source file: mills2.txt Date: Sun, 3 Nov 1996 17:09:29 -0800 Subject: notation From: Paul Rapoport > I think Johnny's point is that if a note-head had, for example "-15" over it > (meaning that it is to be played fifteen cents flat of 12TET), you can whip out > a fingering variation that you have memorized to be roughly that much flat of > that note. Once you know the 12TET fingerings, and any player of a given > instrument would, it wouldn't take much more effort to augment that knowledge > with a series of memorized cent variations. If more than a few cents variations are put in front of a performer, I'd guess that either it wouldn't make any difference, or it would be difficult, unless you want only gross approximations. I must say that the concept of modern woodwind instruments playing microtonal music is one that does not interest me much. Not meant to upset Johnny, who probably has more experience in this than anyone, but I don't find the resultant timbres acceptable in many cases, and the awkward fingerings work against all the developments of these instruments in the past 200 years (possibly bassoon excepted). Johnny, I'd be interested in your comments on this. > That is far easier than performing from a 7th or 13th harmonic sort of > description, because with that you'd have think - in realtime, on the fly - "OK, > what's the root of this chord (that in itself is especially tough since any > realistic performance each performer will have PARTS, and not the whole > conductor's score)? How does this note relate to that root? How much flat is a > 13th harmonic from the closest 12TET pitch?" Or similarly, in 17TET say, "OK, > what's the tonic now? Which scale step is this note relative to that tonic? > How much sharp or flat is that 17TET note from the 12TET value that my > instrument is designed to play?" I don't think so. In JI in particular, the relationships are important, and you may not have to have a score, although knowing where your note "comes from" is significant. It may come from a previously sounding note. And in a fair amount of JI, the number of different notes in a passage (however defined) may not be high, so that memorizing a relationship sign isn't difficult, and no more so than a cents value. I agree that it's not easy, and in ETs it's still harder. It won't take a sharp person to figure that I don't work with performers very often in this material, partly because all the notations are a problem, which reflects bigger problems in actually performing the music with all but the most dedicated and experienced performers. In the electronic case, the relationships in the score are paramount and then the cents variations are not helpful unless you've memorized their relationships--in which case why not use the relationships directly? I wouldn't want, however, to teach people to hear and play the 13th harmonic in relation to 12-tET. Gary, is that what you meant? Paul R. Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Mon, 4 Nov 1996 20:16 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA06796; Sun, 3 Nov 1996 21:08:08 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA07076 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id MAA09696; Sun, 3 Nov 1996 12:08:05 -0800 Date: Sun, 3 Nov 1996 12:08:05 -0800 Message-Id: <199611032007.PAA28362@freenet5.carleton.ca> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu