Music: Practice & Theory

Questions tagged [temperament]

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For questions generally relating to systems of note frequency assignment. Questions will often include the tuning and/or alternative-tunings tag.

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Violin tuning, equal temperament or just intonation?

I'm tuning my violin now, by making the fifths on open strings sounds most harmonious. So they are just fifths, a little wider than the equal fifth. But then would the gap between the G and E string ...
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2answers
64 views

How should tuning systems / temperaments be notated in modern scores?

Similar to this question: How were tuning/temperaments indicated on scores (if they ever were)? In modern musical notation how should the use of something other than equal temperament be notated? See ...
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1answer
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Did the first piano use an equal-tempered or natural scale?

Both the piano and the equal-tempered scale were invented in the 1700s (according to Wikipedia, at least). But what I'm wondering is whether the first piano constructed used an equal-tempered scale, ...
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Do the violins imitate equal temperament when accompanying the piano?

My previous question about equal temperament was answered with a flourish, so here's the follow-up one: Because math and harmony don't seem to mix very well, piano tuners have to cheat a little bit, ...
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From the piano tuner's viewpoint, what needs to be done in order to achieve “equal temperament”?

I get the feeling that the actual explanation is a lot simpler than what the manuals and textbooks offer. I've been trying to make sense of it all, and now I find myself thoroughly confused. Here goes:...
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Song-specific temperament [duplicate]

So equal temperament is a compromise to allow songs to be played without without having to retune them on the fly, to match the more consonant sounding just intonation intervals. However, in a world ...
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3answers
143 views

What are the base notes that different tuning system used?

I’m trying to understand how the different tuning systems and temperaments were used from the past. Would people tune their instruments based on the key of the piece they were going to play? Is there ...
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Distortion of intervals

I'm wondering if this is a common phenomenon and if so how does it actually affect music: When I play harmonic min2nd's the actual pitches I hear are not completely the individual pitches of the two ...
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In what type of scenarios (other than tuning) would it be helpful to have microtonal perfect pitch?

I have perfect pitch (I can identify the note name of a given pitch in 12-tone equal temperament like a note on a piano), but often I cannot tell how far off is a note from the quantifications in ...
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2answers
222 views

When is just intonation more appropriate than 12-tone equal temperament?

I have recently learnt about different tuning methods, and 12-tone equal temperament is a very well-designed compromise. However, are there usage scenarios where it's better to use just intonation ...
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Difference between Akebono and the diatonic scale?

It is written in this Wikipedia page that The Akebono scale is a musical scale commonly used in traditional Japanese music. Akebono and the Diatonic scale use the same intervals, but Akebono has no ...
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225 views

How is the Santur (Santour / Santoor) usually tuned (in pure intonation)?

From what I've read the Persian Santur is usually tuned to the Phyrgian mode, but what are the actual frequencies or ratios of the notes? How would I tune one by ear? e.g. a piano tuner might count ...
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1answer
46 views

What temperament do Hang drums/hand pans use

Do they use just, equal, or some other tuning system?
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String instrument fingerboard tapes: position for just intonation vs equal temperament?

For those string players who are OK with/advocate using fingerboard tapes, where would you put them given that ET and JI demands slightly different positions? Would you put them at ET first, since ...
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4answers
355 views

Guitar that gives the best harmonics

I'm trying to learn just intonation and was recommended by my harmony/theory teacher to use a guitar's harmonics for doing so since 1. it's easy to tune the strings and 2. produce the harmonics. Can ...
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Cello tuning by harmonics: Just intonation vs ET

Since fifths in just intonation (JI) are 2 cents wider than ET fifths, should I expect an electronic tuner to tell me that my D, G, and C strings are flatter (and getting progressively flatter) if I ...
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Western Music Temperament

How did western music decided on 12 equal temperament instead of the other ones?(Like pentatonic etc...) Is there any historical aspect of it?
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Mode of Limited Transposition for Microtonal Temperament

There's a recent paper discussing the theory of limited transposition for general n-temperament scale: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Generalizing-Messiaen-%E2%80%99-s-Modes-of-Limited-to-a-...
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Is it mathematically possible to create an equal temperament which matches just interval ratios?

