source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 17:51:52 -0800 Subject: Re: Lingua Franca Notation From: Johnny Reinhard I hope this thread continues to be of interest to the list and I hope, too, that we can proceed in a fashion that is without a shadow of a doubt flameless. This slow prelude to my comments follows a year of internet experiences which seem to demonstrate a propensity for misunderstanding in using the medium. Perhaps it is the notation that is at fault, since it symbolizes intent. Maybe we will eventually communicate more fully in music. :) That said, I think it's time to dig up an old enthmusicology chestnut: There are 2 kinds of notation - prescriptive and descriptive. For example, when a composer writes things for him- or herself that only he or she fully comprehends, that is dscriptive (of the music). To be prescrptive is to notate for others to enact the music. Ben's notation leans to heavily back to descriptive based on past experiences with his music. No Ben was not happy with the "slow performance" of his Hockett for bassoon and tuba. The tubist could only go so fast with his quartertone instrument making all the pitch adjustments, following an incredible amount of study to calculate the pitches "perscribed." Maybe this is where theory breaks away from practice. Please give me the information that the computer is privy too if it is performance you want. If you want me to translate from Hertz, then you are providing a serious impediment before an eventual performance. I like the idea of a Lingua Franc, especially since I have always believed that all music is microtonal from a cross-cultural perspective. No, one should change the notation for Charles Ives, for example, because Ives wanted flats "flatter" and sharps "sharper" (his own directions fully corraborated by Kirckpatrick and in several palces by Ives). However I have to change Carrillo's number notation to cents in order to achieve performances (except for the 96-tone harp which does well in int). MicroMay '97 will feature a double choir work of Andrea Gabrieli which I transcribed from neumes. Is this permissible in order to achieve performance? Performances, if it is deemed important for the future of microtonal music (and just intonation composers never fail to include themselves as "microtonalists" when a possible performance of their works is involved), need every advantage to suceed. Frankly, they are endangered in our culture. It has been most helpful that the word "microtonal" has been adopted so readily in the past 5 years. Similarly, it would be terrrific if today and tomorrow's players could count on understanding how to read and perform any and all tunings. Cents makes the most sense. Johnny Reinhard Director American Festival of Microtonal Music 318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW New York, New York 10021 USA (212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495 reinhard@ios.com Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 30 Oct 1996 18:00 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA04370; Wed, 30 Oct 1996 18:01:23 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA03063 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id JAA17679; Wed, 30 Oct 1996 09:01:20 -0800 Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 09:01:20 -0800 Message-Id: <91961030170119/0005695065PK5EM@MCIMAIL.COM> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu