source file: m1366.txt Date: Fri, 27 Mar 98 19:49:57 +0530 Subject: Re:microtonality in popular music From: steele OK,I'm a bit late with my two cents,but....... Regarding what's been written by Johnny Reinhard and others about the faint,but looming spectre of microtonality in popular music: Firstly I 've thought of it as somewhat inevitable (when is the last time you heard an original ,as in never heard before,melody/harmony on the radio or on ,ye gads,TV? A casual listen to the things being released today show (to me anyway)a rising desperation.The 'Jungle/Drum&Bass' scene seems to me to be a natural result of the impossibility of writing a 'new' song in 12 TET. But my main reason for writing (other than the fact that I'm a beginner ,ergo more of a list voyeur)is this: microtonal/Xenharmonic music is not something one can pretend to be competent/good at (no pseudo-blues pentatonic riffs,or (why do they call it that) licks).Therefore the obvious solution will be algorithmic generation of musical parts (a tech-nerd version of auto-accompaniment),sample CD-ROMs (not multi-samples,but actual performances,ala those George Clinton collections),etc.We'll all be in trouble.I'd hate to hear a Partch/Darreg/etc. sample on Will Smith's latest "Cashing in on M.I.B.&ID4" ditty ,or aimless arpeggio-type patterns driving some dance music craze (the commercial music business is good at messing up a good thing,look what happened to 'Jungle/Drum&Bass') Something to mull over ? Of course,feel free to disagree,call me an idiot, and get on with you buisness. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Drew Yves Skyfyre,neophyte microtonal computer musician and afficionado of the avant-garde.Goa,India. e-mail: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - "Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air."-Sylvia Plath "Do the Monkey with me."-Johnny Bravo on the Cartoon Network. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -