source file: mills2.txt Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 16:01:44 -0800 Subject: Re: Johnny's Lingua Franca Notation From: PAULE I would continue to stress that an extension of Herf's notation, which allows for subdivision of 12-tet semitones into sixths (72-tet), to allow halves and quarters of the steps of 72-tet to be notated, seems most likely to lead to accurate results and will be structurally and audibly equivalent to any desired tuning that I can think of (that is, any tuning I think could be considered desirable). Cents notation, in addition to being arbitrary from an acoustical or pedagogical standpoint, requires no fewer symbols (two) in addition to the usual notation. I would disagree with Adam Silverman as to the importance of a universal notation. Different notational systems will no doubt be more useful for "thinking" and composing in, and discussing, particular systems, such as meantone (where conventional notation works), Partchian tuning, or 22-tet. More use of electronic means (such as MIDI) and composer-produced recordings will obviate much of the need for a standard notation. However, I would agree with Adam that if we want to educate a new generation of performers so that they can participate in the flowering of microtonal music, a "standard" notational system would seem desirable, to make life easier for them and to give the widest variety of music a chance of being performed correctly. Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 1 Nov 1996 01:41 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA07537; Fri, 1 Nov 1996 01:41:45 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA32569 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id QAA28804; Thu, 31 Oct 1996 16:41:42 -0800 Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 16:41:42 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu