Polymicrotonality

If your are interested in some thoughts on mixing and matching, try:

http://stereosociety.com/body_jrpolymi.html  

Johnny Reinhard

--- In tuning@y..., Afmmjr@a... wrote:
> If your are interested in some thoughts on mixing and matching, try:
>
>
> http://stereosociety.com/body_jrpolymi.html  
>
>
> Johnny Reinhard

/tuning/topicId_21267.html#21267

I have read this essay before, but the following paragraph comes to
mind as I wrestle with the idea of Ben Johnston's fluctuating
notation:

Quote from Johnny Reinhard:

"Cents makes the most sense:

1200 divisions of the octave being the very threshold of human
hearing for pitch differentiation. Additionally, cents allows for
the total intellectualization of all pitch "points" on the line of
frequency to be immediately apprehended. Most importantly, players
always reference new pitches to constants -- like open strings and
harmonics -- in order to find exotics. Microtonal notations that
represent moving relationships can lose their constants in pitch
drift, making it difficult to come up with the necessary hand
positions or fingerings to produce the appropriate sounds. The
solution is for all pitches to relate in a unified field in order to
be fully prescriptive for players. Cents also anchors us to present
music tradition -- no small feat. Of course, by using enharmonic
quartertones, one need not use numbers larger than 25 to indicate
cents distinctions (recently pointed out by Paul Erlich, a
subscriber to the internet's busy Tuning List)."

_________ ______ ___ _____
Joseph Pehrson