source file: m1573.txt
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 16:52:27 -0500

Subject: Consonance definitions

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

Firstly, sorry about that accidental post!

Daniel Wolf wrote:

>Paul Erlich wrote:

><Consonance is not a mathematical phenomenon, it is a
><psychoacoustic one.

>This is also incorrect. Consonance is a music-theoretic phenomenon,
>culturally or individually determined, and a highly contextual one at
tha=
>t.

I did try to make the point about context in my original post, in
talking about dissonant octaves and diminished fourths. Perhaps the
statement Daniel quoted above should be changed to:

"Consonance is not a mathematical phenomenon; at best, it is a
psychoacoustic one" (that is, the aspects of consonance that lend
themselves most directly to mathematical modelling are the
psychoacoustic ones.)