Re: Hello, Paul (22-tET advocacy)

Hello, there, Paul Erlich, and since your very moving message about
your change of method in accessing this List was part of the Gesualdo
thread, I'm responding there, although this really deserves a thread
of its own.

Please let me say that I have deeply honored to exchange ideas and
creative energy with you over the past not quite three years, and that
your latest words to me make this experience all the more precious. I
hope that we can continue this dialogue, at least from time to time,
and would like to express my indebtedness to you in many directions.

You very successfully communicated to me the contagious urge to tune
22-tET -- and find out how a literal quartertone (1/22 octave) could
serve as a very nice diatonic semitone. I'm tempted to call it a
"tempered 28:27," maybe revealing my JI/RI streak -- but whatever I
call it, it has a really neat effect, whether in my neo-Gothic
cadences for three or four voices, or just in a melodic improvisation,
maybe with the element of a drone.

One evening I sat down to improvise in 22-tET, and decided to focus on
the melodic aspect: a drone on D, and a simple melody in the Dorian
mode. That step from major sixth to minor seventh somehow epitomized
the scale for me, something that might have been documented in a paper
on ethnomusicology describing the traditional tuning practices of some
intonationally very wise culture.

Of course, your tour de force in the Aeolian mode has stuck with me
these several months, a kind legendary exploit in the chronicles of
xenharmonicism.

The cross-cultural interplay between 22-tET and the 22 srutis of India
is also fascinating to observe; I hope that it enriches musical
perspectives and traditions on all sides.

While I might have uttered these words on various occasions, your
"change of pace" in accessing this List seems an appropriate moment.

By the way, I would invite you and everyone to make the most of the
Benedetti material: it's a fascinating chapter in the history of
consonance/dissonance theory. I'm in agreement that whoever writes
this part of the FAQ should include Benedetti.

Maybe as a fitting conclusion to this message, I would say that your
writings (and graphics!) have shown the way to fertile valleys and
elevating plateaus of intonational delight.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@value.net