Sileas tuning, bards, meantone

Zeke Hoskin (tzhosk@cyberstore.ca)
Mon, 01 Jan 1996 22:13:49 -0800

Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster both kept their small harps tuned with
lowest note E2. The harps didn't have enough strings to do this without
skipping a note, so they (usually?) skipped F2. [Explained in a small
workshop at Vancouver Folk Festival, about 1985]

I appreciate the clarification of what a bard was, though I admit it
plunges me into doubt and confusion about the term "Bardic verse", as
used to denote the heavily alliterative Celtic court verse that was already
pretty well stamped out in the 1500's.

Calling 12-tone equal temperament "11th-comma meantone" suddenly brought me
to realize I don't know what meantone is. I'd thought it was a set of
schemes to use 12 notes, distributing the discrepancies between just fifths
and thirds and a closed cycle of 12 fifths such that some of the keys were
close to just. Howbout a real definition?

Me, I use 12-equal when I'm playing with other instruments, trying to decide
whether I like the sound of 19-equal better. (Tune D to tuner, A,E,and B
5.5, 11, 16.5 cents flat respectively, G, C, F 5.5, 11, 16.5 cents sharp.
Forget about using levers.) /// Zeke Hoskin