source file: mills2.txt Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 06:46:54 -0700 Subject: RE: Why ET-x? From: Mckyyy@aol.com Hello David, >I expected to find discussions mostly of just tuning issues on >this list, but there seems to be as much discussion of various >ET scales. This puzzles me. It puzzles me too, but I have had some time to think about it, so I have formed some theories. I think the major reason for the emphasis on ET, and various other 'transcendental' type scales is that they are easier. The math needed to have a state-of-the-art understanding of JI scales is quite thorny, IMHO, requiring actual thought, rather than just punching numbers into a calculator or spreadsheet. There are only a quite limited number of ET scales compared to the number of JI scales, which is another reason it requires much less effort to 'master' ET than JI. Also there is the perception that transcendental math is 'higher' than grubby old arithmetic. Arithmetic is taught in the first grade, but logarithms are only taught later. Needless to say, I disagree with this perception. >Finally, technology is giving us keyboards with virtually >continuous pitch possibilities, ... That is what the manufacturer's of these keyboards would like you to think, but actually, the pitch possibilities are far from continuous. The granularity is quite coarse, both from the perspective of the relative pitch perception capabilities of the ear, and from the perspective of what is possible to modern technology. Those of you who are long time readers of this list will recognize that I'm back after a long absence. Hello again, everyone. Marion Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sun, 4 May 1997 16:47 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA04107; Sun, 4 May 1997 16:47:39 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA04131 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id HAA23163; Sun, 4 May 1997 07:45:40 -0700 Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 07:45:40 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu