source file: m1449.txt
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 16:20:38 -0400

Subject: RE: magic chord, reply to Graham Breed

From: "Paul H. Erlich" <PErlich@Acadian-Asset.com>

>>In this context, yes. The 5/4 is by far the strongest interpretation
of
>>the 4deg12 interval, while the 9/8 and 10/9 have nearly equal claims
to
>>the 5deg31 interval.

>This is the point I disagree with.  You seem to be saying that the
>closeness to 10/9 makes the tone more dissonant.  I say it is the
amount
>by which it deviates from 9/8 that is important.

Do you think a 10/9 gets more dissonant if you start it in just
intonation and make it sharper and sharper? Answer this question for the
interval by itself, and also for the interval with the root (1) added.
For the interval alone, is there a point where is starts to sound like a
flat 9/8 and then gets more and more consonant until you hit 9/8?

Notice that I would say that 9/4 has a much stronger claim to the
36deg31 interval than 20/9, because of the denominator (or numerator)
rule.

I'd love to discuss everything else you wrote, but I think you and I are
developing some of the lower-level stuff off the list, and the more it
informs our discussion, the more others are likely to be confused. So
why don't we take it off the list for a while and maybe come back when
we can make some definitive conclusions.