>>> howard posner <[email protected]> 9/29/2009 12:46 AM >>> On Sep 28, 2009, at 9:01 PM, Christopher Stetson wrote: > My question (not answered in the book): In which traditional scale > does someone from, for example, Java have AP (or PP); slendro (5 > unequally "spaced" tones to the octave), pelog (seven equally > spaced > tones), or both? I wish someone would study this outside of the > Euro-American tonal system while there's still time. Think of AP as pitch memory and the question answers itself. You remember the pitch you're exposed to. Someone in the rec. music.early group wrote about relearning his absolute pitch when he was exposed to pitches other than 440. --
Yes, exactly, Howard, and that's why I think AP is just that, mixed with benign, un-thought-out cultural chauvinism. However, and I confess I don't remember the details, some researchers seem to think that there is an absolute pitch independent of memory. The problem with that, as we both realize, is that it presupposes something like a Platonic Ideal of A at 440 imbedded in our synapses. Also, the Javanese example is especially interesting, in that the microtonal attributes of either scale, which are fixed in the bronze of the keys of the gamelan sets, vary relatively widely from location to location, and even within instrument sets in the same location. Two other interesting things: it appears that most people internalize their native musical scale at around 9 months, the same time you internalize the phoneme set of your native language. And most people form their musical taste at around 13, just when it's an important group identifier, and have very little desire or, it appears, even ability, to appreciate musics outside of those preferences. Probably not coincidentally, the same time that 95% of people lose the ability to acquire a new language with something approaching a native accent. Anyway, fascinating, at least for me, if fairly blatantly OT for the lute list. Best, and keep playing. Chris. To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute
