Re: Digest Number 541

>
> Dan Wolf suggested:
> >
> > Think of it this way: in pythagorean (orchestral strings are tuned in
> > fifths) sharps are higher than flats;
>
> to which Jerry replied :
>
> In the interest of courtesy and thoroughness, I will give some more thought
> to the idea of piled-up fifths influencing the tuning of thirds, however my
> gut instinct is that the "solution" is more immediate than that. It seems a
> real stretch to me to think that human ears hear in such terms.

But your own 'high third' appears AFTER a fifth is introduced. Somehow, the
fifth influences the singers choice of third.

You have clearly trained your ears to prefer certain sounds (in the latest
listenning experiment it seems you preferred the "low third and low seventh"
on the dominant chord where others thought that the 16/9 sounded "most
normal". I will not contend that "most normal" is "most right" for every
musical context, but I don't believe I hear a lot of a capella music, outside
of barbershop, 'flatting the fourth' on a cadence). Meanwhile, I'm sure
there are lots of people who are locked into 12tet that would think any
of the other options sounded out-of-tune.

Now for a few changes of subject.

I'm very interested in how some of these issues
are dealt with in the melody. For instance, singing in C, if the melody goes
C-D-E, do you give any consideration to evening out the two 'tones?' Does this
contribut to arriving at a 'high third'? Similarly, in C, if the melody is
going G-A-B, lets assume a V chord, are the 'tones' even and is the B a 'high
third' to the G?

And how do you deal with punning? For instance, the end of the bridge to
the song "All the Things you are" has a sustained G# which crosses from the
key of E (where the bridge ended) to the #5 on a C7 chord and becomes an Ab
on the F- chord which is the vi in the orginal key (Ab) that we've returned
to. Would you interpret the "E" as Fb and the C7#5 is a C7b13???

Bob Valentine