source file: mills3.txt Date: Sat, 20 Dec 1997 18:57:45 +0100 Subject: Miscaline From: Carl Lumma >Thanks for the thanks Neil, but I'll definitely say that helping to get >"Acoustic Stick" out was well worth it! I'm giving several copies for >Christmas. Thanks for help getting Acoustic Stick out, Gary! >And when it comes to microtonal Christmas CDs, another good possibility >would be Rod Poole's CD. And of course I wouldn't forget Easley >Blackwood's classic. Rod Poole's CD I don't know. Just released is a digitally re-mastered CD of Blackwoods "12 Microtonal Etudes" and his guitar suite. Only $11 from EMF... (888)749-9998 ..Needless to say, it's a Good'n! >I have never much cared for the music of Partch. He apparently possessed >some talent, almost wholly vitiated by his perfectly absurd tuning. This >is, by the way, the response of the overwhelming majority of people who >have ever heard Partch's music. If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do Humanists eat? >To me, it's no big secret what the great Indian and Arabic (and >other) masters of music do...they play the intervals that create deep and >profound states of consciousness. I don't think they limit themselves to >12 or 19 or 31 or 53 notes...they try to hit the right spot in the >continuum to say what must be said. Then, the theorists spend years >trying to explain what happened...and that's ok, but it isn't IT. And, I >believe that many of these masters are keeping pretty quiet about the >secrets of tunings because they are concerned about the misuse of this >knowledge. It's no accident that there are very few written words from >the great practitioners of Indian music on the true nature of ratios and >their deep meanings. Denny once told me of how these guys would take the Indian musican to the lab, to try to measure what he played or sang. He would play one thing until they thought they had it, and then he would change what he was playing without telling them to throw them off! Gee, it was funny when Denny told it. Oh well, I guess you had to be there. >To endlessly talk of beats and waves and ratios can get a bit >wearying...and, to try and say one tuning is "THE TUNING" is no different >than trying to say one style of music is superior to all others. Of >course, it surprises me not that some folks do try to assert dominance in >this fashion. In fact, that attitude is definitely a big part of the >European way of life, but it's old and stinky. I call it musical racism, >and it is very ugly to me. I say let's play with the great resources >we've been given, and try to do something wonderful with them. Let's >don't try and limit the myriad ways in which we can create with the >zillions of sounds and frequencies all around us...even the ones we can't >"hear" (because even these exist, and may have musical uses that we >cannot yet understand). Bickering and pettyness are a waste of >time...maybe the forum needs to get on with more important >issues...Hstick The state of the forum has caused in me some wierd feelings lately too. I find myself wanting to do the old and stinky thing myself. But I try to keep it constructive. The recent discussion aside, there's always been the part of me that gets fed up with all the talkin'. That's why there's playin'. Carl SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: Carl Lumma Subject: Reading this post will make you happy PostedDate: 20-12-97 18:58:21 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: 20-12-97 18:56:15-20-12-97 18:56:16,20-12-97 18:55:50-20-12-97 18:55:51 DeliveredDate: 20-12-97 18:55:51 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 C1256573.006285B1; Sat, 20 Dec 1997 18:58:03 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA22754; Sat, 20 Dec 1997 18:58:21 +0100 Date: Sat, 20 Dec 1997 18:58:21 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA22740 Received: (qmail 575 invoked from network); 20 Dec 1997 09:57:37 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 20 Dec 1997 09:57:37 -0800 Message-Id: <19971220175529765.AAA206@ascend530.nni.com> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu