AW.: RE: Re: Strict JI considered undesirable

In einer Nachricht vom 12/24/99 10:26:57 PM (MEZ) Mitteleurop�ische Zeit
schreibt PErlich@Acadian-Asset.com:

<< On both of the synths I've owned, a Casio CZ-1 and an Ensoniq VFX-SD, the
octaves are so perfect that every time you hit one, the small but random
difference in the start time for the two notes translates into a very
audible, unpredictable set of phase-cancellations and reinforcements among
the upper partials. It's actually kind of cool as an electronic effect, but
not what happens with real instruments. >>

It sure can happen with real instruments: I have heard this especially with
wind and mixed wind/string ensembles where sustained unisons and octaves are
important: the Mozart _Grand Partita_ (or _Serenade_) in B(b) for 13 winds,
Elliot Carters _Eight Etudes and a Fantasy_, and Alvin Lucier's _Septet_.
Also, the unison playing in Messiaen's _Quatour_ often has similar effects.

clumma@nni.com:

<< I'm simply stating that Barbershop is
monophonic music, in the most normal, classical sense. There are four
parts and one voice. As a 4-part fugue has four parts and four voices. >>

The terms mono-, poly-, homo- or heterophonic often get a bit confused (and
that confusion has taken up a good part of the history of systematic
musicology). Perhaps it's clearest to remeber that the first two refer to the
number of participating voices, the second pair characterize the overall
textures.

Lou Harrison usefully recommends distinguishing between "differentiated" and
"undifferentiated" counterpoint. Traditional lutheran chorale settings --
like barbershop -- are mostly undifferentiated in that the voices share the
same rhythm while Bach's chorale setting are often differentiated.
Differences between lutheran chorales and barbershop comes in the harmonic
vocabulary (almost only seventh chords in the latter) and alternative voice
leading restrictions.

<< The best brass quintets are The Empire Brass, The
Canadian Brass, and the American Brass Quintet. None of them remain as
continuously in JI as the best Barbershop quartets, and none of them use
the 7-limit, whereas all Barbershop quartets are firmly 7-limit.>>

It's not the ensembles in question that have a limit, it's the music that
they play. Those brass ensembles are all playing very broad range of
repertoire, with much more variety than the three minute song format,
constant seventh chord planing characteristic of barbershop music. (By the
way, the best brass ensembles today are the (amateur) brass bands in
England.)

If you go back to WWII era recordings during the period when the musician's
union refused to allow instrumentals, you can find some fantastic
unaccompanied vocal ensemble performances with real intonational virtuosity,
particularly by African-American groups: try the Golden Gate Quartet for
starters. Also very much worth hearing are the "Madrigals" of William
Brooks, especially as performed by Electric Phoenic; one of the four
madrigals, a setting of Stephen Foster's _Nelly was a Lady_ , demonstrates
just how far beyond the constraint of the barbershop style one might
potentially go.