the meaning & use of "microtonal"

Monzo, about this "microtonal" business, you mentioned something about
peeking in the archives for a clear definition. I don't think that's
necessary, since the meaning most associated with it is found in most
dictionaries. It does have it's basis in 12EDO.

The term "microtonal" is not an accurate word for what we do & the approach
to music we practice & advocate.

Some here have stated that they consider all music as microtonal. It's not.

*Unless* you are someone who has mostly listened to 12EDO all his life AND
music in other tunings is new to you (12EDO being your reference) AND that
particular music is in a tuning consisting of intervals smaller than a 12EDO
semitone. Then, to you in particular, that music would be microtonal.

Oxford dictionary :
microtone : an interval smaller than a semitone.

Britannica says :
"Music using tones that are not an exact number of semitones (half steps)
apart."

This interpretation is flawed, since the word *is* "micro"-tone, implying an
interval smaller than some reference interval, namely a 12EDO semitone.

This is after all a term coined in the western, 12EDO world. And, I think,
promoted by droids of the "classical" music world.

Like I mentioned before, I advocate "xenharmonics". Though Darreg conceived
of it as a term for any (?) non-12EDO tunings, it's easily adapted. Most
importantly, unlike "microtonal", it does not imply any physical quantity.
Almost (more ?) a state of mind.

You could think of a free pitch instrument like a violin as a xenharmonic
instrument, not just a microtonal one.

------
> By the way, the term "Xenharmonics" has misleading connotations (Zen,
> harmonic), while "microtonal" conveys a very clear idea to your audience
> that you're not just being harmonically Zen, but rather in some tuning
> system other than 12-TET even if your piece is MACROtonal. The term
> Xenharmonic is pretty fresh, but who wants to explain their terms to
> everyone? Microtonal music is inaccessible enough even to accomplished
> composers - so why alter the established nomenclature?
> I'm more interested in getting rid of olden terms like CADENCE than terms
> which have SOME meaning like "microtonal."
>
Eric, as you can see "microtonal" does NOT cover all tunings.
It has one very specific meaning, refering to one specific class of tunings.

As far as the possible confusion between "xen" and "zen", I don't see this
as a problem. Personally I have never enountered this confusion when I
talk about it to anyone. I think most people know the difference
between "zen" & "xen", and don't easily confuse the two. There's only one
"zen" word, "zen". There are a lot of words out there built on the Greek
"xenos". In fact, you could say the establishment's resistance of
xenharmonics is to a degree, xenophobia.

Ciao,
Drew

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Drew, I see you working with logic in trying to pin down the right name for
the right subject. Personally, I don't feel comfortable with the Xen for
strange (as in Xenharmnic).

The work microtonal has worked well for decades now and no amount of logic
will change this fact. That people now have different understandings of the
term "microtonal" is an interesting development, considering how little it
was heard when most of the "authority" books were being written.

Though Daniel Wolf is sticking to the literalist approach, eliminating the
neutral third as a microtonal interval. Perhaps it is too linear a
definition. When I can play a different fingering for a pitch that is not
conventional then it is as microtonally distant from a conventional pitch as
anything smaller than a semitone is from the tonic.

Clearly, no one on this list can tell anyone else what the the definition is
for each and every term, just as there is not a single notation for all to
use. Live free and prosper.

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM