teleological or not...

Just another brief thought or two on how different things simply make
different things happen... and how (teleological or not...) these
things push and pull music in a varied lot of diversified ways.

In a recent post Neil Haverstick wrote of his experience in playing in
19e, "it gives the chord changes a nice twist, familiar but strange."
This is certainly the case, and also -- on another vocal note -- check
out John Starrett's singing on "Them Citified Notions" and "Limp off
to School":

<http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/72/the_tuning_punks.html>

The particular structural characteristics of 19 are leading John's
voice (by way of his composing in 19) to "strange" contours of
"familiar" places...

For an utterly unambiguous example of what I'm trying to get at here,
check out this review excerpt of Neil's CD _The Gate_, from a July 19,
1994, "Village Voice" article entitled "Gold in That Thar Vacuum," by
Kyle Gann:

"In "Birdwalk" Haverstick plunks a typical blues line, a chromatic
descent from D to B in the key of E; except, instead of four notes, it
takes him six. Same thing from G-sharp up to B. Now, the cliches of
blues developed around a certain synchronicity between the steps of
the scale and the regularity of 4/4 or 12/8 meter. Change the number
of steps in the scale, and suddenly you're pushing the meter around as
well.

Patterns that would occupy a predictable four beats for any other
blues player, Haverstick needs five or six for. That IV or V chord
comes in as expected, but always a beat or two late. And yet the
integrity of the scale renders the musical logic seamless."

Dan