source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 22:03:18 -0800 Subject: a passing From: Aline Surman Sad to report, tuning theorist Larry Hanson passed away on Tuesday; I believe he was 76. Although I did not get to know Larry very well, he changed my whole musical life by getting me involved with the 34 tone equal tempered system...I will always be very grateful for that. I got to see him and play for him whwn I was in LA...he was obviously not doing so hot, but really enjoyed finally seeing his creation, and hearing it played live. Larry was interested in other tunings as far back as 1943, and wrote an article for Xenharmonikon a few years ago which went into detail about his theories (maybe John can tell us which XH?). I have found the 34 tone system quite marvelous; it is little used, and little explored. I believe the comma probably scares a few folks off; and, all those notes! But, this system is very versatile, with many intervals no more than a few cents off strong ratios; 3rds are very pure, 5th is good, marvelous little tones (semitones?) all over the place; I plan to compose a lot in this system. Larry was very kind with me, and also was willing to put up some capital for instruments to be built. I now have a 34 tone acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar and bass as well. A 34 tone acoustic bass is under construction, too...my next CD will feature several 34 tone pieces. One comment about this system that I have heard numerous times is that it feels sort of relaxed, more natural than 12, and I agree...I like to say it resonates well, and indeed it does. I like the comma, and have written a piece that uses it as the basic unit of movement; commas are very natural, of course, and have been used for a long time by Asian oriented systems. Not to mention that one can now modulate through many new pathways with 34 basic keys, and a zillion modes. I will miss Larry, and pray that he is at peace...Hstick Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Thu, 27 Mar 1997 14:30 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA19276; Thu, 27 Mar 1997 14:30:00 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA19274 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id FAA09068; Thu, 27 Mar 1997 05:27:53 -0800 Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 05:27:53 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu