scale derived by intersection of sets

Hi Bob!

Bob Lee wrote:

>12/7 and 7/4. Can you form beatless harmonies with these
>and other notes of the scale?

Absolutely, at least with the 7/4 you can. I hear musicians do it all the
time without even knowing they're doing it. I frequently record a dobro
player, Johnny Bellar, whom I deem to be the best musician I've ever met, who
uses 7-limit just sonorities as a matter of course. You may have heard him
doing so in commercial jingles if you listen to country radio. I've tried to
strike up discussions with him about how he chooses his tunings. He just
shakes his head in bewilderment when I describe it numerically. He does it
strictly by ear.

>I'm having a hard time imaging their use,
>maybe because I'm basically a 5-limit player.

The 7/4 of 3/4, aka 21/16, is commonly sung by choral/background singers and
played by (fretless) string players. It's frequently the most natural tuning
of the minor seventh in a dominant seventh chord:

3/4 - 15/16 - 9/8 - 21/16

That can be reduced to

4 - 5 - 6 - 7

Simple, elegant, and deliciously consonant - as are virtually all 3- and
4-member consecutive harmonic-series tones, provided that they span a total
interval at least a fifth of an octave wide or so (based on my experience only
- could someone prove/disprove/refine?), otherwise regardless of the "limit,"
prime or odd.

Naturally, the plain 7/4 can occur in a I-7 whenever that chord functions as
dominant seventh to the IV chord, as in a so-called false modulation. AFAIK,
12/7s are a bit more rare.

There's at least one good reason to use them aside from making maximally
consonant dom. 7ths: they add very deep and beautiful colors to the harmonic
texture.


All: BTW, sorry I haven't yet reported on that guitar device for steel-like
bending, as I promised. It's been a very busy couple of weeks (thankfully!)
and I haven't gotten out to MARS yet. Hopefully soon.

David J. Finnamore
Just tune it!

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End of TUNING Digest 1533
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