source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 05:54:25 -0800 Subject: RE: Chinese musical scales From: linusliu@HK.Super.NET (Linus Liu) There is not just one "Sheng". My eyes have seen sheng with number of pipes ranging from five to at least fifteen, or many more. I did not walk round to count it (how many fingers?). Instruments are not built to perform "scales", but rather, music. Neither is there only just one kind of Chinese music, but in fact, numerous. Very often, Chinese music are played together by many kinds of instruments, together playing a same melody, at a same or different octaves. And most of these instruments have very different ways of tuning, due to their very different constructions. To judge how MUSIC is tuned by how one instrument, in particularly one with the greatest of limitations, is tuned is like judging the magnitude of World War II by the size of the stage a drama about World War II has been played on it. Music is judged by how music appeals to the audience. Music is art. Art is freedom from many limits. This is at least one way how I see it. Linus Liu. >>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? Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 12 Nov 1996 18:28 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA01553; Tue, 12 Nov 1996 18:29:36 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA01550 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id JAA05239; Tue, 12 Nov 1996 09:29:34 -0800 Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 09:29:34 -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