Ben Johnston comments on performance practice

From essay in Elliott Schwartz' _Contemporary Composers on
Contemporary Music_:

"MAXIMUM CLARITY

Imagine looking at home movies when the person running the projector
suddenly improves the focus. It is a pleasant but definite shock to
see how much clearer the images are now even though we had accepted
them before the adjustment. This is a very precise analogy to what
happens whtn the players in a musical ensemble clean up the
intonation. They do not have to compute this or even analyze the
music to discover what it needs to bring it in tune. No, this is
done "by ear": simply by listening for maximum clarity in the
intervals that comprise the ensemble sound. Most players are
scarcely aware even whether they have to raise or lower pitches in
order to achieve good tuning: they make the adjustment quite
directly as soon as they bring critical attention to playing in tune.

What is actually happening when such ensemble tuning is proceeding
well is that the versions of the intervals which have the smallest
numbers in the vibration ratios are being selected. This is what
just intonation is, at its simplest. Of course, it can be more
complex than that. There are usually several versions on an
interval, all simple enough ratios to beguile the ear, so that one
may select among them. The basis of this choice is usually what is
called expressivity. It is what performers in the Indian tradition
call "rasa," or emotional meaning. As one becomes more and more
sensitive to this dimension of performance, one begins to
characterize musical styles more successfully by means of particular
expressivities produced by interval choice." ...

??

jp

Hi, Joe! Thanks for this! I read it to my choir last night and they
giggled at how familiar it sounded. I have been thinking and working
with choirs like this since way before I even knew who Ben Johnston
is.

Gratefully,

Bob

--- In tuning@y..., "jpehrson2" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> From essay in Elliott Schwartz' _Contemporary Composers on
> Contemporary Music_:
>
> "MAXIMUM CLARITY
>
> Imagine looking at home movies when the person running the
projector
> suddenly improves the focus. It is a pleasant but definite shock
to
> see how much clearer the images are now even though we had accepted
> them before the adjustment. This is a very precise analogy to what
> happens whtn the players in a musical ensemble clean up the
> intonation. They do not have to compute this or even analyze the
> music to discover what it needs to bring it in tune. No, this is
> done "by ear": simply by listening for maximum clarity in the
> intervals that comprise the ensemble sound. Most players are
> scarcely aware even whether they have to raise or lower pitches in
> order to achieve good tuning: they make the adjustment quite
> directly as soon as they bring critical attention to playing in
tune.
>
> What is actually happening when such ensemble tuning is proceeding
> well is that the versions of the intervals which have the smallest
> numbers in the vibration ratios are being selected. This is what
> just intonation is, at its simplest. Of course, it can be more
> complex than that. There are usually several versions on an
> interval, all simple enough ratios to beguile the ear, so that one
> may select among them. The basis of this choice is usually what is
> called expressivity. It is what performers in the Indian tradition
> call "rasa," or emotional meaning. As one becomes more and more
> sensitive to this dimension of performance, one begins to
> characterize musical styles more successfully by means of
particular
> expressivities produced by interval choice." ...
>
> ??
>
> jp

--- In tuning@y..., "robert_wendell" <rwendell@c...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_35025.html#35091

> Hi, Joe! Thanks for this! I read it to my choir last night and they
> giggled at how familiar it sounded. I have been thinking and
working with choirs like this since way before I even knew who Ben
Johnston is.
>
> Gratefully,
>
> Bob
>

***Thanks, Bob. Just pulled it out of Elliott Schwartz' wonderful
book... [since I know Elliott, it makes it even *more* wonderful...]

jp

On 3/1/02 11:00 AM, "tuning@yahoogroups.com" <tuning@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

> Message: 11
> Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 15:56:50 -0000
> From: "robert_wendell" <rwendell@cangelic.org>
> Subject: Re: Ben Johnston comments on performance practice
>
> Hi, Joe! Thanks for this! I read it to my choir last night and they
> giggled at how familiar it sounded. I have been thinking and working
> with choirs like this since way before I even knew who Ben Johnston
> is.
>
> Gratefully,
>
> Bob
>
> --- In tuning@y..., "jpehrson2" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
>> From essay in Elliott Schwartz' _Contemporary Composers on
>> Contemporary Music_:
>>
>> "MAXIMUM CLARITY
>>
>> Imagine looking at home movies when the person running the
> projector
>> suddenly improves the focus. It is a pleasant but definite shock
> to
>> see how much clearer the images are now even though we had accepted
>> them before the adjustment. This is a very precise analogy to what
>> happens whtn the players in a musical ensemble clean up the
>> intonation. They do not have to compute this or even analyze the
>> music to discover what it needs to bring it in tune. No, this is
>> done "by ear": simply by listening for maximum clarity in the
>> intervals that comprise the ensemble sound. Most players are
>> scarcely aware even whether they have to raise or lower pitches in
>> order to achieve good tuning: they make the adjustment quite
>> directly as soon as they bring critical attention to playing in
> tune.
>>
>> What is actually happening when such ensemble tuning is proceeding
>> well is that the versions of the intervals which have the smallest
>> numbers in the vibration ratios are being selected. This is what
>> just intonation is, at its simplest. Of course, it can be more
>> complex than that. There are usually several versions on an
>> interval, all simple enough ratios to beguile the ear, so that one
>> may select among them. The basis of this choice is usually what is
>> called expressivity. It is what performers in the Indian tradition
>> call "rasa," or emotional meaning. As one becomes more and more
>> sensitive to this dimension of performance, one begins to
>> characterize musical styles more successfully by means of
> particular
>> expressivities produced by interval choice." ...
>>
>> ??
>>
>> jp

Yeah, Joe. I'm in there, too. Thanks! (I missed it the first time around.
Thanks to Bob for responding.)

Gerald Eskelin