source file: mills3.txt Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 06:18:55 +0100 Subject: Comments to Andrew Kaye From: Gregg Gibson Thanks for the kind words. I have so many ideas that some of them have to be right. I don't think there's much danger of 19-tone tyrannizing over music any time soon, given the immense problems in the way of redesigning instruments, etc and the inertia of the music world. Still, I honestly think the 12-tone equal will continue its miserable progress unless someone finds some alternate 'tyranny'. Think of it as giving an American president dictatorial powers so he can fight a Hitler or a Stalin. Also, I've noticed that quite a few of the microtonalists get very uneasy if someone points out the rather evident deficiencies of 12-tone equal - apparently they want to be very daring and all, and play around with something that makes the dog howl like 13-tone equal or whatever, but when the crunch comes, it's back to the aweful, beloved 12 tones. My favorite example is that theorist - who shall be nameless - who examined hundreds of equal temperaments, then twisted himself into knots to find some mathematical wil-o'-the-wisp (the 45th partial or whatever) that would let him triumphantly announce that 12-tone equal was amazingly special after all! You are right that rock music uses all kinds of intonations. But I have been able to notate the rock melodies I hear much better in 19-tone than in any other system I've tried. Not that I've notated hundreds of them or anything - life just isn't long enough to do everything I ought to do. It always annoys me when I see some piece of non-Western vocal music notated in 12-tone equal - I _know_ the result is just a travesty of the original. SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: "Bob Lee" Subject: Steel guitarists' tuning names PostedDate: 18-12-97 07:01:13 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: 18-12-97 06:59:10-18-12-97 06:59:11,18-12-97 06:58:48-18-12-97 06:58:49 DeliveredDate: 18-12-97 06:58:49 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 C1256571.0020DEEA; Thu, 18 Dec 1997 07:00:58 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA18690; Thu, 18 Dec 1997 07:01:13 +0100 Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 07:01:13 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA18685 Received: (qmail 23495 invoked from network); 17 Dec 1997 22:01:10 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 17 Dec 1997 22:01:10 -0800 Message-Id: <01bd0b77$01c148e0$675e04c7@default> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu