diatonic music

[David C Keenan:]
> Ratios with odd-factors greater than 5 are irrelevant to diatonic
music, with the possible exception of ratios of 9. 7's don't matter.
They are only involved in functional _dissonances_.

Hmm... You know, I'd swear that I could throw together most any set of
seven notes and so long as the size of the smallest step doesn't get
down to about the size of say a quartertone, that I could make music
that at *least* 9 out of 10 listeners (OK, 7 out of 10 musicians)
wouldn't notice as being "irrelevant to diatonic music," or "only
involved in functional _dissonances_." Now I'm being a bit of a
facetious pain in the a** here of course, but theoretical arguments of
this sort, so categorically stated, do tend to make the hairs on the
back of my neck bristle! I also bet you could find plenty of examples
where 7-limit ratios and fixed 12-tET are coexisting in some mutually
understood -- and *musical* -- balance. Now I suppose one would
probably just call these inflections, blue notes and the like,
however, I don't think they'd be (or should be) called "irrelevant to
diatonic music." Maybe we're just not on the same page with the term
"diatonic music?" Actually, I'm probably just chronically prone to
claustrophobic episodes when exposed to certain strains of
incontestable assertions - an allergic reaction to particular
theoretical and aesthetic restrictions perhaps? Most likely. Anyway, I
do like theory and knowledgeable reliable sorts who generally tend to
espouse it, and in this respect I'm really really glad to see Dave
back and regularly contributing to the TD, but hey, if you've got a
particular allergy, certain allergens are bound to trigger an allergic
reaction...

Dan (Sneezy) Stearns