source file: m1524.txt Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 13:03:32 EDT Subject: Re: David Finnamore's tunings From: DFinnamore@aol.com In response to my questions about her version of a neo-Gothic tuning, and about how to distinguish between diatonic and chromatic intervals in a 12-tone tuning, Margo Schulter wrote: >I followed the usual Gothic rule that small >semitones should be placed at diatonic locations, that is, where mi-fa >or fa-mi would be sung: e.g. a-bb, eb-d, f#-g, c#-d, g#-a. Here I take >the small 21:20 semitone as the counterpart of the usual limma >(256:243, which occurs at e-f and b-c'), and accordingly place it at >these locations. Note that "diatonic" semitones in this sense may be >defined by the rule that a flat tends to descend, and a sharp to >ascend. If I'm not mistaken, that would only apply if c were assumed to be the starting place of the tuning. If any tone of the 12-tone tuning might be chosen as the first tone of a scale then that could change which (absolute) tones were considered which type, right? Perhaps that's one place that my approach deviates from the Gothic. Still, the tuning you originally specified has some real merit, and could never be achieved using my methods. I really like the idea of the 17-tone tuning you proposed, which should allow both approaches. Though my keyboard's tuning table only handles 12 tones, I might be able to visualize a fantasy harp with 17 strings to the octave and compose for it under the assumption that no more than 12 tones would be used in any given composition. Thanks for fully answering my questions, and for yet another brilliant analysis! David J. Finnamore