source file: mills2.txt Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 14:53:29 -0800 Subject: Re: Tail Wagging the Dog? From: "Collins, Gordon" On Thu, 27 Mar 97 Brian Belet wrote: >As composer/performer/theorists, >we propose a theory (involving tuning, structure, purpose, etc.) that >then demands music be composed in an attempt to work out the ramificaitons >of the theory. We then must perform this new music in a test of the >theory's validity in practice. Then we refine the theory based on this >test, and try the cycle once again, and again, and ........ In the 17th century the term "musica theoretica" was used to refer to philosophical discussions of divisions of the octave (i.e., alternate tunings) and their acoustical implications, whereas "musica prattica" referred to actual music-making, including everything now called "music theory"! The theoreticians and the practitioners did not seem to pay much attention to each other, according to what I have read. It's nice to see that musica theoretica is alive and well on this list and that practicing musicians are using those theories so that we can hear and assess them. Gordon Collins gordon_collins@jhuapl.edu Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sat, 29 Mar 1997 17:35 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA21159; Sat, 29 Mar 1997 17:35:53 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA21139 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id IAA14587; Sat, 29 Mar 1997 08:29:53 -0800 Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 08:29:53 -0800 Message-Id: <282922615.22986115@goodmedia.com> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu