Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!elbereth.rutgers.edu!cornicel From: cornicel@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Cornicello) Newsgroups: comp.music Subject: Re: Eliminating the octave [Re: spectral composition] Keywords: Intonation systems, octaves, pianos Message-ID: Date: 31 Oct 89 01:25:19 GMT References: <6066@merlin.usc.edu> <3007@husc6.harvard.edu> Reply-To: cornicel@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Cornicello) Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 46 In article <3007@husc6.harvard.edu> elkies@brauer.harvard.edu (Noam Elkies) writes: > >I take it that you mean eliminating the 2:1 octave as the basis of tuning, >not eliminating octaves in scores (as some dialects of serial music do). I am not aware of this, but I guess this would involve octave non-equivilence and the use of something like 72-note rows. Interesting.... >But of course all this still amounts to a tuning system anchored on the >octave. Before rushing to dethrone the octave, though, consider this: >While the initial rationale for octave-based tuning may have been no more >than numerology and arbitrary mysticism, such tuning had profound implications >for Western music which took ages to work out anywhere near completely. >Anybody have a few centuries to spare on a tuning system based on alternating >Golden Ratios and the square root of pi? Remember to take out a few decades >from composition to creating the new instruments and musical training that >this would require. :-) :-) I'm not out to kill the octave. It is a good placeholder. Seriously, the music that I write is for standard instruments using standard tuning. I have recently been doing some research in computer music, and I thought it would be a interesting concept to use all availible frequencies with some degree of organization. Perhaps using a multi-octave span to deliniate the range would be interesting. For instance, a 5-octave span that is divided in a way to avoid internal octaves. Of course, I would only be using this system on a computer, using something like cmusic. ====================================================== | "Klingon wessels approaching, Kepten!" | | "Dammit Jim, if those men die, they'll | | never live again!!!" | |____________________________________________________| | Anthony Cornicello - Society for Silly Quotes | | cornicel@rutgers.elbereth.edu | ======================================================