[CAUT] professor tuning variables

[Fred Sturm]

On Mar 7, 2009, at 11:55 AM, reggaepass at aol.com wrote:

> Hi Fred,
>
> Can I get a discount for an advance, quantity order of your yet-to- 
> be-released work on this subject?  Seriously, please consider  
> writing for publication, either by yourself or in collaboration with  
> someone else as up-to-date on the available scholarship concerning  
> temperaments.  (Or we could go with plan "B" and just compile  
> excerpts from the last few months of CAUT posts on related matters:  
> The subject would be temperaments, but it would read like the "point/ 
> counterpoint" of a talk show, transcribed <G>.)


	Well, this has been a kind of "side interest" for me over the years,  
and not one I had put enough research into to consider myself an  
expert. But in thinking about our (caut committee) on-going project to  
create a "CAUT credential" and to base it on a series of intensive  
training sessions (on the order of 3-day or so "academies" - this is  
the model we are working on at the moment, and it may happen fairly  
soon), I've looked at the subject again: If we are to include  
historical tunings, who would teach it, and what resources would we  
use? So I've been nosing around, and have done quite a bit of reading.  
Recently I bought Claudio di Veroli's e-book, and I sent him a couple  
suggestions in the way of improving style and language (English is his  
third language, after Spanish and Italian), and I ended up proof- 
reading the whole thing ahead of his "Version 2" (which was just  
posted).
	So I guess I have kind of made myself into an "almost expert," and I  
have given a good bit of thought to putting together a study guide. It  
seems like a void that needs to be filled. I would leave out most of  
the math, which is covered quite well by Thomas Donahue and di Veroli,  
and just give a broad historical overview with references, and with a  
good grounding in the actual words of sources (what Pietro Aron wrote  
about 1/4 meantone, what Jean Denis wrote about mean tone with  
somewhat expanded thirds, what Rousseau wrote about French  
"Ordinaire," what Werckmeister said about #III). We'll see.
	I _do_ have far too many projects going at any given time, including  
a solo recital of works by Villa-Lobos in a week.

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu