Donso Ngoni Songs from the Tambacounda

Oh yeah!
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/94/samba_traore.html
This guy rocks.

John Starrett

"We have nothing to fear but the scary stuff."

http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~jstarret/microtone.html

>

This is going back a few days to Sunday Mar. 12. From TD 570.8:

> John Starrett wrote:
>
> Oh yeah!
> http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/94/samba_traore.html
> This guy rocks.
>

He really does. I hear the roots of Mississippi Hill Country Blues in it.
Interesting thing, though: while his singing is highly microtonally inflected, his
pentatonic instrument is tuned to 12t-ET within 1 Hz! What's that all about?
Looking at his picture and listening to his style, I doubt this is the result of
Western influence.

--
David J. Finnamore
Nashville, TN, USA
http://members.xoom.com/dfinn.1
--

"David J. Finnamore" wrote:

> > his pentatonic instrument is tuned to 12t-ET within 1 Hz! What's that all about?

Oops. In the range of his instrument - 89-178 Hz - Pythagorean is within 1 Hz of
12t-ET, too. My bad. And actually, on closer inspection of the 4th partials, his 5th
tone, what we would call a minor 7th, is a little bit sharp to both 12 equal and
Pythagorean. Somehow, it still sounds like 12 equal to my ear, which is what
motivated me to do the analysis in the first place.

--
David J. Finnamore
Nashville, TN, USA
http://members.xoom.com/dfinn.1
--

> David Beardsley wrote:
>
>
> It could be the result of an electronic tuner built
> in Asia.

There's that possibility. Have you seen his picture? His music was recorded and uploaded
by a Westerner on a visit to Senegal. This guy probably couldn't afford the 9v battery to
power a tuner, even if someone gave him one. I'd bet he tuned it by ear. Pythagorean
pentatonic is by no means a Western scale. The great thing is that his tuning is so
consistent from piece to piece. No stringed instrument stays in tune by itself that well,
especially when being plucked hard. This guy must have a great ear. His vocal
inflections are decidedly not Western. Very cool.

--
David J. Finnamore
Nashville, TN, USA
http://members.xoom.com/dfinn.1
--

>> David Beardsley wrote:

>> It could be the result of an electronic tuner built
>> in Asia.

David Finnamore replied:
>
> There's that possibility. Have you seen his picture? His music was
> recorded and uploaded
> by a Westerner on a visit to Senegal. This guy probably couldn't afford
> the 9v battery to
> power a tuner, even if someone gave him one. I'd bet he tuned it by ear.
> Pythagorean
> pentatonic is by no means a Western scale. The great thing is that his
> tuning is so
> consistent from piece to piece. No stringed instrument stays in tune by
> itself that well,
> especially when being plucked hard. This guy must have a great ear. His
vocal
> inflections are decidedly not Western. Very cool.

Yes, David, I agree enthusiastically. He does have a wonderful ear. I
believe, however, that it is not uncommon for humans to develop musical ears
that rival electronic tuners, particularly in regard to tuning a pentatonic
instrument. Paul's question regarding whether his instrument was close to
Pythagorean tuning was very appropriate to this point. Pentatonic music
systems are so universal among primitive cultures that one must consider the
likelihood that these arise out of aural sensitivity to acoustic
relationships.

Vocal inflections, on the other hand, are clearly regional and these
particularly intriguing to a well-tuned Western ear.

Jerry

(Sorry for the lateness of this post. I've been on a Spring Break.)

Hi,
I'm new to the list, a harmonica player, with some apprenticeship
experience with a fine piano tuner, and with an interest and curiosity
about temperament. I was surprised to read the following:

From David Finnamore:
>>This guy probably couldn't afford the 9v battery to
>> power a tuner, even if someone gave him one. I'd
>> bet he tuned it by ear. Pythagorean pentatonic is by
>> no means a Western scale. The great thing is that his
>> tuning is so consistent from piece to piece. No
>> stringed instrument stays in tune by itself that well,
>> especially when being plucked hard. This guy must
>> have a great ear. His vocal inflections are decidedly
>> not Western. Very cool.

Reply from Gerald Eskelin
>Yes, David, I agree enthusiastically. He does have a wonderful ear. I
>believe, however, that it is not uncommon for humans to develop musical ears
>that rival electronic tuners, particularly in regard to tuning a pentatonic
>instrument.

Is there any doubt on this list that the human ear can, at least with the
aid of appropriate interval 'beat' tests, easily rival an electronic tuner?
My former piano-tuner mentor, in his 80's after decades of tuning, had
significant -- no, make that profound -- hearing loss, affecting the top
two octaves of an 88-key piano, yet tuned beautifully, by beat counting.
Good ear? Clearly not. Fantastic piano tuner. Absolutely. I would be
most surprised if the artist referred to by David Finnamore did not listen
for beat frequency, and use interval tests, to arrive at his beautiful tuning.

Sincerely,
John Thaden

John Thaden
Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
http://www.flash.net/~jjthaden