, it has
been a common practice of string instruments to interpet these
subharmonic scales in terms of their owm tuning. It all gets quite
complex when it is quite possible in India (the music knows no borders)
that more ancient forms of ragas could coexist with more modern ones,
thus explaining further deviation in measured tuning (as in Levy). I
can't help thinking of Gagaku where you have Pythagorian tuning along
side the winds instruments and mouth organs who do not conform to the
kotos. That different tunings might be coexisting side by side.
I hope my comments about Europe was taken in humor. Still so much
concern is taken with tunings being able to produce the music of the
past. The meager solutions to this problem fails to take in the past of
all the other cultures as if they are inferior or something. The common
practice period cf Western music is barely 300 years old. The music of
India dates maybe back 2000. Who deserves the right to be called
"classical' !? There is a European conciet that its own music technology
is the correct evolutionary direction for everyone. Harmony
and counterpoint is what lead to the development to 12 et. There is
quite alot of harmony and counterpoint developed upon other lines around
the world, just as impressive.
The condition that required everyone to play the same tuning is gone
for the most part.Recordings replace scores as the main method in which
music is shared from region to region. With eletronic a single person
can create their own "orchestra". The future holds the decision of a
tuning as being an element of the composers craft. Just as no one would
expect every artist to paint with the same colors, nor should music
makers be so limited. The end of tuning Monotheism is at hand!!!
Kraig Grady


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From: Johnny Reinhard
Subject: Re: No Disrespect
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Carl Lumma wrote:

> And you can't deny that there's a motherload of beauty to be found in music
> where the vertical sonorities come from a different pitch set than the
> horizontal ones. The horizontal pitch set holds everything together, while
> it is turned 81 shades of purple by the changing harmonies.

That's one way of looking at it, of course, but not the way
I look at it. Firstly, there's no real distinction between
horizontal and vertical. Harmony is as much about putting
chords together as describing their properties in isolation.

I prefer to have a repeating chord sequence, and choose the
melodic notes to harmonise with that. As the harmony is
chosen with lattice space in mind, that means a lot of the
same notes will work with each chord. So, there's some kind
of modality. This is very different from choosing a mode
first, and trying to get chord sequences from it, even if
the result is the same. If you structure a melody around,
say, a pentatonic mode with a load of chromatic notes, it
should sound cohesive enough.

I sort of know what I'm talking about here, because I have
written music like this. My previous post on avoiding
comma shifts is completely wrong in detail, though. You
never need have a 1/5 from the tonic in a major key, it's
the fifths that cause trouble. How tactful of you all not
to point that out! To get 6 5-limit triads with distinct
roots from 7 notes, they have to be a cycle of fifths, and
therefore a diatonic key. So, as all the fifths are in tune,
you need some kind of compromise for the thirds to be also.
If you ignore the supertonic chord (ii) in a major key,
there's no problem with JI. If you do use the supertonic,
provided you go straight back to the chord you came from,
there's still no problem, but you need 8 notes.


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From: John Maxwell Hobbs
Subject: MIDI tuning for Win95
PostedDate: 28-12-97 15:18:11
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