source file: mills3.txt Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 20:41:48 +0200 Subject: FIVE, ALL THE MUSIC IS MICROTONAL From: Eduardo Sabat FIVE ALL THE MUSIC IS MICROTONAL TD 1187 ) Where is the 12 ? 1192, 1194, 1201, 1206 ) Musical writing ) Harmonics (Carl Lumma) 1188 ) Just listen (Marion) 1188 ) More than 12 ) Sound Spectrum continuum (Hstick) 1205 ) Cross-cultural (J. Reinhard) 1198, 1203 ) Piano's Tuning ) Microtonal Architecture (J. Szanto) 1197 - Myriad of both tunings and styles (J. Reinhard) 1201 - Xenharmonic music (John Chalmers) 1206 Tuning digest 1210, Gordon Collins wrote : > I suspect that the problem with the word "microtone" is that it has been > applied to tunings far removed from the context of its invention. Didn't > the word come out of early 20th-century experiments with 24TET, 96TET, > and other tunings that were derived by subdividing 12TET? Its meaning > seems clear in that context. Yes. Many years ago, when I went to the fonts which I was able to get to, I was surprised about the intention of the word "microtone". Carrillo simply divided the "tone" in "parts" (4, 8, 16, 32) and he didn't make a substancial relation with harmonics. More yet, Carrillo denied the 53 (I have got a 1938 article of him) although Novaro claimed for it, as I do. Some years before Carrillo, Ellis promoted the "Cents" (Ordinal number for any interval of the 1200 that there are in the 1200 root of 2 scale) as a way to yardstick the intervals. He mesures any interval with a proposed smallest one. I began my studies on the numbers for intonation in the'70's and I rediscovered the skhisma that I coined as "Musical Atom". Well, I am a chemist and such a name has its deep origins in my mind. In those times I had the hope that this microtone would divide exactly the intervals. Really it only divide exactly the Pith. comma (12.0 Musical Atoms) and 81/80 (11.0). The fanny thing is that Siemen Terpstra (Holand), whom I didn't know, last year has reported to me that in the '70's he also claims for the expression "Musical Atom" instead of Skhisma. He also worked on 53 and had a 53 electric slide guitar made. He also claims that the use of our Musical Atom is a Harmonic-related microtone to yardstick the intervals and in this sence this is better than Ellis proposal. I chose (for the 3 and 5 options) 1/9 of a musical atom as the better microtone to minimize the fifth. At that time I didn't know Helmholtz nor Ellis. Helmholtz hierarchisizes the 5/4 using the 1/8 of a skhisma and I use 1/9 of the musical atom for 5/3 due to the simple reason that 5/3 is better than 5/4. Eduardo -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eduardo Sabat-Garibaldi e-mail : esabat@adinet.com.uy Home: Simon Bolivar 1260 Office FAX-Phone : 598 2 900353 11300 Montevideo Home Phone : 598 2 780952 Uruguay