Re: old wine in new bottles

>> [Kraig Grady]
>>
>> Once again I object to putting old wine in new bottles as
>> a MAIN thrust of our endeavors.

> [Dan Stearns]
>
> ... really, if "old wine in new bottles" is what is exciting
> and interesting to somebody else's work in tuning; I either
> like it or I don't (or I'm interested in it or I'm not), but
> I don't really see any need to "object" to it... And in a
> broader sense I really don't seem to see any reason why the
> past can't help push the present forward or vice versa (I
> guess what I'm saying is that the isolated concept of "old
> wine in new bottles" doesn't bother me the least; ...

!!!

Actually, old wine can be a more aesthetically pleasing
experience when presented in new bottles. The visual
aspect may even convince the brain that it tastes better.

:)

Doesn't this 'old wine in new bottles' saying of Partch's
(and this part of this thread) somehow tie in with my favorite
of all Partch writings:

(Partch is describing his 'Zymo-Xyl' percussion instrument)

> [Harry Partch 1974, _Genesis of a Music_, 2nd ed., p. 306]
>
> Two rows of empty liquor and wine bottles are stacked upside
> down above a row of wood blocks. Like the [Cloud-Chamber]
> bowls, these bottles sometimes break under the excitement
> of playing, but, unlike the bowls, no anguish is involved.
> It is a curious fact that the tones of the bottles used for
> any particular brand generally have a range of very small
> latitude. Hence, one simply buys another bottle.

[... Monzo laughs out loud here every time... ]

> And if the Bristol Cream Sherry bottle is not exactly a 1/1,
> for example, he buys another bottle and hopes for better luck.

[... now Monzo's sides are hurting... ]

> Here are the ratios and the brand names used at present, from
> low to high:
>
> 1. 6/5 .. Old Heaven Hill Bourbon
> 2. 11/9 .. Old Heaven Hill Bourbon
> 3. 5/4 ..... Heaven Hill (not old)
> 4. 4/3 ........... Gallo's Sherry
> 5. 7/5 ............. Gordon's Gin
> 6. 10/7 ............. Gordon's Gin
> 7. 3/2 ............... Brugal Rum
> 8. 11/7 .............. Bacardi Rum
> 9. 8/5 .. Jameson's Irish Whiskey
> 10. 5/3 ........ Barclay's Whiskey
> 11. 27/16 ....... Barclay's Whiskey
> 12. 12/7 .......... Canada Dry Gin
> 13. 16/9 ..... Cabin Still Bourbon
> 14. 20/11 ......... Canada Dry Gin
> 15. 11/6 ......... Taylor's Sherry
> 16. 40/21 .......... Vat 69 Scotch
> 17. 1/1 .... Bristol Cream Sherry

On the serious side, if your position is 'up with the new
and down with the old', or whatever it is, that's one's
own prerogative. I'm personally very happy working on
other (dead) composers's and theorists's work. To me
a lot of ancient tuning theory is a puzzle I'd like to
solve. I see this angle in a lot of what I read here,
so apparently I've got a lot of company.

I find that often, something I've learned from working
on someone else's work inspires me to create my own new
music, and frequently those are my most successful pieces
or tunes. Becoming absorbed in such a deep way in
someone else's sound-world encourages me to grasp what
I hear in my mind and make it real, and far from resulting
in pieces that are copy-cat, they are often my most original
work.

(PS - I really liked the 'lion food' joke too !)

-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 |
--------------------------------------------------

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