The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #58162 Message #919832
Posted By: M.Ted
27-Mar-03 - 01:17 PM
Thread Name: Neuro-physiology and music structures
Subject: RE: Neuro-physiology and music structures
Only thing, Pied Pieper, is that these intervals are far from universally used--even in western music-- the system of scales and harmonies that we use,would actually be impossible if we adhered to pitches that were derived from those ratios--
In Turkish classical music, fretted instruments traditionally had moveable frets, allowing each musician to alter scale intervals to his/her own taste--Not surprisingly, each musicians used a different pitch for the same scale note--Even the octave wasn't universal--some makams use an octave that is as much as a half step shy shy of where it would fall harmonically--
Then of course, there are musical traditions that only vary rhythm, and don't differentiate pitches at all--
Fortunately, although the underlying structures of music continue to elude scientists, composers and muscians have understood them since the beginning of time--