uses of tuning

Paul Erlich's post reminds me of a point that I feel is very important. I try to make it on this digest once every so often (I hope this will be my best effort). Perhaps it is not contrary to what he was getting at...

>The microtones are not there to maximize consonance but to provide >expressive possibilities and tendencies not present in the 12-tone system.

The point? That microtonality is not a one-trick bag. Sure it offers a great new variety of harmony-- more consonance, more dissonance. But aside from harmony, and aside from the most exotic theories of melody, there is what I call a "weak argument" for microtonality. Something that I think was at the heart of what Ivor was saying. Just that tuning is a vector of control for the musician and composer, one on which walks of interest may be taken, just as with dynamics or rhythm.

I think this argument is anything but weak. It may be the strongest one. When people see an orchestra or choir with "good intonation", what did they see? Musicians who were controlling their intonation. To what degree of accuracy? In what systematic way? There may be important answers to these questions, but it is also important to remember the weak argument. That is, there may be 19 systematic ways, all of them good. We'll write each one down! Leaving out 19 others, which were yet to be discovered.

If some killer tunes are the goal, control over intonation should be a top priority for anyone designing, building, or playing an instrument. When it comes to instruments with poor control over intonation, the keyboard comes right to mind. Which is all the more unfortunate given the keyboard's power to organize music. Early music is definitely coming from a choral place, then smack! -- something happens. Just when the keyboard hits the scene. Something that nobody would have ever thought of without one. 200 years later one man beat everybody else to the piano, and is given the credit for her innovation. Ye gods-- can you tell what instrument I play? What was this about again? Enough!

-C.