source file: mills3.txt Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 22:34:38 +0100 Subject: Personalia From: Gregg Gibson Tuning and temperament do not amount to tinkering with some new tuning chosen at random, seeing if one likes it (one nearly always does, especially if a friend has invented it) and then spreading round a little flattery of oneself and others. There is nothing profoundly wrong with this, as a harmless hobby ? it indicates a much more sympathetic nature than the typical musician or composer, who simply does as he is told, with the materials somebody assigns to him from on high. But much deeper issues are involved in temperament and tuning; I have tried to delve into some of these, I think with considerable success. If this makes me an obnoxious bore with delusions of grandeur, it is the penalty to be paid for being really fascinated with the subject at hand, and willing to take it seriously enough to give it serious thought. Apparently my comments about the rather evident failings of modern Western academic musicians have been interpreted by a few as the ravings of an uncultured brute. There is definitely such an animal; there is also such a thing as an academic poseur devoid of true knowledge or even real interest in his subject, who delights in producing 'music' that he himself knows to be one vast practical joke. I touch on these matters only as they relate directly to tuning matters; I have no inclination to examine all music here. To observe that we live in a very strange musical culture, where elaborately-trained composers produce almost nothing that the masses want to hear, whereas the masses _did_ want to hear a Mozart or a Beethoven or a Tchaikovsky, is not meant to insult anyone; it is to state a fact. The noted music critic Henry Pleasants published several good books on this subject. Now the masses prefer rock music. It should be a matter of personal survival for academic musicians to inquire why. For ultimately, the cozy little academic world, with all its fine people making real, precious contributions (one thinks of the scholars who have revived Renaissance polyphony) depends on popular confidence and respect for its existence. A century ago the music of the social elite differed from popular music only in being more elaborate, but now it differs fundamentally. Go into a typical university music library. You will see tens of thousands of titles, but no more than a few dozen that study why Western music has so dramatically split into two essentially alien traditions. Tuning and temperament have some small part in this, and it is fully justified to examine such questions here, insofar as they relate to the choice of a tuning. This developing musical civil war within our culture does definitely relate to our intonational habits and choices. Finally, I do hope that the mere length of my posts is not offensive. On some of the musical lists I have read it is not uncommon to find a professor going on for 30 closely-typed pages. I have done nothing like this, keeping in mind the words Tuning 'Digest'. When I meet a crank or a bore, I usually ignore the rubbish, and try to learn something. Usually even the silliest people know at least _something_ that I do not know, and would never have known on my own. At the least they often provoke me to think ? as I have certainly done for several of the people here who profess to dislike my conclusions the most. SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: "Paul H. Erlich" Subject: Reply to R. C. Valentine PostedDate: 23-12-97 22:44:10 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: 23-12-97 22:42:00-23-12-97 22:42:00,23-12-97 22:41:31-23-12-97 22:41:31 DeliveredDate: 23-12-97 22:41:31 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 C1256576.007730BE; Tue, 23 Dec 1997 22:43:49 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA24466; Tue, 23 Dec 1997 22:44:10 +0100 Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 22:44:10 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA24704 Received: (qmail 5990 invoked from network); 23 Dec 1997 13:44:04 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 23 Dec 1997 13:44:04 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu