source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 23:03:13 -0700 Subject: style and tunings From: bq912@freenet.uchsc.edu (Neil G. Haverstick) Haverstick here...you know, one of the best things about this forum is that there's a lot of smart folks on here, so their comments can often get one to thinking...just as the late, great Ivor Darreg observed that each tuning has it's own characteristic feel, or mood, often it is true that certain tuning systems fit certain stylistic frameworks as well. For example, we all are a bit tired of 12/eq, but it really is a well thought out and marvelous sort of compromise, especially when you con- sider that it was intended to make it easier to move a lot of chords around...for that function, 12 is killer. I'm listening to Kazuhito Yamashita play Bach Violin Sonatas, and my jaw is dropping again. I think this is one of the greatest musical performances I've ever heard, and it's in 12/eq. Could Bach have composed this on a perely tuned instrument? Maybe, if some innovative clavier builder had built a mas- terpiece...but, I think Bach wanted to get his ideas out, anyway he could. In fact, think of this...here we all are, chatting about many systems of tuning, but I bet many of us were primarily exposed to 12/eq through much of our lives...this SOUND surely shaped many of us, in myriad ways, both emotional and intellectual...there are doubtless untold mysteries in the other systems that we barely know, simply because there is really not much "micro" music in the Western world yet...and again, I say again, the art of composition is still the least understood art of all, and one which a lot of folks get a wee bit touchy about at times. My great teacher, George Keith, told me great stories...he said the way they used to weed out incompetent players on jams was as follows; they played the tune "Cherokee" as fast as possible...if he survived that, then they modulated through all 12 keys...if you could do that, you were in. And that's why when I get a whiff of elitism concerning the supposed superiority of any one system, I get a little pissy...I mean, the old thing in the blues bars was the "head cuttin" contest, and it is only meant to weed out the fakers. Again, I don't think you could do Parker stuff in Partch's tuning...and, I surely don't think he planned it that way, anyway. But, the crux for me is this...I think it's important never to get blinded by any one particular style in art...just check it out, see what they're doing, and see if you can borrow anything to help you create your own thing. So, when I looked into Partch, I found a lot of fascinating intellectual ideas, and some out there music, and a fairly bitter, sarcastic feller at ti at times, and I realized that my direction was much more oriented towards blues and jazz as a base, and then absorbing whatever else I could as well. I love music with a lot of chord changes, so I need a tuning that fits that concept...19, too is killer for chordal music, and 31 and 34 as well...perhaps I'll develop the ability on fretless someday to play changes. Johnny Reinhard said something neat once when he said that 12/eq is a microtonal tuning, too...I agree. I understand really well why it de- veloped, and it worked great for what it was intended. It is time to move it on, and I would hope that everyone involved in this field con- tinues to share ideas and concepts with each other, hopefully in a peaceful way. The field of tunings is really wide open, and could go in a lot of directions...if we all realize that the music makes the tuning, not the other way around, we will have realized the true essence of art, which is to tap into the literally endless pool of possibilities available in a Universe with 200 gadzillion stars and planets...HHH Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 15:21 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA26531; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 15:21:59 +0200 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA26498 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id GAA01896; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 06:21:53 -0700 Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 06:21:53 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu