on the oud list recently i learned of a tuning for a 5c. oud that was taken from the 13th cent. treatise called "kitab al-adwar" (book of cycles) by safi al-din al-urmawi (1216-1294). each course is named and a tuning in straight 4ths is indicated but no pitch is given.
in trying to understand how medieval musicians tuned up before standardized notation, i imagine that the lead musician - or singer, if the instruments were meant for accompaniment - simply went "hmmmm" and the others twisted their pegs accordingly. assuming that vocal chords are more or less the same for everyone and assuming that instruments - stringed instruments in particular - are an extension of this sound, is it possible that anyone asked to sing "hmmmm" or "ahhhhh" would do so naturally at more or less the same pitch? i tried this with an automatic chromatic tuner but couldn't get a consistent reading, even though it sounded the same to me each time. leonard bernstein noted that "nyah-nyah, nyah, nyah-nyah" was recited globally in more or less the same key - "g" or "a", i believe. this might have been learned from english language or american style media but could it just as easily be an example of everyone singing in perfect harmony without the aid of coca-cola? i gather that tuning in 4ths was probably the original tuning for our family of instruments but is there anything to indicate in which key? "and thus i made...a small vihuela from the shell of a creepy crawly..." - Don Gonzalo de Guerrero (1512), "Historias de la Conquista del Mayab" by Fra Joseph of San Buenaventura. go to: http://www.charango.cl/paginas/quieninvento.htm ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
