source file: mills3.txt Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 19:23:47 +0200 Subject: RE: Srutis From: "Paul H. Erlich" Graham Breed wrote, > >>Incidentally, I had Ma-grama as 4 3 2 4 3 4 2. Apologies to >>anyone who received perplexing e-mails from me based on this error. > >Actually, this is the correct description of Ma-grama starting on Sa (the >Hindu system tonic). Bill Alves' description (4 3 4 2 4 3 2) begins on Ma, or >sruti 0. In the ancient texts, Ma-grama is derived from Sa-grama (4 3 2 4 4 3 >2, starting on sruti 0, called Sa) by raising the fourth note of the latter >by two srutis, and then rotating the note names (Sa -> Ma, etc.) so that Sa >remains what we would consider the tonic of a "major scale." Bill Alves' >description reflects the intermediate step in this derivation, and when the >two scales are compared side-by-side, they can be considered as subsets of a >single sruti system. However, when Graham's descriptions are placed >side-by-side, the fact that a single comma alteration was considered as one >sruti is clearly seen. > >The evidence that temperament was used lies in the fact that sruti 2 served >as a recognized chromatic alterations in both scales. It likely functioned as >16/15 in sa-grama and as 135/128 in ma-grama. Early instruments seemed to >have placed the fret for sruti 2 exactly halfway between the open position >and sruti 4. This indicates that a compromise was likely adopted so that >these two notes a diaschisma apart could be represented by one note. Graham, >I'm not sure whether you were trying to say that the specification comma=1, >diaschisma=0, leads unambiguously to 22 tones while your previous >specification comma=diesis could lead to 12, 22, 34, or 46. If this is what >you were saying, can you guide us through the math? > >In the 4th century texts, all 7 note names were shifted by one from their >modern definitions (I used the modern names above). Sa was the second note of >the "major scale," rather than the first note. Some have interpreted this >fact to imply that the archetypal modes for the two gramas were actually what >we would now call the "dorian modes" of those scales. SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: Paul-Hahn@library.wustl.edu Subject: Re: J Carrillo PostedDate: 28-08-97 20:04:29 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 28-08-97 20:04:46-28-08-97 20:04:46,28-08-97 20:04:35-28-08-97 20:04:35 DeliveredDate: 28-08-97 20:04:35 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA v1.1 (385.6 5-6-1997)) with SMTP id C1256501.00634B86; Thu, 28 Aug 1997 20:04:34 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA04310; Thu, 28 Aug 1997 20:04:29 +0200 Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 20:04:29 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA04303 Received: (qmail 2990 invoked from network); 28 Aug 1997 18:04:21 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 28 Aug 1997 18:04:21 -0000 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu