O beautiful

A while back Jacky Ligon wrote,

> If I map a 13/10 to "F", which I must do if I want to tune it to 454
cents - well I certainly don't hear this interval as a 4/3 - I hear it
as a very wide major 3rd.

I had meant to mention this then, and once again last night, but both
times I lapsed into a temporary senility and forgot... The truncated
reworking of the "America the Beautiful" melody that the trumpet takes
at the opening of "At a Day Job" uses a descending 10:13 in the role
of the expected minor 3rd (and a 5:7 in place of the expected 4th that
follows). My question to anyone who might care to listen and weigh in
a view is what does this stubborn and sometimes disorienting 10:13
interval sound most like in this context... some flavor of a major
3rd... some flavor of a 4th... an out of tune 3rd or an out of tune
4th... none of the above... WRONG?:

<http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/55/117_west_great_western.html>

ds

Dan,

Hello!

Well I went to MP3.com and listened to the piece many times in a row -
and I must say that this represents a wonderful musical example from
which to ask these kinds of questions, because of the familiar tune.
At first exposure, I felt I could almost qualify it as a flattly
tuned fourth, but after hearing it repeatedly, I still want to call
it a wide major 3rd. The context IS everything - and this really
shows it to be true, because - for contrast, if you play an arpeggio
on a piano sound alone, of 1/1, 13/10 and 3/2 - just a first position
triad, well this really wants to behave like a major triad. Nothing
profound in this statement; it just underscores the wonderful
harmonic paradoxes provided by the Neutral ratios.

I love using intervals that creat this kind of ambiguity, as a
deliberate compositional choice. And I think that the context of
their use really does affect the quality of perception, either
nakedly or in a veiled sort of way. To me this is a more "veiled",
approach, in that it uses a familiar piece, and the part under
analysis is a melody that you expect to do certain things. That is
the delightful part of what you've done here!!! Great thanks to you
for sharing this perspective.

To any on this list who may not have found their way to Dan Stearns
music on MP3.com - you don't know what you are missing!!! There's
allot of great music there, and Dan has got some great compostional,
studio and guitar chops too. Check it out - you won't regret it!!

Good Day,

Jacky Ligon

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "D.Stearns" <STEARNS@C...> wrote:
> A while back Jacky Ligon wrote,
>
> > If I map a 13/10 to "F", which I must do if I want to tune it to
454
> cents - well I certainly don't hear this interval as a 4/3 - I hear
it
> as a very wide major 3rd.
>
> The truncated
> reworking of the "America the Beautiful" melody that the trumpet
takes
> at the opening of "At a Day Job" uses a descending 10:13 in the role
> of the expected minor 3rd (and a 5:7 in place of the expected 4th
that
> follows). My question to anyone who might care to listen and weigh
in
> a view is what does this stubborn and sometimes disorienting 10:13
> interval sound most like in this context... some flavor of a major
> 3rd... some flavor of a 4th... an out of tune 3rd or an out of tune
> 4th... none of the above... WRONG?:
>