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Re: "Old Starrish"

From:Garth Wallace <gwalla@...>
Date:Tuesday, February 11, 2003, 18:18
Rachel Klippenstein wrote:
> --- Fredrik Ekman <ekman@...> wrote: > > [R]achel Klippenstein wrote: > >>By the way, what is your own musical background? > > > I have played violin for about 12 years, played in > community orchestras and sung in a good childrens > choir until I entered busy university life. My music > theory is not bad, but terribly advanced, though. I > know what different chords and scales etc. are, but I > don't know any of the principles for combining them. > > >>One interesting question is whether your scale is >>absolute or relative. In >>other words, does a given vowel always map to the >>exact same wave-length, >>or is it decided by the context (ie can the same >>message be conveyed in a >>different key)? How are octaves handled? What about >>"speakers" who have >>different vocal pitch (women/men/children)? > > > I was thinking that each vowel would be associated to > a specific note-name (in our system), like C or > B-flat, and that people with different voice-ranges > would use a note with that name that was comfortable > to their voice range. I toyed around with the idea of > a relative scale, and decided that the problem with it > would be that different vowel sequences that > represented the same intervals could then correspond > to exactly the same tone sequences, if the speakers > decided to start them on the same note.
So they use the Western European equal-tempered chromatic scale?
>>To me, the most difficult obstacle would seem to be >>to accomplish a >>language that is at the same time not too limited in >>its range of possible >>expressions, while still producing reasonably >>melodious "words". How, for >>instance, would you avoid tritones and other >>difficult intervals? > > > So, this is one of the issues that makes the specifics > of the vowel system a daunting task, so that I am > probably going to work out the specifics of the > consonant system out before tackling the vowel system. > I have a few ideas, but they need a lots of work. > > Maybe you could help me with one thing: I don't know > specifically which intervals are awkward, and I don't > know how one would look it up. Also, what is a > tritone? (Oh, probably an interval of three whole > tones, right?)
Right, an augmented fourth. They're notoriously hard to sing in tune.