tuning
Bill McJohn (billmc@microsoft.com)
Tue, 28 Jan 1997 16:05:19 -0800
>
>Bette writes:
>
>Long ago I realized that tuning is not a chore, it is a grace period of
>transition between my wild everyday life and my calming just-by-myself harp
>playing time. It sort of tunes both me and my harp. So I tune and do
>simple exercises before actual playing even when the harp is still in tune
>(a rare day, indeed). My flute player calls it my ritual that I have to go
>through before we can play.
>
>In the middle ages, the act of tuning a stringed instrument
>(particularly the harp or lyre) was seen as an act with
>cosmological significance. The harmony of the strings
>corresponds with the harmony of the music of the spheres,
>which binds the universe together; the person who can
>bring the strings of harp into harmony is therefore an image
>of God, who is the source of the harmony of the music
>of the spheres. Thus, King David is often shown with
>is harp, not playing, but tuning.
>
>Bill McJohn
>billmc@microsoft.com
>
>
>