Hello,
Am 10.02.2008 um 21:03 schrieb Colin:
We must also remember that the further back we go, the more
variation there must be.
What is the earliest "tuning fork", for instance?
What did they tune their instruments against before something like
that was invented?
Was a "standard tone" around somewhere (like the UK has weights and
measures held by the state against which all other weights and
measures are set).
I do not know but I think these questions are modern, they wont help
with medieval music. To show the problem there is an example I
learned, about string making:
Before the 1600s there were no tools we know of to measure the
diameter of thin wires. So music scientists did not understand how
musical strings could have been made in precise dimensions without
such a tool. The answer is very simple: They knew the weight per
lenght. That is what counts for the pitch. And if you want you can
easily calculate the diameter from thouse - but there is no need for.
Practically wire was sold as "30-meters-per-kilo wire"(example).
Nowadays we have mathematical formula for tuning [...]
Can we say (with any certainty) that the intervals between tones
were the same as today?
The mathematical formula for the tuning principles of the tuning
systems we still use today are known since the antique (see http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_comma).
The prefered mathematical tuning system of the medieval times, which
is well documented, is in fact not the one that is most common today,
the equal temperament (no good for hurdy-gurdy; see http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_temperament) but the Pythagorean tuning
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_tuning). But again, all
we know is that the music theorists prefered it last but not least
for philosophical reasons, there is no physical evidence for the
practice.
Just because we can build a replica of the container doesn't mean
we know the sound it made - we lay today's values on them. [...]
shows how, even though well-documented, just how little we know.
totally agree.
Simon
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have a look at:
http://hurdygurdywiki.wiki-site.com
http://drehleierwiki.wiki-site.com
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my site:
http://simonwascher.info
