arabic 2 cents worth

i would suppose that islamic culture, being more
dynamic than western culture, is showing change and
diffusion. another problem is that many do not distinguish between
'quatertone' and 'microtone'
when talking about the arabic scale.

it seems that some arabic musicians are adopting
scales with 12et and 24et intervals in them; but
only 24et in theory.

they are adopting these quatertone subsets, in addition to their
traditional microtonal just scale, not instead of it.

they are adding to their resources, while the west is
hopelessly stuck in industrial revolution of a previous
century.

my direct experience with arabic music, is with an
electric baglama/saz, i've had for nearly a decade.
since the bridge wasn't 'fixed', i had a little
trouble with placement, at first. i tried making it
17 notes per octave, but eventually discovered it was
fretted for 18 notes per octave. the tables of Ellis' do allow for
something like this, but not openly.

i suspect, that a new note was added from the theory
of a previous century. also, my experience, with ethnic fretted
instruments, has led me to believe, that the spell of phythogoreanism
has more to do with its avoidance of commas, and its practical
application
to practical placements of frets, than for any other
reason. much as 12et piano has become establish,
mostly for practical business reasons, rather than
any particular theoretical reason.

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