source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 09:29:22 -0800 Subject: Post from Brian McLaren From: John Chalmers From: mclaren Subject: Will Grant's interesting post -- In topic 2 of Digest 810, Will Grant answered my statement that "Lou Harrison has not explained how to reconcile these facts [that is, the prevalence of tunings which cannot be explained easily in terms of small integer ratios in other cultures] with the notion that just intonation forms the basis of world music." Will Grant pointed out that "an arbitrary octave of 1150 cents does not preclude reference to a just standard." Will's counter-argument is that "the music I've listened to from Central Africa...relies on a 'gamut'... of a major third..." And that "tetrachords carry inevitably a potential toward modulation... Nevertheless, sharping thirds can be pleasant. (..) The central African musics aren't concerned about melodic modulatory implications... Therefore I do not see that the specific use of wide octaves can be used to discredit the theoretical notion of a just standard." [Will Grant] Will makes some excellent points, with considerable insight. First, Will G. is certainly right that in many parts of Africa the overall "gamut" of pitch is somewhere in the neighborhood of a third. This is not simply based on my listening, but on the research printed in the Journal of Ethnomusicology, etc., the bulk of which supports Will Grant's statement--for *many* African musics. However, this is not the case for *all* musical traditions in Africa, and may not be the case for a majority. I don't know enough about African music to decide whether a majority of the cultures use a gamut of a third. However, I do know of several specific exceptions to that rule--and where there are several excpetions to a general ethnomuiscological "rule," experience has taught me that there are apt to be many more. The "weeping song" of the Gisalo, if memory serves, exceeds the compass of a third by a considerable amount, and the ugubhu is typically played using harmonics up to 7. Second: While Will Grant's argument is ingenious and very well thought out, it does not appear to apply to the example cited in my post. Permit me to quote the full text of my original citation: "This definition is refused by the practices of these musicians, who tune their xylophones using adjacent intervals, step by step. Our experimentation verified that 'perfect' consonances are not a consituent of Central African concept of the scale. These musicians do not judge a strict octave (1200 cents) to be better than a large major seventh (1150 cents) in any rgister, probably because of the roughness it creates on the octaves that are always played simultaneously with double sticks in each hand." [Voisin, Frederic, "Musical Scales in Central Africa and Java: Modeling by Synthesis," Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 4, pp. 85-90, 1994] This specific quote appears to crush most of Will Grant's objections. On the other hand, it's possible that I've misunderstood the text. In any case Will might want to study the article in question in detail. Others examples (some outside Africa): The panpipes of the 'Are-'are of the Solomon Islands are tuned in 7 equal-tempered tones to the octave which cannot be understood in terms of the harmonic series (unless, of course, there's something I've overlooked or not taken account of--always possible); the same seems to be true of the xylophones of the Kwaiker indians of central Mexico and Guatamala. The Burmese oboe-like instruments, the drums of the Akan in West Africa, and much of the vocal music of the Kaluli of highland New Guinea and other music from sub-Saharan Africa all seem to use pitches which systematically avoid just ratios. Of course the most spectacularly non-just non-equal-tempered musical traditions are those of Bali and Java, along with Thailand. No one has succeeded in explaining these musical traditions in terms of small integer ratios, to the best of my knowledge, and so my case seems to stand. However, it's quite possible I've made some silly error or failed to see some crucial point. Perhaps Will Grant can show me what I've overlooked. --mclaren Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 19:08 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA18035; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 19:09:57 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA18130 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id KAA19117; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 10:09:54 -0800 Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 10:09:54 -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