re:Tuning

>Music and the Power of Sound : The Influence of Tuning and Interval on
Consciouness
>by Alain Danielou

This is interesting stuff. How much research has been done on this subject
matter? Is the impact of tuning and interval cultural? I have often wondered,
and still am wondering, what is the overall purpose of this list; that is, is
there anything socially functional about these endeavors or are they just
intellectual endeavors? I read of people doing performances using non-standard
tunings, and wondered what were the results they expected from the audience.
Besides for entertainment purposes music originally has been used as a tool for
focusing thought or creating synergy among a group of people with the purpose of
accomplishing or realizing something that can not be accomplished by the
individual.

I have a friend who is actually using the concepts of sound to as a tool in drug
treatment programs. He said to reprogram the mind one has to be in complete
control of the stimuli (the program) that enters the
five senses. Although his results are positive, the "established" community
suspect it since it conform to their models.

Sorry if I rambled but I'm rally am interested in how some of you are making
your understanding of this subject matter socially functional. I will also pass
the sunject information to my friend

Olushola

>If we started a Just Intonation Association, with David Doty in
>charge of the Journal (it's already so good it doesn't need to
>change)

I would be glad to host a tuning conference & concerts here in Southern
California, and if I knew how many people might be interested in attending,
I could look into the possibility. I would also welcome advice from others
(such as Lydia) who have been involved in organizing a conference.

Though I am a proud supporter of the Just Intonation Network and its parent
non-profit organization, Other Music, I would suggest that such a
conference and any parent organization be more inclusive, including not
only those interested in JI, but also ETs, historical tunings, and any
other tuning issues.

Bill

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)607-7600 (fax) ^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> It has occured to me that we (theorists/inventors/musicians/composers)
> might benefit by forming a corporation (possibly non-profit)to promote
> our work in microtonality/just intonation.

As with a promotional body for any area of endeavor, that could have
value. There have been quite a few attempts at that, or at least in that
direction. None have been as comprehensive as you suggest, probably
because even subsets of that have proven very difficult to accomplish.

By "comprehensive", I mean promoting all of the things you mentioned -
publishing, promotion, advertising, and such. All have put a greater
emphasis on parts of that task. The Interval Foundation was centered
around the "Interval" publication, but had regular meetings in the San
Diego area. AFFM concentrates mostly on concerts, and to some degree so
does Stichting Huygens Fokker.

You mentioned patent ownership. That poses some very difficult problems
that I definitely don't recommend getting into. People don't like
consigning patents unless they work for the consignees as regular
employees, and owning a patent is pretty pointless unless you can prosecute
violators, or sell the patents. Either of those involves the transfer of
big money, which in turn means politics, which in turn means fostering
ill-will between members.

But beyond the issues that patents bring up, and despite the fact that I
agree that there are potential benefits to such a corporation, I think
you'll find that it's just simply too difficult to accomplish.
Microtonalists of the world are just simply too geographically dispersed to
make such a thing possible. Because of that dispersal, we have also become
too much of a bunch of mavericks. Isolation means that we have to draw our
own microtonal plans, and each having different plans, it would be
exceptionally difficult to get any two of us moving on the same plan.

Now I'm not suggesting that this state of affairs is ideal, but that's
what I think it is.

More than a corporation, what I would like to see is an international
association, which would do some of the things already done by teh
Just Intonation Network, the AFMM, Interval, etc.

As an example, the International Computer Music Association
publishes a newsletter, puts on international conferences which
include concerts and paper presentations ... and it started small,
with just a few people organizing the first conference. It also
has a membership directory, a Web page ...

If we started a Just Intonation Association, with David Doty in
charge of the Journal (it's already so good it doesn't need to
change) and some conferences (maybe the AFMM could get this
started, they're already putting on some concerts; and the
guys in Denver, San Diego and Texas would be good candidates
for later venues; in a few years we could make it more international
and you could all come over here sometime; if I left anybody out,
please don't hesitate to volunteer yourself).

Best,

Lydia Ayers

The suggestions about making it more inclusive sound good to me.

And a conference in southern California sounds great. One suggestion,
for international delegates it might be more convenient if the
conference took place in the summer. It's difficult for me, for
example, to come to the States when I'm supposed to be teaching
over here. That's a big reason why I don't get to most of the
microtonal festivals that go one for a day or two here and there.

Best,

Lydia Ayers

For what it's worth, some movers and shakers on the wind-synthesizer
list have recently set up the International Wind Synthesis Association.
The fruits of their labours may be sampled at:

http://www.windsynth.org

(www.iwsa.org was apparently already taken by the Indiana/World Skating
Academy).


--
Ewan Macpherson
WWW Bagpipe Index
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~emacpher/pipes.html

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End of TUNING Digest 1556
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