Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup tuning Re: Thank you note -- fragmentary and incomplete

Hello, there, and here are just a few quick thank you notes to some
people in response to posts over the last few days. Please let me
apologize in advance for any omissions or oversights, since _everyone_
here is important in helping to give our community its unique
qualities.

Thank you, Alison Monteith, for a very moving and engaging account of
the Edinburgh Festival. How important it is to realize the special
beauty of live performers and ensembles negotiating tunings without
benefit of a table of fixed pitches. Your report conveys both the
beauty of the music and the art of its interpreters. I'm excited to
see medieval composers such as Machaut being both performed and
listened to with a special appreciation for intonation. As you
observe, medieval sonorities can indeed be "crunchy" -- a theme tying
in with a post by Dave Keenan also.

Thank you, Monz, for your response to my article on 29-tet and the
question of interpreting Marchettus of Padua; I'm delighted that your
response provided an occasion for posting a link to your materials on
Marchettus, something I should have included in my original post. Of
course, I understand that you are involved now with _really_ early
music (e.g. Sumer and Babylon), in contrast to the 14th-century
"moderns" (indeed known by that name at the time). Since the
mathematics of the _Lucidarium_ are subject to many interpretations,
the ear and perspective of the commentator may be a decisive
factor. The idea of a cadential major sixth equally far from a fifth
or an octave does very much grab my attention, however literally or
otherwise this can/should be read.

Thank you, Robert C. Valentine, for a really creative and provocative
idea about a piece (maybe a "crab canon" as you propose, or a
"palindrome" like Machaut's _En ma fin mon commencement_) shifting
from a "reverse meantone" or hypermeantone to a usual meantone. The
idea of reversing the cadential logic is a _very_ ingenious one. Maybe
especially as you shift to the realm around 19-tet, the more tense
quality of fifths _could_ suggest a kind of "resolution" to thirds.
The idea of the graduated shifting of the temperament as the piece
proceeds, and the reversed positions of flats and sharps to match the
reversed motion, is something really intriguing.

This does suggest the kind of musical subtlety practiced by a Solage
or Ockeghem, and if the discussion of neo-Gothic styles leads to this
kind of exploration of hybrid forms and styles, I'm really excited.
May the experiment -- or maybe many experiments -- fulfill the
high conception.

Thank you, Jacky Ligon, for many remarks about tuning, and especially
your comments on the 13:10. To me, also, it tends at least in the
contexts I find myself using it (or actually its close approximation
at 11/29 octave or 9/24 octave) to be a kind of very wide major third.
However, maybe my usage defines this perception: "if it's unstable and
resolves to a fifth by stepwise contrary motion, then it sounds like a
major third because it acts like one." Sometimes it can have a
captivating ambiguity: "We've warped into a new musical space
somewhere between or beyond the 14th and 20th centuries, progressions
are curiously 'blurred' and still beautiful, so enjoy it."

Thank you, Dave Keenan, for your remarks on "crunchiness"; my first
response is that a usual 243:128 might epitomize crunchiness for me,
and composers such as Perotin certainly know how to use it, although
my use now and then of an approximation of 11:8 in certain cadences
might be closer to the kind of intervals you mainly have in mind. By
the way, please let me thank you for your germinal articles on regular
tunings with one or two chains of fifths, vital sources for so much of
what I'm now about, including some recent articles on neo-Gothic
hypermeantones.

Thank you, "Troubledoor," for what might be considered a prophetic
comment about "hybrid scales." While I find 24 notes of Pythagorean or
29-tone equal temperament (29-tet) a very practical set -- people may
find their mileage varies here depending on questions of musical style
and outlook -- the idea of mixing hybrid tunings can have lots of
possibilities. Maybe a tuning like 34-tet (which could be analyzed as
two 17-tet chains) is one form of such hybridization -- and likewise
22-tet as two sets of 11-tet.

Thank you, Paul Erlich, for your great well-temperament riddle. I
didn't get it (until after reading your solution), but the exercise in
combination with a point you made in a dialogue we had about
17th-century music some months ago has spurred me on to something I'm
really looking forward to sharing. Also, I would like to record some
of my neo-Gothic improvisations and the like -- finding a balance
between theorizing and practicing. Sometimes I need to exercise a bit
of patience and persistence in getting my fingering up to my musical
intentions. Your articles and dialogue have immensely enriched this
experience, in theory and practice alike; I'm still admiring your
Aeolian tour de force in 22-tet.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@value.net

Re: Thank you note -- fragmentary and incomplete

🔗M. Schulter <MSCHULTER@VALUE.NET>

🔗Monz <MONZ@JUNO.COM>