source file: mills3.txt Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 16:16:01 +0200 Subject: RE: 5-limit in India? From: "Paul H. Erlich" >If the sruti >scale is influenced by Pythagorean ideas, why no mention of >frequency ratios? The ancient Hindu texts mention 9- and 13-sruti intervals (perfect fourths and perfect fifths) as the only "consonant" intervals, and never deviated from octave equivalence. That's as Pythagorean as you need to get (Pythagoras had no idea about "frequency ratios," either!). Hindu theorists probably found that by tuning 21 consecutive "consonant" intervals, they could generate the existing scales with virtually no error (2 cents) and have a roughly consistent measure of size for scale steps (major tone = 4, minor tone = 3, semitone = 2). I do have one other model (in my forthcoming paper) for how 22 could have come to be used to describe their scales, but it is a little more far-fetched. SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: gphillip@senet.com.au Subject: testing an experimental tuning program PostedDate: 31-08-97 13:47:53 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: 01-09-97 17:09:26-01-09-97 17:38:03,01-09-97 17:37:46-01-09-97 17:37:50 DeliveredDate: 01-09-97 17:37:50 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA v1.1 (385.6 5-6-1997)) with SMTP id C1256505.00532BB9; Mon, 1 Sep 1997 17:08:26 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA09681; Sun, 31 Aug 1997 13:47:53 +0200 Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 13:47:53 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA09669 Received: (qmail 22720 invoked from network); 31 Aug 1997 11:47:46 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 31 Aug 1997 11:47:46 -0000 Message-Id: <340A42C0.368E@senet.com.au> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu