source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 09:32:53 -0700 Subject: Re: Music and the Brain From: "BRIAN B. CARLSON" My name is Brian Carlson, I live in Denver and play a 19 tone steel string acoustic guitar and another with the frets spaced at the following ratios - 21/20 9/8 7/6 6/5 5/4 21/16 4/3 7/5 35/24 3/2 14/9 8/5 5/3 7/4 9/5 15/8 and 35/18. Mark Rankin worked out these ratios to include the 7 limit ratios and also keep the frets spaced far enough apart to be playable. Jon Starrett did a great job on refretting both instruments. The study involving Mozart and IQ testing raises some interesting issues. When we listen to music, everything and anything that is contained in a piece of music can enter into one's brain (at various levels of consciousness) and become part of an unbelievably complex state of affairs. Really, when you are listening to Mozart, in a sense you are hearing Mozart's mind in the music. Music is a very powerful form of communication. One's deepest thoughts and feelings can be communicated through music and when we listen to music, the style and structure of the music can stimulate the brain in new and unknown (and difficult to quantify) ways. Perhaps the study should be performed again while one group of students listens to Stravinsky and the other to John Tesh. Anyway, relating to tuning, non 12et music will have very different structures than 12et music. I am curious to hear what people think about microtonal music and the effects it has on their way of thinking. How has playing or composing or listening to microtonal music changed the way you think about music, and has it had other effects as well? This forum has been an excellent source of information on tuning, from the minute technical details to the universal implications of tuning, all extremely important. Looking forward to hearing any ideas... Brian Carlson Denver, Colorado Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 23 Apr 1997 18:39 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA22503; Wed, 23 Apr 1997 18:39:19 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA22482 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id JAA16093; Wed, 23 Apr 1997 09:37:35 -0700 Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 09:37:35 -0700 Message-Id: <199704231039.KAA05558@reliam.teaser.fr> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu