Re: [tuning] Digest Number 1641

Hi Alison,

> Some sort of metallophone or marimba would fit this layout. Have you read the
> back issues of
> Xenharmonicon? There are some incredibly detailed articles on layouts for
> instruments, mainly by
> Erv Wilson. I'm sure you'd get the details on the anaphoria website.

Thanks, certainly if I actually get round to trying to build them I'll do some chasing
up of instrument details.

Just today I've been musing about whether one could make a compact hexany type
instrument modelled after the African kalimba or thumb piano? Thought was that
the framework could then be quite light, so one could make it any shape one
liked practically. Or at least, someone with good carpentry type skills could
(in my case I'd prob. ask one of my relatives for help, as he is a carpenter).

> I'm still not sure about this. I'm coming round to the opinion, through
> listening and comparing,
> that 2 - 3 cents of Just is pretty much Just, given the inharmonicity of
> strings in particular. I
> intend to try a small group of instruments, including metal tubes, tuned to
> 'Blackjack'. As with
> 22 tet I like to work with one tuning for a reasonable length of time. Then
> I'll make a set of
> Eikosany tubes and work with that. After all that I might be qualified to
> comment on the effects
> of tempering.

Glad you have the idea of keeping up the pure just temperaments too.
I try to keep both strands active too, playing both ets and just scales.

I've been finding while playing in various temperaments that one seems to be
affected by quite subtle distinctions, even if one can't actually hear them
easily when listening to it played back. As someone posted a while back
about Arabic music, the players go by the taste. Or in Western literature,
the colour. Maybe we need to relearn the ability to listen to that kind
of aspect of a tuning?

This is kind of a bit shy of analysis as if one tries hard to hear the
pitchs and intervals, one forgets the gentler approach of hearing the feeling of
the temperament. It kind of would make more sense to write a little poem after
listening to the temperament, or something, and see if the language and metaphors
used depended on the temperament.

> Well, I suppose the sound comes first and I have to say that I liked Joseph's
> piece and I have a
> batch of ideas from tinkering with 'Blackjack' on my synth. It all depends on
> whether I can get
> the sounds into my head and start thinking and creating with that scale. Same
> old problem.

Well, sounds like a good basis for using it to me, for what its worth,...

Robert

--- In tuning@y..., "Robert Walker" <robertwalker@n...> wrote:

> I try to keep both strands active too, playing both ets and just
scales.

Don't forget the Middle Path!

Robert Walker wrote:

> Hi Alison,
>
> > Some sort of metallophone or marimba would fit this layout. Have you read the
> > back issues of
> > Xenharmonicon? There are some incredibly detailed articles on layouts for
> > instruments, mainly by
> > Erv Wilson. I'm sure you'd get the details on the anaphoria website.
>
> Thanks, certainly if I actually get round to trying to build them I'll do some chasing
> up of instrument details.

I would recommend for a start two books : Making Simple Musical Instruments by Bart Hopkins - ISBN
0- 937274-80-1 and Sound Designs by Reinhold Banek and Jon Scoville - ISBN 0-89815-775-7. Both
seem easy to find in the UK. The latter has some fine thumb piano designs to address your next
point. The first has a 'Rumba Box' design, a type of very large mbira. I'm building two, one is
ready to tune. I've found that the larger and more massive the prongs or 'keys', the easier they
will be to tune. And I need a strong bass section to blend with the tubulong.

>
> Just today I've been musing about whether one could make a compact hexany type
> instrument modelled after the African kalimba or thumb piano? Thought was that
> the framework could then be quite light, so one could make it any shape one
> liked practically. Or at least, someone with good carpentry type skills could
> (in my case I'd prob. ask one of my relatives for help, as he is a carpenter).

I've found the carpentry very satisfying and meditative. Most of it revolvers around making boxes.
I started with slit drums which I've tuned roughly to 3:2, 4:3 and both types of thirds. With
little or no skills you soon learn and after a few months of learning what the tools could do I
found that I could work fast and effectively.

>
> I've been finding while playing in various temperaments that one seems to be
> affected by quite subtle distinctions, even if one can't actually hear them
> easily when listening to it played back. As someone posted a while back
> about Arabic music, the players go by the taste. Or in Western literature,
> the colour. Maybe we need to relearn the ability to listen to that kind
> of aspect of a tuning?

> This is kind of a bit shy of analysis as if one tries hard to hear the
> pitchs and intervals, one forgets the gentler approach of hearing the feeling of
> the temperament. It kind of would make more sense to write a little poem after
> listening to the temperament, or something, and see if the language and metaphors
> used depended on the temperament.

This is very beautiful. First impressions and improvisations are very important. You have to
savour the essence of a temperament while it is fresh. I'm ignoring 22 for a short while - it
started sounding quite ordinary because I had spent so much time with it. Nonetheless I feel I
have captured something of its essence. I find it hard to write anything harsh or edgy in 22. Who
knows what Blackjack will reveal? Here's one initial finding. I map out 'Blackjack' on a the white
and black notes of a standard keyboard. Strictly by ear and paying no attention to tone names
apart from my middle C I play my C tonic and find the best 3/2.Then the best 5/4. I arpeggiate
with these tones. Happy with this I sharpen my tonic one step and I find that the triad is still
acceptable as a major triad. Obviously, I'll need to double check everything and look at the
resolution of my synth and try this with a variety of timbres, but this type of discovery could
prove fruitful for both tonal and modal modulation.

Good Luck and keep the compositions flowing.

Best Wishes