Prime effect/ affect

Daniel Wolf wrote:

> I am struck that one confusing aspect of the question
> of prime affects is that primes seven to 23 appear
> near scalar positions in the most familar tunings
> which already bear very strong associations (e.g.
> 11 first appears close to the augmented fourth).
> While it is possible that these associations in the
> familar tunings are due themselves to proximity
> to these very prime ratios, it is probably impossible
> to determine the direction of causality. This confusion
> does, however, suggest that to a large degree interval
> affect is independent of the actual intonation.

This point was one that I found very intriguing. I have
stated, along with many others, that each prime in musical
ratios seems to embody a unique dimension in both sound
and feeling, and that those affects, at least for the
smallest primes and smallest exponents, are quite distinct.
As with Young, however, I have been hesitant to describe
those "feelings" with any kind of exactitude, at least
beyond the usual descriptions of "3 = power" and
"5 = sweetness".

Wolf's questioning of the possibility of determining the
"direction of causality" got me thinking about even *those*
rudimentary associations. Could it be that even the
association of sweetness with 5 comes about because of
our innate comparison of the 5/4 "major 3rd" with the
much more dissonant 81/64, which has both historical and
prime-series priority as a 3-Limit ratio? I think it's
quite possible.

- Joe Monzo
monz@juno.com
http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html

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