comments on lots of threads...

>
> "Play an equal-tempered chromatic scale again, up and down several
> octaves in one hand, not too fast, and let your ear savor its
> regularity, its newfangled, manufactured, precisely measured
> _sameness_. Don't be bored, be fascinated, mesmerized. This
> sensibility opens the door for the more complex symmetrical forces
> hidden inside the Trojan horse of equal temperament."
>

This quote hit me when it was first posted. Oddly enough, it is the
same thing that has pushed my experimentation into looking at new
temperments rather than collections of pitches (where JI was trying
to take me). Even in 12-out-of-N tunings, some of those log relations
DO reach into the ear to say something like "there is a system going
on here". Of course, there is no difference between 12-out-of-1200 and
a 12 tone JI arrangement in my experiments... but I believe for
'reasonable' numbers of notes (19, 31, 22) that the "log magic"
holds (somehow).

Jerry, thanks for responding to my melodic questions, seconds
puzzle me since all this tuning talk is harmony oriented and most
music is more concerned with melody and most meldy moves in seconds.

...then Jerry said...

>
> Tonal music, in general, seems universal and probably predates God (at least
> man's concept of him/her). At the change of the millennium, polyphony was
> introduced in Western music, however it was still largely vocal,

I'm surprised this wasn't slammed harder than it was, what a well-behaved
list. Tonal music, as in major/minor, is a minority of the music in the
world. Even modal music based on the ratios adopted by the tonal West (3
and 5 limit) seems to be ignored or side-stepped in many cultures. Paul
mentioned Arab music and its a great example where some rather
spicy ratios are preferred to those which were eventually turned into
tonal music. (Thirds seconds and sixths seems to come from different pockets
than the ones we use altogether). The Mysterious Voices of the Balkans
recordings have some too, since harmonizing in seconds is just the way
they like it. Then there are EDOs which have little to do with temperring
the same ratios the West has tempered, 5 and 7 come to mind for Africa?
Thailand?

Bob Valentine

Bob Valentine

>Then there are EDOs which have little to do with temperring
>the same ratios the West has tempered, 5 and 7 come to mind for Africa?
>Thailand?

Well, these tunings are based on tempering the fifths (up 18� in 5-tET, down
16� in 7-tET). Thailand uses 7-tET for its modulational properties; African
examples of 5 and 7 often approach rough equality due to a desire for
melodic smoothness but the "ET" or "EDO" label doesn't really seem
appropriate.