source file: mills2.txt
Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 03:02:58 +0200

Subject: RE: JI vs. ET

From: DFinnamore@aol.com

Gary Morrison wrote:

>It's certainly true, on my opinion and that of most others on this list,
>that small whole-number ratios are the clearly basic navigational
>guideposts in pitch space.  But just because you find navigational bouys
>useful, doesn't mean that you have to chart collision courses for them!
> 
>   The character of how you MISS small whole-number ratios is every bit as
>interesting-sounding as nailing them right on.

and then:

>   I figured out a simpler way to put it:
> 
>   Just because small whole number ratios are the ideal basis for pitch
>relationships doesn't necessarily mean that people always want to hear
>ideal pitch relationships.

To quote Miracle Max from "The Princess Bride," "I liked your first story
better."

This point of view I would have to agree with wholeheartedly, or be a
hypocrite.  If you've ever heard CeDell Davis play his delightfully raunchy
style of Mississippi hill-country blues, you know that sometimes some very
potent emotion can be communicated by getting as far away as possible from
the tuning the ear expects.  Repeatedly.  Hurts so good!  That same principle
is no doubt what makes inflectional pitch bends work.

On the other hand, the closer the pitches of the context are to "ideal," the
more contrast is possible when you shoot to miss.  Right?  Also, couldn't
missing virtually all the time limit your vocabulary as surely as hitting
virtually all the time?  Then, too, there's always the possibility of
presenting a moving target.  Gets hairy, don't it?

David J. Finnamore
Just tune it!

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