source file: mills2.txt Date: Sat, 2 Dec 1995 08:44:31 -0800 Subject: more Bach From: neil.haverstick@csst.com (Neil Haverstick) Haverstick here...since all of the Bach discussions, I have been listening to a lot of Bach's music, and as always, I come away astounded. But, a comment my daughter Neela made is very relevant, I feel, because of the wonderful simplicity of her insight. We were listening to the 1st Lute suite (played on guitar by John Williams), and I asked her what she thought of it...she said, "It sounds like God is playing the guitar"...now, I liked that a great deal because it cuts through all of the intellectual speculation about Bach's tuning systems, and gets right to it, don't you think? Neela could care less about spaces between notes or frequencies...she was deeply moved by the profoundity of the music, and actually, what else is there? And yes, I love the theoretical discussions about tuning systems...let's don't lose sight of what music is all about in the first place...folks like Bach were genuises regardless of systems...perhaps we could say the man makes the tuning, not the tuning makes the man. I have heard plenty of music in non 12 tunings since I got involved 6 years ago, but, and I say this sadly, I have heard very little GREAT music in non 12. I think the art of composition is the highest pinnacle of a musicians gift, and it seems to be mighty hard to come by. I'll take a great 12/eq piece any day over a commonplace just intonated work. In fact, I daresay that it has been a lack of great pieces that has helped contribute to the lack of acceptance by "ordinary" folks of "microtonal" music. A lot of the music I've heard is rather cold and academic, remote from humanity (Partch for sure), and just generally not the kind of music that will MOVE someone deep in their spirit. Yes, the intellectual part is fun and challenging, but it does not always translate into great art. I am afraid, at times, that the intellectual theory of non 12 music takes precedence over the making of great music...perhaps when that changes, non 12 music will find a place in people's hearts, which is where all great art eventually winds up...Hstick Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sat, 2 Dec 1995 21:17 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id LAA21697; Sat, 2 Dec 1995 11:17:15 -0800 Date: Sat, 2 Dec 1995 11:17:15 -0800 Message-Id: <199512021916.AA28049@mp.cs.niu.edu> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu