Klarinet Archive - Posting 000656.txt from 2003/03

From: b1rite@-----. Rite)
Subj: [kl] Eastern notation (was: Key signatures)
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 17:59:35 -0500

<><> Peter=A0Jaques wrote:
[snip of informative stuff - thank you]

Peter, since obviously you are well-informed, may I revive a previous
but related topic --- namely, metaphors for timbre (tone, sound
character)?

As you probably know, there has been much discussion on this list about
the words 'dark' and 'bright' --- including whether they mean anything
at all.

Ravi Shankar will be performing in my town in a "sitting room" format in
a few months, and I am hoping to ask him how Indian musicians describe a
sound's timbre (and I *do* understand that Arabic/Turkish is a different
culture than Indian). My questions may be more meaningful if I have
some knowledge in advance.

It occurs to me that when musicians begin to erase the typical
'black-and-white' Western definitions of 'in tune' and 'on key', and to
encourage microtones, this also begins to erase the boundaries between
'pitch' and 'timbre'.

(Perhaps this is why Western terminology uses the word 'microtone'
rather than 'micropitch'? When is a tone a pitch?)

....anyway, is there anything that you care to say about the words used
to describe 'sound character' or 'timbre' or 'tone' in Eastern music?

Thank you,
Bill

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