Key book on tunning by Barbour

I am very interested in getting the book

Tuning and temperament: A historical survey
by James Murray Barbour.

It is out of print and can not find it any where.

Anyone would have an idea about how to get it ?

Anyone has read the book and liked it?

Thanks

Carlos

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carlos <garciasuarez@y...> wrote:

> I am very interested in getting the book
>
> Tuning and temperament: A historical survey
> by James Murray Barbour.
>
> It is out of print and can not find it any where.
>
> Anyone would have an idea about how to get it ?

My first suggestion for any question like this is to go to a
university library; many of them will give you a free library card.
Your local public library also has interlibrary loan, which can turn
up lots of stuff.

> Anyone has read the book and liked it?

It's a classic.

I got a copy a couple of years ago via www.bookfinder.com. Do a search, and
if there aren't any copies available right now, bookmark the search results
page so you can easily repeat it whenever you think of it. eventually one
will turn up. I seem to remember coughing up like $50 for the copy I got: it
is a great book though and frequently comes in very handy.

Another option is to xerox the whole shebang at the library. If you can get
two facing pages on the scanner bed, and the copies are relatively cheap,
this can be the easiest and chepest way of having a copy of stuff like this
that is out of print and scarce. Thats what I ended up doing with Lindley's
book when there were never any copies for sale that I could find.

Dante

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carlos [mailto:garciasuarez@ya.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 2:55 PM
> To: tuning-math@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [tuning-math] Key book on tunning by Barbour
>
>
> I am very interested in getting the book
>
> Tuning and temperament: A historical survey
> by James Murray Barbour.
>
> It is out of print and can not find it any where.
>
> Anyone would have an idea about how to get it ?
>
> Anyone has read the book and liked it?
>
> Thanks
>
> Carlos
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> tuning-math-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carlos <garciasuarez@y...> wrote:

> Anyone would have an idea about how to get it ?

try interlibrary loan.

> Anyone has read the book and liked it?

yes, it's useful . . . i think i have a copy . . .

i got both Barbour's and Lindleys by xerox copy
from a university library. general procedure for
out-of-print stuff that's very hard to find, like
most books on tuning.

Barbour's book is valuable as a very large compendium
of historical tunings, most of which are given
quite accurately in measurements other than cents,
along with the cents values. this is good because
it helps to explain the nature of the tuning.

it's marred by his viewpoint that 12edo is the "best"
tuning, and his historical stance is skewed by the
process he uses of viewing all other tunings as
approaching 12edo more-or-less well, as tho it were
the goal of musical history to arrive at 12edo hegemony
after a long process of trial and error.

perhaps in a sense his book is even more valuable
from a sociological point of view precisely *because*
it adopts this perspective, which was pretty much
the general perspective in Western music at the
time Barbour published the book (1951).

-monz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dante Rosati" <dante.interport@rcn.com>
To: <tuning-math@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 12:27 PM
Subject: RE: [tuning-math] Key book on tunning by Barbour

> I got a copy a couple of years ago via www.bookfinder.com. Do a search,
and
> if there aren't any copies available right now, bookmark the search
results
> page so you can easily repeat it whenever you think of it. eventually one
> will turn up. I seem to remember coughing up like $50 for the copy I got:
it
> is a great book though and frequently comes in very handy.
>
> Another option is to xerox the whole shebang at the library. If you can
get
> two facing pages on the scanner bed, and the copies are relatively cheap,
> this can be the easiest and chepest way of having a copy of stuff like
this
> that is out of print and scarce. Thats what I ended up doing with
Lindley's
> book when there were never any copies for sale that I could find.
>
> Dante
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Carlos [mailto:garciasuarez@ya.com]
> > Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 2:55 PM
> > To: tuning-math@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [tuning-math] Key book on tunning by Barbour
> >
> >
> > I am very interested in getting the book
> >
> > Tuning and temperament: A historical survey
> > by James Murray Barbour.
> >
> > It is out of print and can not find it any where.
> >
> > Anyone would have an idea about how to get it ?
> >
> > Anyone has read the book and liked it?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Carlos
> >
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > tuning-math-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> tuning-math-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "monz" <monz@a...> wrote:

> it's marred by his viewpoint that 12edo is the "best"
> tuning,

a popular misconception, i don't think that's really his viewpoint.
he says meantone was best for what it was designed for. he does
compare each tuning to 12-equal (and may use certain adjectives
rather loosely in comparing these comparisons) but it's unfair to
conclude that therefore he felt 12-equal to be best.

> and his historical stance is skewed by the
> process he uses of viewing all other tunings as
> approaching 12edo more-or-less well, as tho it were
> the goal of musical history to arrive at 12edo hegemony
> after a long process of trial and error.

bull$#!^. i think you need to go back and read your photocopies again.

anyway, why is this on the tuning-math list and not the tuning list?
carlos, are you aware that there is a broader tuning list?

hi paul,

[in keeping with paul's last comment below,
i've shifted this thread to the main tuning list.]

> From: "wallyesterpaulrus" <wallyesterpaulrus@yahoo.com>
> To: <tuning-math@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 2:41 PM
> Subject: [tuning-math] Re: Key book on tunning by Barbour
>
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "monz" <monz@a...> wrote:
>
> > it's marred by his viewpoint that 12edo is the "best"
> > tuning,
>
> a popular misconception, i don't think that's really his viewpoint.
> he says meantone was best for what it was designed for. he does
> compare each tuning to 12-equal (and may use certain adjectives
> rather loosely in comparing these comparisons) but it's unfair to
> conclude that therefore he felt 12-equal to be best.
>
> > and his historical stance is skewed by the
> > process he uses of viewing all other tunings as
> > approaching 12edo more-or-less well, as tho it were
> > the goal of musical history to arrive at 12edo hegemony
> > after a long process of trial and error.
>
> bull$#!^. i think you need to go back and read your photocopies again.

well, OK ... it's true that for several years now i've
only been using Barbour's book as a reference to get
data on particular tunings. and altho i always end up
getting so interested in what he has to say that i generally
read the whole chapter instead of just the bit i need,
it's been a long time since i read the whole book from
cover to cover, so perhaps i am being a bit unfair to him.

thanks especially for pointing out he feelings about
meantone ... i'll go back and take another look at that.

and anyway, of course i see the universe of tuning in
my own skewed way, which is far different from Barbour's.

> anyway, why is this on the tuning-math list and not the tuning list?
> carlos, are you aware that there is a broader tuning list?

OK, here it is on the main list.

-monz