Fred, You might give a look at this Google Books result (searching "Needham China music"): http://books.google.com/books?id=oJ9nayZZ2oEC&pg=PA164&dq=needham+music+china&hl=en&ei=y-6QTI6nEIGB8gasiuGeDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=needham%20music%20china&f=false Joseph Needham compiled a massive encyclopedia (really an entire series of books) on science and inventions in China over the centuries. Your university probably has a copy of this particular volume. Beyond pointing to this source I have not researched this topic. The first several pages at the Google link start out on heptatonic systems and then touch on 12 tone systems. I'm sure a lot of work has been done on this topic since Nedham's introduction to the subject in English (while Needham's overall work was revolutionary it was just a "first step" in scholarly endeavor). Patrick Draine On Sep 15, 2010, at 11:45 AM, Fred Sturm wrote: > On Sep 15, 2010, at 9:35 AM, James Patrick Draine wrote: > >> the field of early China texts, history, and archaeology ((in which field I do dabble: BA in anthropology, archaeology concentration, MA in Chinese, mostly focussed in late Zhou dynasty texts and history) > > > Hi Patrick, > Have you investigated the often repeated claim that ET division of the octave into 12 parts was an early Chinese invention? I have read a few sources that make it seem that the claim is far less straightforward than it has been made to seem, and would be interested in an account by someone who knows what he is talking about. > Regards, > Fred Sturm > fssturm at unm.edu > "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain >
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