source file: mills3.txt Date: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 14:35:17 +0100 Subject: Re: 31-tone equal melodic progression From: gbreed@cix.compulink.co.uk (Graham Breed) Gregg Gibson wrote >Graham Breed wrote: >> So, the melody C-D-Dbb-Cx-Dbb-Cx-Dbb-D is the same as C-D-C-D-C-D-C-D? >> You don't hear the interval Dbb-Cx as a semitone? > >This melody (if this can be called a melody, and not a purely >spoken-language progression) would indeed be heard, played in 31-tone >equal as a slightly out-of-tune C-D-C-D-C-D-C-D. The semitone between >Dbb and Cx would be heard as a semitone indeed, but you are assuming >that the listener would be able to hold in his mind two different tonal >centres through a long sequence of tonally unrelated pitches, which is >very dubious. To my own ears this sequence sounds simply like the tonal >progression C-D-C-D etc, but badly out of tune. The point is that altering each note by less than a limen changes the interval between the notes by more than a limen. Tonality is irrelevant to this motif. In a real composition, I expect the Dbb and Cx would be ornaments to the "real" tune. It is an example of the sort of trick you can play in temperaments like 31 equal. With sound chord progressions, you can get away with quite a lot. I'm assuming a listener will recogise the final D as being the same note as the first one. The ornamental notes add colour to the motif. The semitone interval is, at least unconciously, perceptible. So, these don't sound out of tune with each other if you play them fast enough. As a result, the whole thing sounds more interesting than it would in 12 or 19 equal. If you analyse it in terms of melodic limen, though, it is perplexing. >Question: can you _sing_ this progression... accurately? No. SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: gbreed@cix.compulink.co.uk (Graham Breed) Subject: Re: septimal intervals PostedDate: 13-12-97 14:37:00 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: 13-12-97 14:34:59-13-12-97 14:35:00,13-12-97 14:34:42-13-12-97 14:34:43 DeliveredDate: 13-12-97 14:34:43 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 C125656C.004A9C1A; Sat, 13 Dec 1997 14:36:52 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA14478; Sat, 13 Dec 1997 14:37:00 +0100 Date: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 14:37:00 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA13833 Received: (qmail 4184 invoked from network); 13 Dec 1997 05:35:30 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 13 Dec 1997 05:35:30 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu