Re: 8:5 v. 7:5

>>My friend is a trained classical musician, and his ear locates 8/5's in
>>triads quicker than you can randomly change their roots while he listens.
>
>What does that mean?

Well, if you play an 8:5:4 triad and then immediately play an 8:5 dyad, the dyad should sound more consonant than if played alone because the listener has already placed it in a harmonic series.

I told my friend the same thing about the tempered tritone and the 8/5, except that he doesn't think the two are equally dissonant. He hears all 8/5's as incomplete triads. I told him that if he spent some time listening to and playing 7-limit harmono-melodic music, he might learn to recognize the 7/5 as a consonance.

-C.

Carl Lumma wrote,

>>>My friend is a trained classical musician, and his ear locates 8/5's in
>>>triads quicker than you can randomly change their roots while he listens.

I wrote,

>>What does that mean?

Carl wrote,

>Well, if you play an 8:5:4 triad and then immediately play an 8:5 dyad, the
dyad should sound more consonant >than if played alone because the listener
has already placed it in a harmonic series.

So what does your friend do that's so impressive?

>I told my friend the same thing about the tempered tritone and the 8/5,
except that he doesn't think the two are >equally dissonant. He hears all
8/5's as incomplete triads.

Incomplete _major_ triads? Anyway, ask your friend to compare the tempered
intervals again (the 8/5 should _not_ be just) and listen for the purely
_sensual_ qualities of the intervals, abstracted from any possible tonal
meanings or chordal implications.

>>Well, if you play an 8:5:4 triad and then immediately play an 8:5 dyad, the
>>dyad should sound more consonant than if played alone because the listener
>>has already placed it in a harmonic series.
>
>So what does your friend do that's so impressive?

Nothing impressive.

>>I told my friend the same thing about the tempered tritone and the 8/5,
>>except that he doesn't think the two are equally dissonant. He hears all
>>8/5's as incomplete triads.
>
>Incomplete _major_ triads?

That's right.

>Anyway, ask your friend to compare the tempered intervals again (the 8/5 >should _not_ be just) and listen for the purely _sensual_ qualities of the >intervals, abstracted from any possible tonal meanings or chordal >implications.

I did ask him this, profusely, for both just and tempered comparos. His notion of consonance is very tied up in his musical experience, and he finds it very difficult to seperate this bias out.

-C.