I really enjoyed the idea of just intonation because I was able to link together other passions of mine with this theory. I play piano and trumpet and when we discuss the perfect 5th or the 6/5 minor 3rd (blues) I can relate that all back to playing certain styles on the piano.

Just intonation is simply a musical tuning system which are related by ratios of whole numbers. Some examples of groups that rely on JI would be barber shop quartets that are all assigned a note, 1,3,5,7 (or something).

We went over some pieces of John Cage in last semesters class around the idea of minimalistic music. This type of music is where the art is stripped down to it's core fundamentals and essentially loops on top. I love to see how this all connects with the tuning roots mentioned above. It just allows a deeper understanding of the music your playing. (whether on an ipod or live).

I have been listening to a lot of Erik Satie this week and truly enjoy his ambient work. Gymnopedie is great. They are very gentle yet somewhat eccentric and don't complete consume your subconcious when listening. They allow for multitasking. It's interesting because these works were the pieces that were said to be most different from his grass roots (His parents pieces) which were salon music. This was his attempt at radical change almost. He slowed the music down and provided a slight dissonance against the harmony which provided that mild melancholy feeling.....

All n All, everything we are talking about in this class is wrapped up in that pieces. Making the listener feel a certain way by producing certain sounds. Manipulating our feelings through chord structure and frequencies.. Interesting stuff

-Tim