source file: mills3.txt
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 15:31:06 +0200

Subject: TUNING digest 1199

From: Daniel Wolf <DJWOLF_MATERIAL@compuserve.com>

J. Reinhard wrote:

<"Microtone" by itself may not have any utility.  It is vague and signifi=
es
<insignificance by itself.  IMHO.

So, let us just substitute adjectival cognates of two terms that Reinhard=

considers equivalent and we end up with:

''The American Festival of Insignificant Music''

Surely, that is not what you intend! The substantive ''microtone'' is
indeed
useful for describing all intervals smaller than a semitone, and the
adjective
''microtonal'' aptly describes something that uses such intervals. For
example,
''the interval 16/9 differs from the septimal minor seventh (7/4) by a
microtone''; or ''Erickson's trumpet melody in _Kryl_ moves microtonally'=
'.

Reinhard continues:

<A discipline of Microtonality, which I adhere to, would include the
<commonality of all musics from the perspecitive of pitch and their
<intervallic relationships.

If I parse this sentence correctly then Reinhard is using ''Microtonality=
''
to refer to all music using pitches. Since this would then probably
include by far the greater part of human music making, I am forced
to wonder why Mr. Reinhard sees any need at all to use the term.   =


<It is to this end that Alexander J. Ellis
<invented "cents" which divides the octave logarithmically into 1200
<cents.  This is the "yardstick" to measure all music microtonally.
<1200 is a convenient number at the very threshold of pitch
<differentiation.  =


<When the Harvard Dictionary of Music pulished its early 20th century
<definition of a _microtone_ as "smaller" than a quartertone, it was
<also describing _just intonation_ as mere theory with no evidence of
<historical useage and as virtually impossible to negotiate in practice.
<Both definitions needed to be updated.  If Egyptian music is considered
<microtonal (which it has), and there is no interval smaller than a
<semitone in the Maqam system, what does that say about the word microton=
e?

<By Mr. Wolf's definition, and that of the early 20th Century Harvard
<Dictionary of Music, Egyptian music is not microtonal. And the flute is =
a
<woodwind made exclusively with metal.

No. By Mr. Reinhard's definition, Egyptian music (and I must wonder
what exactly he means here - modern Arabic popular music from Egypt?
Coptic Church Music? Muezzin calls?) would be ''microtonal'', and since,
according to his definition above ''microtonal'' equals ''insignificant''=
,
Mr.
Reinhard would call Egyptian music insignificant. I am unable to refer to=

the Harvard dictionary, but I find much music made in Egypt to be
significant,
and often significant precisely because the pitch content is both
interesting
and beautiful. And while I cannot recall melodic use of microtones (the
Muezzin calls aside; the faithfull would not consider this to be ''music'=
'
in
the first place!), I have often heard intervals used that differ from
diatonic
pythagorean intervals by microtones, thus the music can be heard as havin=
g
a microtonal dimension, and quite possibly one that goes back to the
chromatic and enharmonic genera of the ancient mediterranean. =


As to metal flutes, I cannot follow Reinhard's comment at all: perhaps he=

would like to hold me responsible for all of the errors in the Harvard
dictionary, a curious burden as (1) the book was written before my birth
and
(2) is named for an institution I have never even visited. For the record=
,
though, I played baroque flute some years ago, and the only metal on it
was on the single key; one of the flutists playing in my recent orchestra=

piece
used a beautiful modern instrument with an ebony body.   =


SMTPOriginator:  tuning@eartha.mills.edu
From:  mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison) 
Subject:  Re: Tape Swap release
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