"Intonation class"

[A440A@aol.com]

Ed Sutton asked:
 
>	Please tell more. Did you work with monochords? 

Yes, i built one out of an old pinblock, which allowed us to use it for tuning
pin awareness week.  It has the positions for all the basic ratios written on
top, and a sliding bridge. Very simple.  ( oh yea, a soundbox underneath
connected with a big, big dowel going up through the block for a bridge.  )

>Did the class get
>excited and learn?  
      Their interest is directly proportional to the probability that I am
going to break something or hurt myself,  so you have to stay active.  (:)}}
    Yes,  I kept it as practical as possible, and tried to stay with the
topics that concerned all, like interval widths, stretching, unisons, weather
changes, etc. 
    The route from Pythagoras's 3:2 to todays 12 TET has been a chore for
some, but I am keeping it in just for their own good.  
   They were most interested in the phsical, real stuff.  Like how to pull an
action and remove a damper.  They had to draw a whippen from memory and tell
what each part did.  

> I'm not sure the students here (pretty much ho-hum) would engage it
>with enough energy to get much from it, but wouldn't it be nice if I >were
wrong?
There is only one way to find out. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote