Post from Dave Hill

Re: A Wolf with a Difference Tuning 1486

I found the post by Margo Schulter re the 15 century wolf cadence
most
interesting, and inspired by this while fooling around on a just intonation
piano, which I am growing to like more and more, I just now observed the
following:

The b - fsharp - d resolving chord with the wide fourth between b
and
fsharp is nearly the same as the wolf D minor chord which occurs with a
twelve
per octave keyboard tuned to a just scale on C. In first inversion, this
chord from d down to a down to f has the d to a fourth wide from just by a
21.5 cent comma, while the interval from f to a is a just 5/4 major third.
In the song My Country tis of Thee - God Save the Queen, which begins C C D
B C
D, the first two notes are harmonized with C major and the third note would
normally be harmonized with D minor. On my piano, which I am here
translating
to the terms of the just scale on C, the D minor chord sounds bad if played
with a D in the bass, but if the F is played in the bass, that D minor
chord
sounds all right to me - not perfectly consonant, but not egregiously out
of
tune, and possibly as effective musically as it would sound if a lowered D
were used or raised F and A so that the chord would be a just minor triad.
I
cannot try out the just minor chord now, but will do so at some point and
then
be able to compare their sounds to see whether a just minor D chord would
sound still better at this point.

I had not realized that by putting the third in the bass it might be
possible
to use a minor II chord without having the dissonant fourth detract
excessively from its effect. I just now tried this with a major II chord
and,
although putting the Fsharp in the bass somewhat reduced the dissonance, to
me the chord still sounded very dissonant and not likely to be frequently
usable. When played side by side, the minor II chord with F in the bass
sounded much more solid and reasonable to me than did the major II chord.

Dave Hill, La Mesa, CA

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End of TUNING Digest 1488
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