Re: [tuning] point of it all

Carl!
I think that Constant Structures draws more from Archetypal Psychology than
Gestalt perception. Scales are seen as a form of cyclical Mandalas with Constant
Structures being a cyclical form showing how this cycle can differ in detail yet
preserve it cyclical nature. Within most of Erv's work, i feel there is a
crossover from his other love, Plants. I sense he sees scales as something that
"grows" from let us say 5 tones to 7 tones. like watching the number of leaves
increase as a plant when viewed from above. I don't know if he sees Constant
Structures as a measure of anything but as a form that is grown into. This is
just my personal opinion

Carl Lumma wrote:

> From: Carl Lumma <CLUMMA@NNI.COM>
>
> Some readers may wonder what Constant Structures and Propriety are good for.
>
> They both seem to assume that when we hear music, we attempt to assign
> scale degree numbers to melodic pitches. I won't argue about that here; if
> you don't think it happens, then propriety and CS aren't for you. But if
> you're interesting in getting it to happen or not, then they are for you.
>
> Propriety and CS both measure how easy it is for the listener to
> un-ambiguously assign scale degree numbers to pitches as he hears them. CS
> assumes that a listener can recognize intervals by their _specific_ size --
> a 3:2 is distinct from a 7:5, and so on. So CS asks, once you recognize
> the interval, will there be any doubt as to what scale degree it is? If
> you can answer "no", your scale is CS. In the diatonic scale in 12-tet,
> you can answer no for all the intervals but the tritone -- it can be a
> fourth or a fifth; you need other notes to clarify its position in the scale.
>
> Propriety does the same thing, except it assumes that listeners recognize
> intervals by their _relative_ size -- that the listener ranks the intervals
> he hears by how big they are. The specific tuning of the intervals doesn't
> matter, so long as their ranks are preserved. This means the theory can be
> tested to see if people percieve a similarity between different tunings of
> a scale with the same "rank-order", and if they percieve a difference
> between two tunings of a scale with a different rank-order. Rothenberg has
> actually suggested some very cool experiments to test many aspects of his
> theory, which are as yet un-tested (enthno-musicology is simply not a
> source of reliable scientific information here).
>
> -Carl

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North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
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