source file: mills2.txt Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 11:10:45 -0800 Subject: Hello, and Seeking Boomsliter and Creel's Second Interim Report From: Rabia Kathleen Seidel Greetings! My name is Kathleen Seidel and I'm a new subscriber to the list. I'm a sometime librarian and an appreciative listener, a fan of Harry Partch since I first heard his work in 1972, and since then of many alternative tuners (Lou Harrison, Terry Riley, Michael Harrison, and especially LaMonte Young), of gamelan, and of Indian and Turkish classical music. My husband, David Seidel, is the guitarist who performed "Go Guitars" on Lois V Vierk's recording _Simoom_. I am hoping that list members might enjoy the following story, and that someone might be able to help with a quest. Two years ago I was reading W.A. Mathieu's book _The Musical Life_, and came across a footnote that referred to an "nth-generation photocopy" of the "Interim Report on the Project on Organization in Auditory Perception at the State University College, Albany, New York, February 1962," by Paul C. Boomsliter and Warren Creel. Mathieu's description of the author's insights into musical hearing was so intriguing that I decided to set out in search of the report. I lived outside of Albany at the time, so I called the SUNY library, but the librarians were unable to locate it; neither could the Music Department or the Albany Medical Center. I then called Dr. Boomsliter's widow, who told me that her late husband's library and files had been donated to the Capital Area Speech Center in Albany. The people there were very gracious, and let me spend several hours looking through Dr. Boomsliter's papers. I located the report I was looking for, the final project report ("Extended Reference: An Unrecognized Dynamic in Melody," _Journal of Music Theory_, Spring 1963), and reprints of several interesting articles. I was also allowed to borrow the original reel-to-reel of the tape accompanying the Interim Report. Professor Drew Hartzel of the SUNY Music Department then generously copied the tape to cassette for me, using his home equipment. The articles are fascinating reading, and the tape is revealing and entertaining. Dr. Boomsliter had built a "Referential Organ" out of Estey reed organ actions, and showed a real sense of fun throughout the demonstration. After my visit to the CASC office, I had a conversation with Mr. Creel's daughter, who had soldered the organ together for her father. It was dismantled and discarded by SUNY in the early '80's, by then considered an inessential, dust-catching dinosaur. When I told Mrs. Creel that my interest in scales and intonation had grown, in part, out of my love of Turkish and Indian classical music, she laughed and said, "That's the way to do it! That's how it happened!" Her father, Dr. Boomsliter, and a few other colleages at the Acoustical Society of America had formed the "International Society for the Study of Vibratory Motion." Their sole organizational activity was to visit Middle Eastern nightclubs to watch the belly dancers and listen to the music. From there they went on to this project. In the final report of the Project, "Extended Reference," note #4 refers to a "Second Interim Report, mimeographed, Oct. 1962." So far I have been unable to locate this report. It was nowhere in Dr. Boomsliter's archives, or the Danforth Foundation (which funded the project), the Acoustical Society of America archives, or the Catgut Archive at Stanford. I have recently written to the ASA office manager and their journal editor to see whether they could publish a notice in the Journal or in some other way issue an inquiry to long-time members, to see if anyone has a copy tucked away in their files. In the meantime, I wonder whether any readers of this list might have a copy of Dr. Boomsliter's elusive Second Interim Report. Best regards, Kathleen Seidel Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Thu, 16 Jan 1997 20:19 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA00718; Thu, 16 Jan 1997 20:22:31 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA00483 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id LAA14014; Thu, 16 Jan 1997 11:22:27 -0800 Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 11:22:27 -0800 Message-Id: <199701161415_MC1-E81-E67E@compuserve.com> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu