Invention of Blackjack

Inspired by Dave Keenan's recent postings, I went back in the archive
and was astonished to see some things about the invention of
Blackjack. For one thing, the item of the small step sizes was
discussed from the get-go! And the whole notion of *harmonic* vs.
*melodic* usage.

I found the following posts:

/tuning/topicId_21894.html#21894

Which was Dave Keenan's *Miracle* scale of 31 out of 72,

/tuning/topicId_21894.html#21903

Apparently the actual *invention* of Blackjack with the proposal of
Paul Erlich to use 21 notes!

AND,

/tuning/topicId_21957.html#21957

The use of the term "Blackjack" first by DAVE KEENAN, in a rather
casual way. I believe this is the first use of this term on the
list. (I think Monz has that Paul Erlich coined the term... I
believe Paul coined the MIRACLE acronym...)

Exciting posts. I remember it all happened around April-May 2003 and
there were so many posts about these things that people started
complaining and the lists split off... :)

I was also rather surprised in my *own* involvement in all of this.
Although I wasn't doing much of the "heavy lifting" I was certainly
posing lots of the questions... so it appears...

J. Pehrson

hi Joe,

> From: "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@rcn.com>
> To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 9:53 PM
> Subject: [tuning] Invention of Blackjack
>
>
> Exciting posts. I remember it all happened
> around April-May 2003 and there were so many
> posts about these things that people started
> complaining and the lists split off... :)

for those keeping track, Joe made a slip here
and meant April-May 2001.

Joe, thanks for summarizing the early history
of MIRACLE. i'll try to get around to updating
those webpages with your info.

-monz

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> Exciting posts. I remember it all happened around April-May 2003
and
> there were so many posts about these things that people started
> complaining and the lists split off... :)

Then I showed up and people complained even more. :)

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...>
wrote:

> AND,
>
> /tuning/topicId_21957.html#21957
>
> The use of the term "Blackjack" first by DAVE KEENAN, in a rather
> casual way. I believe this is the first use of this term on the
> list. (I think Monz has that Paul Erlich coined the term... I
> believe Paul coined the MIRACLE acronym...)

/tuning/topicId_21894.html#21938

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> Inspired by Dave Keenan's recent postings, I went back in the archive
> and was astonished to see some things about the invention of
> Blackjack.

...

> The use of the term "Blackjack" first by DAVE KEENAN, in a rather
> casual way. I believe this is the first use of this term on the
> list. (I think Monz has that Paul Erlich coined the term... I
> believe Paul coined the MIRACLE acronym...)

Paul definitely coined both "MIRACLE" and "Blackjack". I don't
understand why we can't find the post in which Paul suggested the name
Blackjack, but the reason I used it casually in that post was because
Paul had already suggested it and it was so apt, it was accepted
immediately. I suspect yahoogroups loses things.

I have the original of a post of mine to the list, dated 1-May-2001
(Australian time), entitled "PAUL ERLICH'S AMAZING 11-LIMIT GENERATOR"
in which I write:

"As Paul pointed out, you get a lot more consonances if you are
willing to temper this 31-toner all the way to 72-EDO. This is still
the case, even when you take a subset from it in the right way, like
Paul's very interesting 21-tone "blackjack" scale (great name Paul)."

So even if my memory was faulty, this is clearly crediting Paul with
the name.

I'm glad to see that the post has been found [in which Paul coined the
term Blackjack].

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "monz" <monz@a...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_45397.html#45399

> hi Joe,
>
>
>
> > From: "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...>
> > To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 9:53 PM
> > Subject: [tuning] Invention of Blackjack
> >
> >
> > Exciting posts. I remember it all happened
> > around April-May 2003 and there were so many
> > posts about these things that people started
> > complaining and the lists split off... :)
>
>
>
> for those keeping track, Joe made a slip here
> and meant April-May 2001.
>
>
> Joe, thanks for summarizing the early history
> of MIRACLE. i'll try to get around to updating
> those webpages with your info.
>
>
>
> -monz

***Well, it was late at night, or early in the morning, so I not only
made that slip but overlooked the post where Paul "coined" the
term "Blackjack." I think I was thrown by Paul's decision, in that
post, to unsubscribe for a while (scary thought...) and missed the
important part...

You'd better go back and reread if you really want to confirm
everything, Monz, since my reading was obviously somewhat cursory...

J. Pehrson

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Erlich" <perlich@a...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_45397.html#45404

> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...>
> wrote:
>
> > AND,
> >
> > /tuning/topicId_21957.html#21957
> >
> > The use of the term "Blackjack" first by DAVE KEENAN, in a rather
> > casual way. I believe this is the first use of this term on the
> > list. (I think Monz has that Paul Erlich coined the term... I
> > believe Paul coined the MIRACLE acronym...)
>
> /tuning/topicId_21894.html#21938

***I'm really sorry about this Paul. A simple oversight. *You* not
only invented the scale, but you coined the term... (with
significant "backup" work and "foreground" work from Dave Keenan).

Curious, I saw all the hexanies in the Blackjack structure back then,
but then promptly forgot about them until just recently. Of course,
back in those days I was more focused on the hexany...

J. Pehrson