source file: m1603.txt
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 15:38:01 -0500

Subject: early music and tuning

From: Daniel Wolf <DJWOLF_MATERIAL@compuserve.com>

Judith Conrad wrote:

"Given that just about all good players of early keyboards in the modern
world do their own tuning, it's not relevant to the question of clavichor=
d
performance."

This is a point that should be repeated more often. The early music
community has been intensely engaged with questions of intonation, at lea=
st
since Wesley Kuhnle's pioneering efforts in the 1950's. Although Kuhnle w=
as
himself close to some important figures in new music (Peter Yates, Henry
Cowell, Richard Buehlig), the serious contact between the early and new
music scenes has generally been limited, even when they have been engaged=

in closely related themes. Douglas Leedy should be mentioned in the
context, as not only an extraordinary composer in both Just intonation an=
d
mean- and well-temperaments, but also as an important performer of early
music.   =


Ms. Conrad continued:

"But I would submit that the creation of eletronic tuning
gadgets has desensitised some speculators in the field of tuning, from
listening to the actual sounds in front of them. Funniest amplitude
envelope indeed! That's music we're talking about. Bah!"

Lou Harrison's advice

"To learn to tune & recognize intervals you had best go to a country, qui=
et
place for a while. When your ears have recovered their powers & are usabl=
e
again, begin to tune the simplest ratios on some suitable instrument.
Gradually add the higher intervals to your knowledge, & various inversion=
s
as these may appear in modes or other formations..."

is appropriate here, to which I would add the recommendation to do as muc=
h
vocally as possible.

As much as I love all the electronic toys around the house (tuners, synth=
s,
sound cards et al), there is really no substitute for the experience of
tuning an interval in real time. =