source file: m1442.txt
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 11:48:16 -0400

Subject: TUNING digest 1441

From: Daniel Wolf <DJWOLF_MATERIAL@compuserve.com>

Paul Erlich wrote:

<You've talked specifically about one kind of consonance and one kind of
<dissonance. What are the two kinds of dissonance you are thinking of? (I=

<think I may be able to offer some answers once I'm sure what you mean).

The consonance and dissonance pair occurs in the dialogue to which I was
responding.

The two types of dissonance I refer to are (1) dissonances as classes of
intervals independent of the exact intonation and (2) dissonances perceiv=
ed
on the basis of the exact intonation. Classical theories of voice leading=

are based on the first idea of dissonance and are generally independent o=
f
the exact intonation. The second is, classically, a matter of performance=

practice and involves some tolerance mechanism.

I have had a recent concrete experience with this. I tuned a piano to mat=
ch
pitches on a gamelan set. My slendro features fifths of 713.25 cents whil=
e
the (Javanese) pelog happens to have an interval in the middle c octave
that is within a cent of a 11/9. While entirely acceptable on the gamelan=

instruments, I find the wide fifths to be dissonant in the extreme on the=

piano while the 11/9 was relatively smooth, indeed, consonant (and
extremely easy to tune by ear). The wide fifths are unmistakeably members=

of the interval class of 'fifths', but have been mistuned enough so that
the beating is rough and sounds dissonant, while the 11/9, clearly in tha=
t
interval class of 'neutral thirds' which should be dissonant is a perfect=
ly
useful consonance on the piano as well as in the (spectrally wild and
non-uniform) gamelan. =


Paul Erlich also wrote:

< But the simplest interval between the 9/8 and
<the 10/9 is the 19/17 and conditions are rarely sufficient for hearing
<the 19-limit.

Could you give us the condensed version of why 19/17 should be simpler th=
an
11/9?  I find an 11/9 much more easy to tune than a 19/17 whether with
oscillators or strings.