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LochNessieMonster
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Posts: 3
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Post Ho ho ho, to the bottle I go
on: June 02, 2017 08:51
I encountered this cover on Soundcloud the other day while searching for a cover of "The Cat and the Fiddle" song. Thoughts?

https://soundcloud.com/adelemcallister/ho-ho-ho-to-the-bottle-i-go

[Edited on 06/02/2017 by LochNessieMonster]
tarcolan
Movies Moderator and General Dogsbody
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on: June 05, 2017 02:06
It's very nice but I always cringe a bit when I hear Middle Earth songs done in our Western styles. I have the songbook 'The Road Goes Ever On' by Tolkien and Donald Swann, and the songs are set to piano music. The only one I like is Namárië, which is like a Medieval chant.

Here's the problem as I see it. Our modern music has used equal tempered intonation since the 17th century, in which each semitone is the same proportion, being the twelfth root of two of the previous note. This is great as it allows any kind of key change and modulation. But it means a lot of the notes are slightly out of tune. We don't notice it now, we're so used to it. I think the Elves would dislike it though, so I would say they'd use the natural harmonic intonation, sometimes called just intonation. It's based on whole number ratios because sound resonance in strings or pipes has harmonics of whole wavelengths. I could go on.

Maybe the Gondorians developed equal tempered intonation but I doubt it would catch on with Hobbits. It's difficult to make instruments using it and acapella singing will tend to natural tuning anyway.
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