"microtonal"?

I know I'm a little late chiming in, but heres my 24cents:

I like to understand "microtonal" as an increased sensitivity to tuning, so
in a way it is the listener who is either "microtonal" or not, rather than
the music itself. One turns one ear into a "micro-scope" to detect fine
gradations of tunings, but most importantly, one is simply aware of, and
sensitized to, tuning as a dimension of what one is listening to. This way,
for a listener either all music is microtonal, or none of it is. 12tet is
heard as having no less of a tuning dimension than just or meantone. Neither
is the "tuning dimension" simply quantitative, in the sense of an analytical
perception of tuning "sizes", but it becomes an important component of the
expressiveness of harmony.

When 12tet is heard simply as "the way music sounds" then in effect the
notes become neutral place-markers that only serve to make audible harmonic
and contrapuntal combinations. Its like DNA except instead of four place
markers in infinite permutations it is 12. Since only four are needed to
encode a human being, its no wonder that 12 seems inexhaustible. Once the
tuning dimension is added to (not substituted for) this, the tuning-quality
of the intervals becomes part of their expression. You could consider
composing in et like black and white drawing or photography, and non-et as
adding a color dimension.

For the microtonally "awake", all music is microtonal, but for the sleeping,
"microtonal" music is "different" or "funny sounding" or even "out of tune".
In effect, "microtonal" is understood to mean music that, in a given
context, is "usually" tuned differently. Indonesian music is not usually
thought of as "microtonal" because it always sounds that way, whereas a
piano played in any non 12tet tuning is still rare enough to sound
"different".

So, in a way, it does a disservice to call a piece "microtonal" for it
artificially consigns it to the category of "music that sounds funny because
it we're used to music in similar contexts sounding different." All the
other options suffer from the same drawback- they imply that the tuning
dimension is >more< important than usual, or that the piece is "about" its
tuning system. Maybe sometimes it is. But as I said, for one who is aware,
the tuning dimension is equally present in all music.

Since all music uses >some< tuning, it should really be a non-issue, and
other stylistic elements will determine the music's "category". So maybe
there shouldn't be a "microtonal" category at mp3.com at all, just pieces in
various styles that happen to use unusual or unexpected tunings, if anyone
is interested.

Since Lenny B was mentioned, I remember seeing him receive an award on TV at
the Grammys years ago. The man was so sloshed he could barely talk, but he
managed to say "Theres only two kinds of music - good music and bad music".
I definitely think he had a point there.

dante

Yes, Dante, you make good points. I can certainly relate to the hearing of
all music as microtonal.

Microtonal music is interstylistic: This is why it never bothered me that
there would never be a "microtonal" section at Tower Records, nor should
there be. It's the reason The Village Voice didn't write anything about the
AFMM until a "microtonal" eared Kyle Gann joined the staff. The Voice arts
director scolded me earlier for this by saying it was "microtonal"'s fault
that it didn't not fit into easy, already set-up categories. Thank you Kyle!

Yes, after _all_ music can be perceived through the microtonal organs that
are your ears, the word would lose meaning. To those are concerned by this
(or by the eventual shrinking of the universe, or Y2K, or whatever) please
don't over-react. Words do evolve their meaning, no matter how tight a
strangle hold any individual puts on a particular word, and we will survive.

There are pros and cons to every word. From my vantaged position, all music
is microtonal and has been for a score of years, and I'm not alone, as
members of this list have volunteered. It's just ridiculous for me to negate
the larger microtonal intervals from the word "microtonal." (Why not cut off
your nose to spite your face?) I respect different views on this subject as
I do different religions, and non-religinons. It's just not my script and I
won't have it force upon me.

BTW, I don't recall anybody ever feeling it was a mistake to be on a
"microtonal" festival for fear it might impact negatively on their
reputations.

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM

My vote for all-encompassing term goes to "Xenharmonics".
The literal translation from the Greek Xenos is "strange" (more or less, I
gather). But it also implies adventure & exploration.

Microtonal seems to me to be a quite inaccurate and somewhat meaningless
term, requiring as it does some sort of reference point. "Micro" after all
does mean & come from the Greek "mikros" - small. So the question arises,
small of what ? And if one just means any small interval, then what of the
large ones like in 5 EDO ? And where does small end & big begin ?

- Drew

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