source file: mills3.txt Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 18:54:34 +0100 Subject: Woodwind etc From: "Patrick Ozzard-Low" Dear Tuning, Daniel Wolf wrote: > Ann La Berge (recordings and scores available form Frog Peak Music). She > has taken advantage of the fact that using a flute designed for 12tet to > play in another intonation Yes, you're right about this. But I've had some email correspondence recently with Anne about playing the Kingma flute, which she now uses. Although, as she says, this instrument is not what one might call a 24-ET instrument, it is specifically built, as a 'quarter-tone' flute, using Eva Kingma's key-on-key mechanism. To my knowledge this is the only specifically designed non-12-ET commercially avaliable professional concert woodwind. It is certainly advertised by Osten-Brannen as the world's first 'fully quarter-tone flute'. Carl wrote: > Certain people seem to be making the assumption that > certain woodwind and brass instruments are designed to play in 12 > equal. This is not the case. (If they were, the designer's didn't > do so hot). Well, different manufacturers do different things. Look for example at O. Lee Gibson's book called 'Clarinet Acoustics' to see the extent of these differences. Two points on this are very important. Firstly, as Johnny Reinhard rightly points out, woodwind and brasswind are instruments of semi-variable intonation. (ie., they are not of fixed intonation, like the piano, nor are they without a mechanism which encourages discrete steps, like the violin). Woodwind performers instinctively adjust pitch as a matter of course, in all music. Secondly, manufacturers do go to some lengths the make their instruments so that the scale is correct, and as near as identical as possible on every instance of the same model. What a manufacturer considers 'correct' may vary very slightly. But in general, it seems that much effort is put into actually 'centering' the resultant pitches which arise, by equalling out factors of breath pressure in tests etc . And the 'model' is certainly 12-ET. If this were not the case, there would hardly be so much mathematical theory for woodwind tone-hole design (even if, it won't necessarily give the right results!!), nor computer programs for same. Hstick wrote: > Also, I totally agree with Reinhard that if "microtonality" had been > taught in our schools all along, it would be much more accepted now. I > have found, in fact, that once you let people know that there even IS > such a thing as other tunings, the rest isn't so hard. I agree with this point entirely - although I didn't think it was the point Johnny was making. I thought he was saying that if microtonality was taught properly, then musicians would be able to play accurately in alternative tuning systems on conventional instruments anyway, and therefore new instruments are unnecessary. Did I misunderstand? Patrick Ozzard-Low SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: "Paul H. Erlich" Subject: RE: The severity of scale PostedDate: 20-11-97 20:54:36 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $MessageStorage: 0 $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: 20-11-97 20:53:14-20-11-97 20:53:15,20-11-97 20:53:21-20-11-97 20:53:22 DeliveredDate: 20-11-97 20:53:22 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2 9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C1256555.006D3A39; Thu, 20 Nov 1997 20:53:03 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA04209; Thu, 20 Nov 1997 20:54:36 +0100 Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 20:54:36 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA04207 Received: (qmail 8595 invoked from network); 20 Nov 1997 11:54:32 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 20 Nov 1997 11:54:32 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu