source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:11:21 -0800 Subject: Re: Ornaments and Intonation From: alves@osiris.ac.hmc.edu (Bill Alves) Dan Wolf brought up some issues in regard to the topic of ornaments and intonation. I can't provide a reference off-hand, but I do remember my harpsichord teacher years ago pointing out where Bach had a explicitly indicated a trill, according to him, in order to obscure the wolf. (Not really a wolf, since this is well-temperament, but a triad that's relatively less pure.) Whether an ornament obscures or spotlights intonational relationships I guess depends on the type of ornament. A quick trill would tend to obscure them because the pitch's duration each time you heard it would be very short and the other note in the trill would compete for the impression of pitch. However, certain Indian gamaka are defined as much more broad elaborations of the melody (as Dan demonstrated). The portamento, so important in most Indian instrumental and vocal traditions, often to me creates a tension that is only resolved when the pitch reaches its target frequency. In that sense, I think it helps focus more attention on the intonation. Recall that Nazir Jairazbhoy advocated the use of temperament as a way of increasing the tension associated with certain notes of the scale. Bill ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^ ^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^ ^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^ ^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)621-8360 (fax) ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 11 Dec 1996 21:12 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA03383; Wed, 11 Dec 1996 21:14:04 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA01409 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id MAA12088; Wed, 11 Dec 1996 12:14:00 -0800 Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 12:14:00 -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