source file: mills3.txt Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 09:52:44 +0100 Subject: next step in tunings From: Aline Surman My personal wish is that there is no new tuning to replace 12eq...then, we'll eventually be in the same dead end we're in now. My dream would be that people are taught the basic principles of what a tuning system is all about, starting with the importance of the harmonic series; then, they can decide what tuning system fits their needs. My friend Dan Stearns is a monster guitarist/composer, who uses 20 eq to great advantage; Mayumi Reinhard has a beautiful system based around the 13th harmonic and it's sounds; John Schneider uses a 12 tone purely tuned system, and I know there are many, many more. I can see no reason why any of these systems should predominate over any other. Each system has advantages and possible disadvantages...one is not "better" than another. I cannot even think that way anymore...I use 19 and 34 eq now, but plan to try many other systems as time goes by...I am sure that each different tuning will offer it's own surprises, and will stimulate me to ever new and intriguing compositional/technical concepts. Of course, I also realize that most musicians, even monster players, will have a hard enough time with even one tuning, much less many...humans seem to like security, even if it is a false security. So, in that regard, I can see that calling for a single new system to replace 12 could have supporters. But, I have also found that once one understands the underlying principles behind what a tuning is in the first place, switching between them is not such a big deal. I saw a guitar student at Schneider's masterclass in Denver recently play Bach on John's purely tuned axe, and it sounded killer. I believe that if I had axcess to various guitars, refretted to whatever tuning, that I could get around on them pretty quickly and begin playing real music. Again, it's the underlying principles of tunings that's the issue, not whether one is better than the other. In the same vein, I see no inherent superiority between different styles of music...jazz, flamenco, rock, blues, whatever...all are languages, which SAY something, and because you can play one style well, that does NOT necessarily mean that you can play any other. So, which style is "better" in this case? A great blues musician is surely the equal of a great flamenco player is the equal of a great country player, Middle Eastern, and on and on...it's an old arguement, and one which I resolved in my mind many years ago. I feel the exact same way about tunings ...a tuning allows some sort of expression, and that's all it does. To paraphrase an old proverb, the man makes the tuning, the tuning does not make the man...Hstick SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison) Subject: Re: various PostedDate: 25-11-97 14:00:35 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: 25-11-97 13:59:06-25-11-97 13:59:07,25-11-97 13:59:08-25-11-97 13:59:08 DeliveredDate: 25-11-97 13:59:08 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 C125655A.004750A6; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:58:57 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA01835; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 14:00:35 +0100 Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 14:00:35 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA01833 Received: (qmail 4906 invoked from network); 25 Nov 1997 05:00:13 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 25 Nov 1997 05:00:13 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu