source file: m1565.txt
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 20:08:31 -0800

Subject: Re: Prime effect/ affect

From: monz@juno.com

Daniel Wolf wrote:

> I am struck that one confusing aspect of the question
> of prime affects is that primes seven to 23 appear
> near scalar positions in the most familar tunings
> which already bear very strong associations (e.g.
> 11 first appears close to the augmented fourth).
> While it is possible that these associations in the
> familar tunings are due themselves to proximity 
> to these very prime ratios, it is probably impossible
> to determine the direction of causality. This confusion
> does, however, suggest that to a large degree interval
> affect is independent of the actual intonation.

This point was one that I found very intriguing.  I have
stated, along with many others, that each prime in musical
ratios seems to embody a unique dimension in both sound
and feeling, and that those affects, at least for the
smallest primes and smallest exponents, are quite distinct.
As with Young, however, I have been hesitant to describe 
those "feelings" with any kind of exactitude, at least
beyond the usual descriptions of "3 = power" and
"5 = sweetness".

Wolf's questioning of the possibility of determining the
"direction of causality" got me thinking about even *those*
rudimentary associations.  Could it be that even the
association of sweetness with 5 comes about because of
our innate comparison of the 5/4 "major 3rd" with the
much more dissonant 81/64, which has both historical and
prime-series priority as a 3-Limit ratio?  I think it's
quite possible.

- Joe Monzo
  monz@juno.com
  http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html

___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]