Re: Microtones through pitch inflexions vs ornamentations. Jazz & Indian Music

"Arvindh Krishnaswamy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> (1) By incorporating more frets or keys per octave in a guitar or
> piano for example. This would allow a person to play "in-between"
> "constant-pitch" notes.

There are indeed people who play jazz on instruments modified in this
fashion, but it isn't common at all.  Extremely rare, in fact.  So I
wouldn't think of this as being an essential part of jazz.

> (2) By bending a guitar string and reaching specifically for a given
> intermediate pitch for example.
>
> (3) By producing inflexions by bending a guitar string or sliding over
> the frets quickly, where the ***time-varying inflexion itself** is the
> "new" note, and where the exact end points of the inflexions don't
> matter at all in some cases. The average value of the pitch contour
> and the timing would matter more.

This last is probably the most common.  It's like inflection in speech;
no one tries to quantify how you raise the pitch of your voice at the
end of a question.

There is another category worth mentioning - on wind instruments, there
are often several fingerings for ostensibly the same note, but the exact
pitch might differ slightly between them.  Simply by choosing one
fingering versus another for a given note you can control whether you
have a flatter or sharper version of that note.

> However, since some of these
> inflexions are not mere ornamenations and HAVE to be used in certain
> phrases, it is unfair to characterize Indian music as using only 12
> notes. (However, the notion that Indian music today uses "22 sruthis"
> is a distorted/misleading/incorrect view based on misinterpretations
> of ancient texts which has been dismissed by empirical data [see
> below]).  South (and North) Indian music seems to use the 3rd category
> of inflexion I mentioned above.
>
> My question on jazz is:
>
> Are the pitch inflexions used purely embellishments or ornamentations
> or are they REQUIRED in the rendition of certain phrases?
> (My guess is the latter)

It's mostly embellishment, completely up to the performer, just to get a
vocal-like quality.  Closest thing to an exception - a place where there
is a specific expectation of a specific microtone - is the third over a
major chord used in a blues context.  Many horn players and guitarists
will deliberately play that note somewhere between a major and minor
third in a way that is farily consistent.  But no one complains if you
just play the major or minor third, or hit both together (on piano) as
an approximation.

> Could I have some references to recordings by top musicians who have
> employed such inflexions?

Well, pretty much any recording by any wind instrument player in jazz
will do this to some degree, but again, nothing so direct as in Indian
music.

--------------
Marc Sabatella
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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