Tui

I just renewed my contact with Tui Saint George Tucker. My wife and I
visited her at Camp Catawba, a stone's throw from the Blue Ridge
Parkway near Blowing Rock, NC.

I hadn't seen Tui in seven years. She's now 76, and moving a bit more
slowly, but she's the same Tui as ever: talented, confident, exacting,
fascinating.

I told her about the tuning list, and that Johnny Reinhard had mentioned
her name several times. She laughed and said, "Johnny and I always
argue about the meaning of the word 'microtonal'. He keeps saying,
'All music is microtonal'. 'All music is microtonal', as if by
repetition, he can make it true" [sound familiar? - ed]. Tui has
huge respect for Johnny and his work. She claims credit for turning
Johnny on to music other than 12-tone - true, Johnny?

She keeps a pair of pianos tuned a quartertone apart, arranged at the
corner of a room at 90 degrees to each other, so that the performer
can sit at the apex and play both.

Tui's toying with getting online, and we did our best to encourage her
to do so. She has local contacts who can help her with hardware and
software problems. I'm almost certain she'll have a blast online; I'll
try to get her on the tuning list when/if it happens.

Although we caught Tui in the middle of renovations, she made time to
receive us graciously.

As I write, I am listening to "Tui St. George Tucker", Centaur CRC 2354,
many works I had never heard before, and I must say, I had never
realized just how talented she is. "Notes from the Blue Mountains",
though it is undeniably in 12-tET, is just lovely! So is "First
Quartertone Lullaby". Heck, the whole disk is great - I've got to
figure out where to buy copies to send to others.

JdL

John,

--- In tuning@y..., "John A. deLaubenfels" <jdl@a...> wrote:
> I just renewed my contact with Tui Saint George Tucker.

...and etc. Never one to be shy about confessing my own ignorance, I
don't know anything about this person, but she sounds quite special.
Where could I read more about her (some day), and maybe you could
recommend recordings of works (beyond the one you mentioned...)?

Best,
Jon

[I wrote:]
>>I just renewed my contact with Tui Saint George Tucker.

[Jon Szanto:]
>...and etc. Never one to be shy about confessing my own ignorance, I
>don't know anything about this person, but she sounds quite special.
>Where could I read more about her (some day), and maybe you could
>recommend recordings of works (beyond the one you mentioned...)?

Johnny and others on this list could give a much more complete bio on
Tui than I could (Johnny?). She's descended from a famous British
soldier. Became a recorder virtuoso, then started composing. Did lots
in quartertone.

I met her by chance in autumn 1992, via a mutual acquaintance. My name
struck a bell; she had met grandfather Max deLaubenfels in Pasadena in
the late '40's. She encouraged me in my early experiments with tuning.

The only other disks I have with her work are:

"Soundbridge", Opus One CD 152 (2 tracks).

"Buxtehude, Moondog, & Co." Spectrum SD-1001 (1 track).

Others, please fill in more info!

JdL

John,

--- In tuning@y..., "John A. deLaubenfels" <jdl@a...> wrote:
> Johnny and others on this list could give a much more complete bio
> on Tui than I could (Johnny?).

I'll look forward to any information, and (of course) appreciate the
recordings you've listed. Thanks!

> "Buxtehude, Moondog, & Co." Spectrum SD-1001 (1 track).

Wow -- there's some spectacular bedfellows!!

Cheers,
Jon