source file: mills2.txt Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 03:53:50 -0800 Subject: RE: Chinese musical scales From: Manuel.Op.de.Coul@ezh.nl (Manuel Op de Coul) > >>Observed tuning from chinese sheng or mouth organ > >>0.0000 210.0000 338.0000 498.0450 715.0000 908.0000 1040.0000 1200.0000 > > > >Who "observed" the fourth note of this scale? > > > > Come to think of it - who "observed" the octave as being exactly 1200.000?? > A rhetorical question - I think it was A.J. Ellis. Ellis yes, taken from the playing of Chinese musicians at the International Health Exhibition, 1885, during private interviews. Actually the octave was typed in wrongly, it's 1199 cents. See page 518 of Helmholtz: On the Sensations of Tone. Of course, it being a wind instrument and not a Rayna synthesizer, should any figures after the decimal point be taken with a grain of salt. It depends on how hard you blow. Another correction: Chinese Flute / Ellis 0.0000 178.0000 339.0000 448.0000 662.0000 888.0000 1103.0000 1196.0000 Manuel Op de Coul coul@ezh.nl Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sun, 10 Nov 1996 20:40 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA03371; Sun, 10 Nov 1996 20:42:01 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA03368 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id LAA00763; Sun, 10 Nov 1996 11:41:55 -0800 Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 11:41:55 -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