Which 3rd is prefered

Had a comment on which maj 3rd folks may/may not like: first, I seriously doubt most "ordinary" (non musicians) people would know the difference unless it was pointed out to them, and I'll bet many musicians wouldn't notice either. For example, a few years ago I was doing a small church gig in a Lutheran church; I would play guitar while a small choir sang Mexican style hymns (the total # of people there was maybe 15-20). One day I had left my 12 tone guitar at a friend's house, and had no time to go get it, so I took my 19 tone acoustic, did not tell anybody at the church, and played the gig on 19. They sang exactly the same way they always did, and nobody mentioned a thing about the guitar or the tuning...I don't think they noticed a thing. I learned a lot that day.
And, on another occasion, my blues band played a club, and we did several of my 19 tone blues/rock pieces..people danced like they always did, and again, nobody said a thing. On the other hand, one of my young students (22) got "Beauty In The Beast" by Wendy Carlos, and is having a hard time with the strangeness of the tunings...and they do, indeed, sound very different from 12, I believe. And, while we're on the subject, it's still amazing to me that most people know absolutely zero about tunings...lots of guitarists I teach don't even know that we use the cents concept to refer to distances between frets on a guitar. So, for the most part, we're stsrting from the absolute beginning when we atempt to talk about tunings with just about anybody. And, more than anything, I would like to see that change, to where all musicians have at least a basic understanding about what a temperament is, Pythagorean ideas, just intonation, etc. All the people I've chatted with about tunings seem very interested, it's just that nobody has ever brought the subject up to them before.
I am slowly integrating tuning concepts with my students, and it seems to help them understand music a bit better. I explain that Western music is 5ths based, and that chord progressions (especially in jazz, but all styles) can be understood easier when you realize that the whole tuning system is built off of tempered 5ths, and the reason it was developed in the first place was to play chordally based music that modulates from key to key. It seems to help them understand what western composition is all about in a very basic sense.
And, off that subject...I personally don't mind occasional discussions of non tuning stuff here...the fascist ideas being discussed were interesting, and I've always enjoyed seeing people's opinions on different topics occasionally. We have a pretty sharp bunch here, overall, so their opinions on world events (or whatever) are often thought provoking....HHH

Neil Haverstick wrote:

> I am slowly integrating tuning concepts with my students, and it seems to >help them understand music a bit better. I explain that Western music is >5ths based, and that chord progressions (especially in jazz, but all styles) >can be understood easier when you realize that the whole tuning system is >built off of tempered 5ths, and the reason it was developed in the first >place was to play chordally based music that modulates from key to key. It >seems to help them understand what western composition is all about in a >very basic sense.
>
As if triads are not based on thirds.

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* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db