source file: mills3.txt Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 23:07:11 +0200 Subject: tuned tunes From: DFinnamore@aol.com In a message dated 97-09-13 02:06:14 EDT, you write: > I think microtonality could have a very definite demand, if infused into > what is termed pop music. I think that experimental high level > compositions are very intersting, but I am surprised that no one really > works with simple popular forms. I think you have a very good idea, there, Peter. Pop music, in the sense of hit music, has run the gamut (no pun intended) of harmonic possibilities and come back around to three chords and a bad lyric. The interest has been almost entirely sonic of late - the stranger a recording sounds, the more likely it is to get airplay, it seems, as long as it has a strong hook. Some tunings do sound odd, at first anyway, and might well cause a buzz if presented properly. You'd need to choose a tuning that would draw attention to itself in all of its "weirdness" - hit 'em in the face with it. The more showy and flamboyant, the more chance of success. Europe would probably be more open to it than here in the US, since Techno is apparently bigger there right now, whereas acoustic stuff is hot here. It's just a lot easier to tune a synth than a piano or guitar. See Charles Lucy's site for a techo-ish band ostensibly using Harrison/Lucy tuning. On the one hand, it sounds a little different than it would in 12-tET; on the other, I think it could have been written in 12-tET so it doesn't really seem to show the uniqueness of the tuning. It's a start, though. Record your Greek Funk, if you can, and put it on the next Tape Swap. You asked about vocations. I'm a recording engineer and jingle writer, and am attempting to get into writing music for computer games and multimedia. Tuning study helps me a great deal in recording since my ear for pitch is increasing exponentially in sharpness as I learn and practice tunings. That means I am more likely to catch a "bad" note during a session, or to let a slightly flat (by 12-tET standards) major third go by since I know it is closer to Just and will likely work well even against a guitar or piano third in the same register, etc. I haven't yet written a jingle in JI (probably won't!) but have written game music for my own use in various tunings. Unless you aspire to tune acoustic keyboard instruments for a living, like our esteemed fellow Ed Foote, tuning will probably be a sideline or tool, not the vocation itself. David SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: mr88cet@texas.net Subject: Re: "Quartertone" Again PostedDate: 15-09-97 10:59:03 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: 15-09-97 10:58:55-15-09-97 10:58:56,15-09-97 10:58:13-15-09-97 10:58:14 DeliveredDate: 15-09-97 10:58:14 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA v1.1 (385.6 5-6-1997)) with SMTP id C1256513.00315512; Mon, 15 Sep 1997 10:58:50 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA01449; Mon, 15 Sep 1997 10:59:03 +0200 Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 10:59:03 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA00013 Received: (qmail 25767 invoked from network); 15 Sep 1997 08:59:00 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 15 Sep 1997 08:59:00 -0000 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu