Re: GDP glossary question: complex meters

[Kurt Kroon]

On 2008/02/28 6:12 PM, "Anh Hai Trinh" <address@hidden> wrote:

> 
> I have never heard the term polymeter. It does not show up in Grove Music
> Online (actually once but refering to poetic meter), not a good sign!

Wow ... and I don't have $295 in couch cushion change to spend (every year)
on a subscription to Grove Music Online.  (You must get a discount

In case you missed the last part of my response of 27 February (7:53 am),
I'll repeat it here:

"... I did NOT intend for this framework to be a straitjacket.  Folks who
specialize in the tals you mentioned in your last email on the subject will
continue to discuss them with *their* terms ... but when I ask them to
explain it to me (a non-Indian), they can say 'Oh, it's a regular sequential
polymeter that groups beats in groups of 3+2+ ... etc.'"

> And according to Wikipedia

Wikipedia IS NOT an authoritative source ...

> polymeter implies polyrhythm and therefore is
> equivalent to your "simulatenous polymeter"
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymeter>. That term should be out!

... But -- this isn't about "authoritative", it's about having a small set
of well-defined terms to which everything else can refer to eliminate
ambiguity.  That's what "controlled vocabulary" means.

(As for trying to be authoritative, I can't think of a better example than
the aforementioned "tals". It would be the height of arrogance if I presumed
that "sequential polymeter" was an adequate replacement for "tal".)

> The equivalent term to your "sequential polymeter" that I've heared and
> used is "changing meters" or "irregular meter".
> 
> * double time sig -- too ambigous whether it's simultaneous or sequential
> * compound time sig -- this is a well established term refering to meter
> such as 6/8, 9/8, 6/4, etc. in contrast to simple meters such as 3/8, 3/4,
> etc.
> * additive time sig -- could mean sth like (3 + 3 + 2)/8 or could mean
> irregular meters a la Messian
> * alternating time sig -- a special case of changing/irregular meter

And with a standard, *controlled* vocabulary, we can disambiguate each and
every one of these.

Oh ... and I said that I was only planning to delete one of the previously
existent terms as hopelessly vague ... I planned to keep the rest of them.

K