Re: Harrison suite

Darren Burgess wrote:

>
> Bill Alves:
> >>>Having just this week heard Lou Harrison's beautiful suite for violin
> and
> American gamelan (with his American gamelan shipped down from Aptos), I
> remain all the more convinced of the success of JI metallophones.
> >>>
> Bill,
>
> Is this a recorded piece? If so, could you please reference where I may
> obtain it. Perhaps there are other recordings available that would provide
> good examples of success with JI metallophones combined with harmonic
> instruments.
>

There is indeed a recording of this piece but unfortunately it was recorded
before the instruments were rebuilt in JI. The recording is in ET. Hopefully
maybe this one will come out!
-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
www.anaphoria.com

Message text written by Kraig Grady

>
<There is indeed a recording of this piece but unfortunately it was
recorded
<before the instruments were rebuilt in JI. The recording is in ET.<
<

Is this really so? I thought 'Old Grandad', the first Harrison/Colvig
gamelan, was always in JI, and the recent performance was on newly
rennovated instruments.

By the way, the Suite was co-composed by Lou Harrison with Richard Dee.

Daniel Wolf wrote:

> <There is indeed a recording of this piece but unfortunately it was
> recorded
> <before the instruments were rebuilt in JI. The recording is in ET.<
> <
>
> Is this really so? I thought 'Old Grandad', the first Harrison/Colvig
> gamelan, was always in JI, and the recent performance was on newly
> rennovated instruments.
>
> By the way, the Suite was co-composed by Lou Harrison with Richard Dee.

I had talk to Lou about this recently and this is what he told me.
Originally in a D Major ET it was rebuilt in JI. I was very surprised by
this fact and don't really know much else about the history behind how this
happened!
-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
www.anaphoria.com

>Daniel Wolf wrote:
>>
>> Is this really so? I thought 'Old Grandad', the first Harrison/Colvig
>> gamelan, was always in JI, and the recent performance was on newly
>> rennovated instruments.

Kraig Grady responded:

>I had talk to Lou about this recently and this is what he told me.
>Originally in a D Major ET it was rebuilt in JI. I was very surprised by
>this fact and don't really know much else about the history behind how this
>happened!

Why, then, does Bill Colvig's article, "An American Gamelan," describe the
tuning of "Old Grandad" as Ptolemy's syntonon diatonic? He describes how
they had to use an oscilloscope to tune them and says,

"Certainly it could be made with 'sharps and flats' and all tuned up
out-of-tune Western style in 12 equal tones so you could play 'Stormy
Weather' on it. Why bother? We already have pianos and marimbaphones etc.
to play your favorite tunes on. Marvelous new (to us) sound sensations can
be achieved by trying different musical modes in 'just intonation,' the
expression used for rational tuning."

I don't have the date on this article, but it sounds like Bill is talking
about the original construction.

Bill

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

> From: alves@orion.ac.hmc.edu (Bill Alves)
>
> >Daniel Wolf wrote:
> >>
> >> Is this really so? I thought 'Old Grandad', the first Harrison/Colvig
> >> gamelan, was always in JI, and the recent performance was on newly
> >> rennovated instruments.
>
> Kraig Grady responded:
>
> >I had talk to Lou about this recently and this is what he told me.
> >Originally in a D Major ET it was rebuilt in JI. I was very surprised by
> >this fact and don't really know much else about the history behind how this
> >happened!
>
> Why, then, does Bill Colvig's article, "An American Gamelan," describe the
> tuning of "Old Grandad" as Ptolemy's syntonon diatonic? He describes how
> they had to use an oscilloscope to tune them and says,
>
> "Certainly it could be made with 'sharps and flats' and all tuned up
> out-of-tune Western style in 12 equal tones so you could play 'Stormy
> Weather' on it. Why bother? We already have pianos and marimbaphones etc.
> to play your favorite tunes on. Marvelous new (to us) sound sensations can
> be achieved by trying different musical modes in 'just intonation,' the
> expression used for rational tuning."
>
> I don't have the date on this article, but it sounds like Bill is talking
> about the original construction.
>
> Bill

well I'm only reporting what Lou told me but Let' s ask and I'll report back
as maybe I made a mistake. John Bergamo thought also that the one before was
in ET.
-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
www.anaphoria.com