source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 02:14:31 -0800 Subject: pure or just From: Daniel Wolf <106232.3266@compuserve.com> Haverstick wrote: ''... I think the points raised lately concerning the connection between tunings, music, and larger "Metaphysical" issues are very important, and should be pursued.'' A response: In the end, what drives a passion for music is not a set of numbers or a piece of technology (no matter how ''elegant'' in construction), but some very deep psychological response to the sound of a music, the way it is articulated in time, and the way in which it resonates with an individual's memory and imagination.. What is attractive about tuning theory is that it is a way of getting fairly concrete handles on extremely subjective matters. A description of a tuning system may appear to be a cold and indirect approach to musics we respond to emotionally, but it is perhaps the only approach that may be tested objectively and communicated universally. If we wish to speak or write directly of emotional responses we are forced into an adjectival deadend and communication is virtually impossible. If however, we are driven to communicate our emotional response to Music directly, why do we need to resort to words at all? Isn't the most appropriate response to a piece of music a new piece of music? (This last was something I learned from Charles Seeger). Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 31 Dec 1996 14:40 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA05730; Tue, 31 Dec 1996 14:43:32 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA05735 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id FAA12140; Tue, 31 Dec 1996 05:43:28 -0800 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 05:43:28 -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