[tuning] Malcolm's Monochord (was: Re: Speed limit: 4.7 cents/sec.)

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <manuel.op.de.coul@eon-benelux.com>
> To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 2:20 AM
> Subject: Re: [tuning] Re: Speed limit: 4.7 cents/sec.
>
>
> > So what's Malcolm's monochord?
>
> I don't know much about its history. Invented by a Malcolm in
> 1721. It's in my DX7 as the just major scale:
> 16/15 9/8 6/5 5/4 4/3 45/32 3/2 8/5 5/3 16/9 15/8 2/1

I don't know *anything* about it's history, but it is
a transposed version of Kepler's Monochord #2 (1619,
_Harmonices mundi_, ed. Frisch 1864, p. 163), which
was also illustrated a bit later by Mersenne in his
_Harmonie Universelle_.

Barbour shows Kepler's tuning on p. 98, and he presents
Malcolm's on p. 100-101, and notes the similarity.
(I only found this out after I had noted the similarity
myself.)

Assuming C = 1/1 for both:

Kepler's Monochord #2:

E --- B --- F# -- C#
/ \ / \ / \ /
/ \ / \ / \ /
F --- C --- G --- D --- A
\ / \ / \ /
\ / \ / \ /
Ab -- Eb -- Bb

Malcolm's Monochord:

A --- E --- B --- F#
/ \ / \ / \ /
/ \ / \ / \ /
Bb -- F --- C --- G --- D
\ / \ / \ /
\ / \ / \ /
Db -- Ab -- Eb

-monz
http://www.monz.org
"All roads lead to n^0"

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