source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 22:27:45 -0800 Subject: what's real? From: Aline Surman Haverstick here...a good discussion about the nature of the harmonic series, eh? Here's a quote from Danielou's book which is very interesting to me..."As noted by Raouf Yekta Bey, `Music, like the other mathematical seciences, is a science whose laws are fixed and invariable. Just as two and two make four in the East as well as in the West, the fundamental laws of music apply at all times and for all peoples.`" I know I'm out of my element just a bit in the math end of things, but the basic principles are the issue here. Forgive me if I didn't get it quite right, but I believe Starrett said that the Harmonic series was more of a mental construct than a physical reality, because nothing in Nature vibrates precisely at the frequencies of the Harmonic series. If this be the case, then what's all the fuss about "just intonation" in the first place? However, the above quote by Bey seems to be pointing to some profound issues about music, issues which I have been giving great thought to in the last few months. I have a feeling that there ARE exact mathematical correspondences in the very fabric of sound, correspondences of deep significance, relationships that, in the "old" days (and maybe even now), could be applied to healing and other forms of extra musical activities. It's been mentioned here before, but various texts mention rather "magical" occurences connected to certain musical sounds, as in the Book of the Hopi (by Frank Waters), when the Hopi spiritual leaders healed themselves of severe wounds by the beautiful sounds of their flutes. Danielou also mentions scales that were used for healing in the ancient Middle East, and don't forget the battle of Jericho, when blasts from trumpets made walls collapse. For me, this is a serious pursuit, and one which I know next to nothing about; but, I truly believe that there may be a lot more to music than we know at this time. I believe it is quite possible that we (mainly westerners and those influenced by our way of life) have lost a lot of important knowledge pertaining to the foundations of sound, and how sound can be used in more ways than just making music for our enjoyment or entertainment. I believe that the Harmonic series is real, but perhaps there's more to it than I know at this time. If it IS true, as Bey says, that the laws of music are "fixed and invariable", than what are we really doing when we create temperaments that deviate from the purity of these laws? Do we know, or care? Do we even believe there is a Creator who created the Harmonic laws? Again, this is no joke to me, and this is a subject that I think is worthy of much thought and study, as it may have a direct relationship to our existance in this world. I also have noticed that, at least up to this time, this is probably the least talked about subject on this forum; or, anywhere else, for that matter. That is curious to me...Hstick Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 12 Feb 1997 16:45 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA03419; Wed, 12 Feb 1997 16:45:30 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA03417 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id HAA21189; Wed, 12 Feb 1997 07:43:16 -0800 Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 07:43:16 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu