source file: mills2.txt Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 08:58:20 -0800 Subject: definition of JI - response summary From: bf250@freenet.carleton.ca (John Sankey) Re the Harvard Dictionary of Music definition quoted on EARLYM-L: Just Tuning is "any tuning that incorporates five or more acoustically pure types of intervals within the octave." I got the responses I expected from this list - very polite but very clear! Assuming that "acoustically pure" means "intervals that can be represented by rational numbers" (otherwise I'm sure the responses would be even more tart!): < If HDM's definition of JI flies, then so does Reagan's assertion that ketchup is a vegetable. I wouldn't consider a scale with 5 pure types of intervals and 3 or so impure types to be just intonation. I haven't heard anyone before consider something a just tuning with ANY number of ratios that are irrational relative to all other pitches in the system. I find that a little silly. Just Intonation is any tuning in which ALL of the intervals can be expressed as integer ratios, with a strongly implied preference for the smallest numbers that are compatible with a given aesthetic purpose. (Partch) It's pretty hopeless to ask a couple hundred tuning-heads to avoid editorializing when somebody as authoritative as the Harvard guys say something as ... "distasteful" I suppose ... as that! > A few responses noted that if the emphasis in the HDM definition was on the "more", it was barely acceptable. It was also noted that the meaning of JI has changed with time - it had to have meant something different when keyboards were limited to 13 or 14 notes per octave (D# , and sometimes Ab, split). Thank you for your responses. Now, does anyone have an email address of the HDM publisher?! -- John Sankey bf250@freenet.carleton.ca Music is Beauty, Beauty is Truth, Truth is Freedom Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 17 Nov 1995 19:42 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id JAA08051; Fri, 17 Nov 1995 09:42:38 -0800 Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 09:42:38 -0800 Message-Id: <009998AD075BBB30.1407@ezh.nl> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu