The terms "microtonal" and "microtone"

Dear list,

Would someone please tell me the source of the terms "microtonal" and
"microtone"? And while we're at it, how about definitions of those terms? I
checked Joe Monzo's website and while there is an entry for
"polymicotonality" there are none for the terms listed above.

John Link

*************************************************************************

Watch for the CD "Live at Saint Peter's" by John Link's vocal quintet,
featuring original compositions as well as arrangements of instrumental
music by Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Claude Debussy, Bill Evans, Ennio and
Andrea Morricone, Modeste Mussorgsky, Erik Satie, and Earl Zindars.

*************************************************************************

Check out WWW.DUESBERG.COM for information that could make the difference
between life and death for you or someone you know.

*************************************************************************

In a message dated 11/29/1999 05:32:13 AM
>From: johnlink@con2.com (John Link)
>
>Would someone please tell me the source of the terms "microtonal" and
>"microtone"? And while we're at it, how about definitions of those terms? I
>checked Joe Monzo's website and while there is an entry for
>"polymicotonality" there are none for the terms listed above.

microtone - an interval smaller than a semitone (according to some theories
& practises - 111.7 cents & smaller; by 12tET standards - smaller than 100
cents)

with that definition in mind, _microtonal music_ is any music that is based on
semitones smaller than those stated above...
though some would disagree with including quartertone music as being
microtonal arguing that quartertone music is just an extension of 12tET
resources.

zHANg

> [John Link, TD 411.7]
>
> In a message dated 11/29/1999 05:32:13 AM
> From: johnlink@con2.com (John Link)
>
>> Would someone please tell me the source of the
>> terms "microtonal" and "microtone"? And while we're
>> at it, how about definitions of those terms? I checked
>> Joe Monzo's website and while there is an entry for
>> "polymicotonality" there are none for the terms listed
>> above.

Wow, what an oversight - OOPS!

It should be quite obvious from these serious omissions
that I still have many more terms to enter into my Tuning
Dictionary. The speedy progress I was making pretty much
died out after 'H'; been too busy with other webpages and
musical projects.

> [zHANg, TD 411.8]
>
> microtone - an interval smaller than a semitone (according
> to some theories & practises - 111.7 cents & smaller; by
> 12tET standards - smaller than 100 cents)
>
> with that definition in mind, _microtonal music_ is any music
> that is based on semitones smaller than those stated above...

But ordinary usage is usually not quite that restrictive.

Much music is called 'microtonal' when it exhibits any type
of interval that is not 12-tET, even if it uses larger
'semitones' - for example, 10-tET or 11-tET would almost
always be described as 'microtonal'.

This usage implies a recognition of the micro-intervals
which would result if the the larger intervals of the
<12-tET tunings were subtracted from the nearest 12-tET
equivalent, even tho those micro-intervals are not used
independently.

A similar qualification could also be formulated for the
definition of 'microtone' itself, altho perhaps not
without some argument.

-monz

Joseph L. Monzo Philadelphia monz@juno.com
http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html
|"...I had broken thru the lattice barrier..."|
| - Erv Wilson |
--------------------------------------------------

___________________________________________________________________
Get the Internet just the way you want it.
Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month!
Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.

In a message dated 11/29/1999 02:15:42 PM, Monzo quoted me & wrote:

>> [zHANg, TD 411.8]
>>
>> microtone - an interval smaller than a semitone (according
>> to some theories & practises - 111.7 cents & smaller; by
>> 12tET standards - smaller than 100 cents)
>>
>> with that definition in mind, _microtonal music_ is any music
>> that is based on semitones smaller than those stated above...
>
>
>But ordinary usage is usually not quite that restrictive.
>
>Much music is called 'microtonal' when it exhibits any type
>of interval that is not 12-tET, even if it uses larger
>'semitones' - for example, 10-tET or 11-tET would almost
>always be described as 'microtonal'.

Ooops... forgot the "large scales." *chagrin* sheesh, & I like
9tET & parachromatic scales besides many pentatonics like Pelog.
How could I forget...
Thanx, Monzo. <hug>...

>Dear list,

>Would someone please tell me the source of the terms "microtonal" and
>"microtone"? And while we're at it, how about definitions of those
terms? I
>checked Joe Monzo's website and while there is an entry for
">polymicotonality" there are none for the terms listed above.

>John Link

The term "microtono" was coined by Julian Carrillo, let's say, one
century ago.
This was told me by the mexican etnomusicologist Arturo Salinas here in
Montevideo,
when he came (aprox. at the end of the 80') for a lecture in our Escuela
Universitaria
de Musica (Montevideo).
I have tried to find out the first time Carrillo used this term by
writing but I couldn't.
I remember that Jose Antonio Martin-Salinas (known in our Tuning list as
Tony Salinas)
made a special study on Carrillo. His last email (96) was,

101610.3043@CoumpuServe.COM

He worked as a teacher in London Guildhal University (U.K.)

The original definiton is more or less "A generic name for intervals
smaller than a ET semitone".
But in this moment may be a discussion on the applying and the evolution
of the meaning
of the term. (including scales before Carrillo).
There are many others Onelisters that know Carrillo's work.
Around Oct/97 was a discussion on Carrillo here in the List.

Eduardo

I forwarded the question about Carillo's use of the word "microtone" to my
friend and Carillo expert Jerry Benjamin (gbenjami@trinity.edu). Here's
part of his response:

>At the turn of the century the coin word was ultrachromaticism. You might
>remember that N. Slonimsky in his Music Since 1900 has a dictionary of 'new'
>terms in the appendix (many of which he coined or at least recognized), and
>many of these are noted there. Composers like Busoni and Schoenberg were
>using this term, along with Paderevski, Alois Haba, and Ivan Vischnegradsky
>(their reference base was obviously still tonality). Carrillo (because of
>his acoustical studies in Mexico in the 1890s) thought of these overtone
>pitches on his violin as 'soneditos'; while he was experimenting on his own
>with the divisions of a string into multiple parts, he arrived at a
>'newsound' (a note pitched in the mathematical ratio 1:1.007246), between g
>and a on the fourth string of his violin. Since this was the first
>ascending 1/16-tone to break up the 'classical 12', he called it 'el sonido
>trece' ("the thirteenth sound"). This single sound came to symbolize
>microtonality in general for Carrillo, and the many new theoretical and
>musical systems derived from it: scales, melodies, harmonies, metres,
>rhythms, textures and instruments (see his 'Sonido 13': el infinito en las
>escalas y en los acordes).

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)607-7600 (fax) ^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^