Re: Pitch learning

[Martin Braun <nombraun@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Pierre and others,

> During my studies some time ago I read in a respected source that there 
> are gamelans in which even the octave is missing.

There must have been a misunderstanding in this. A gamelan ensemble without 
the octave as the backbone of all tuning is a red herring. What occurs are 
deviations from the mathematically exact octave, up to about +/- 30 Cent. In 
some gamelan cultures, such as in Bali, octave deviations are tuned on 
purpose to reach a shimmering sound caused by the "beats" resulting from 
this tuning practice.

We should also note that all gamelan scales that have ever been found are 
fairly well understood in terms of physics and hearing physiology. Not much 
mystery here.

Martin

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Martin Braun
Neuroscience of Music
S-671 95 Klässbol
Sweden
web site: http://w1.570.telia.com/~u57011259/index.htm



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pierre Divenyi" <pdivenyi@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 6:49 AM
Subject: Re: Pitch learning


> I think that the most challenging instrument to any pitch theories is the 
> gamelan ensemble: partials produced by each metal bloc are inharmonic and 
> the (supposed) fundamental frequencies of the bloc series define an 
> inharmonic scale that varies from gamelan to gamelan, except that they 
> never include simple harmonic ratios. During my studies some time ago I 
> read in a respected source that there are gamelans in which even the octave 
> is missing.
>
> Pierre