Tuning

On Fri, 16 Oct 1998 11:47:00, Lewis_Jimmy@hq.navsea.navy.mil wrote:

> Topic No. 5

>> 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
-------------------------------------------------------------

Three things regarding this:

1)

Although earlier in this Tuning Digest, Brian Lee discredited the actual
relevance Danielou's ratios have to Indian musical performance, I have
accepted the idea, which as far as I know was first propogated by
Danielou
and subsequently by Ben Johnston, Scott Makeig and others, that each
prime number is a unique dimension in terms of both aural and affective
quality.

This view is not held by all microtonalists or even all
just-intonationists --
Paul Erlich has been one of the most astute opponents of it in debates
with me in this Digest . But I do feel that at least for the smallest
prime
numbers (say, up to 19 or possibly even only 13) and for the smallest
exponents of those primes (up to only 2 or 3), different feelings and
sounds are clearly perceptible and definable in relation to one another.

I believe that it is this idea of "prime quality", and also feelings
associated
with particular rhythmic and metrical structures, that allows "absolute
music" (that is, music without a text or program) to move us emotionally.


2)

The work we are doing at the new Sonic Arts Institute in San Diego
emphasizes improvising music in various non-12-equal scales
or with complete freedom of intonation, with the idea of letting go
of control of our individual egos, and allowing our ears and the
spirit and feeling of community which arises from our creating
music together to be our guide, and a willingness to go wherever
the music takes us.

In our short three weeks of existence, there have already been
some amazing voyages. The title of Danielou's book might
almost be slogan for what we are experiencing.

Many people who have been attracted to our bi-weekly "Earth Chants"
have a particular interest in the healing powers of music or
sound.

Also, La Monte Young has studied much about the effects and
affects of many various primes (in the frequency ratios of the
tones in his drone-like sound installations) on the nervous
system. [Perhaps Dave Beardsley or Daniel Wolf could elaborate
more on this]


3)

As far as I can tell from what I've read here, the function of this
list is cultural, social, intellectual, practical, musical, debatable,
..tell me when to stop.

This Tuning Forum is a place where any subscriber can ask or say
anything pertaining to tuning. To those of us who have worked in
this field for a long time, tuning becomes a topic of major importance
in our lives, precisely because we can find so many applications of
its relevance, and because it arouses such passions in us.


- Joe Monzo
joe_monzo@hotmail.com
http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html

(please note the new address of my website)

___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

------------------------------

End of TUNING Digest 1557
*************************