I've coded a Python app which lets us have any number of semitones in an octave in order to experiment with microtonal music. I would like to ask if there's a possibility to create such an equal ...
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4answers
424 views

12-TET and harmonics

I recently found out that 12-TET tuning does not produce perfect fifths or thirds, but that most intervals are a few cents out of key. It's actually a compromise that works very well. I wanted to ...
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Why did equal temperament become the standard tuning system for keyboard instruments?

Some people seem to make the case that having some keys beat more than others (as is in the case in the older well-tempered tuning systems) is a feature not a bug. But on the other hand, the equal ...
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Enharmonic key signatures in Bach's Well Tempered Clavier

I have been listening to Bach's Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 and have noticed something intriguing. I have two (related) questions about it. The work consists of 24 preludes and fugues in each major ...
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Staggered discontinuities in the saddles of accoustic guitar, Why?

I'm puzzled by the little staggered stuffs etched in the saddles of most of my acoustic guitars. (Only one of my guitars don't have these discontinuities, and indeed it's not a guitar per-se, but ...
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Tuning a keyboard

Is there any software in which I can connect my casio keyboard (mk-210) to use as input and select the tuning in cents or frequency for each note manually to listen to as an output so I can try ...
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6answers
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Was equal temperament caused by the invention of the piano, or was it inevitable?

Historically, which key a piece of music was written in made a big difference. Toccata and Fugue in D minor for instance had to be played in that key or it wouldn't sound right. But over the last ...
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3answers
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What is the tone name for 7-TET?

Since 7-TET has 7 tones, I thought the tone are okay to be labeled CDEFGAB. But actually, the "E" is closer to just ratio 6/5 than 5/4, and "B" is closer to 9/5 than 15/8. So is it really okay?
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If equal temperament divides an octave into 12 equal parts, why are the hertz differences not the same but 12ths of two?

Let's take a 440Hz A pitch and the 880Hz A an octave higher. If we divide space between 440Hz and 880Hz into 12 equal parts, we would have: [440Hz, 476.6, 513.2 ... 880Hz.] And this looks ...
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4answers
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Is practicing Indian classical on a harmonium a problem?

My Indian classical music teacher asks me to practice alankaars on a harmonium. 1) Will practicing on a harmonium somehow bias my voice towards the western fixed tempered scale on which the harmonium ...
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1answer
164 views

How to find music outside the 12TET system [closed]

What are some cultures or bands that don't use the 12TET system and where can I find their music?
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3answers
4k views

Why is B♯ higher than C♭ in 31-ET?

I was looking into microtonal series, and started reading a bit on the 31-ET series, and came across something that doesn't quite make sense to me. I noticed this chart on the wiki page for 31-ET ...
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3answers
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In meantone temperaments, do A sharp and B flat have different frequencies?

In Pythagorean and Just tuning, according to Wikipedia, there are different frequencies for flat and sharp notes. Most notably, there is a tritone of which there seem to be 2 quite different versions. ...
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2answers
209 views

Why does this tonal scale from 1737 have both F and E♯?

I've recently encountered Jean Féry-Rebel's "Les Élémens". (Check out that wild opening; it's hard to believe it was written in 1737!) In the fifth measure of the third staff, why does this ...
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1answer
470 views

How to interpret trills in renaissance music?

So I suddenly want to try some 16th century music... I downloaded this sheet music https://imslp.org/wiki/Parthenia_(Various), which includes keyboards works by Orlando, William Byrd, and John Bull. ...
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6answers
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Do classical pieces sound different today than the originals due to temperament?

I was reading how classical music used to not be in equal temperament. So each of their keys sounded completely different and that's why they named their pieces after the keys they were playing. ...
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2answers
504 views

temperament - its effect on a key

Most of Western music is now played in 12et/edo, where a key change won't make an appreciable difference to how it sounds - providing voicings are the same. Back in other temperamental days, let's ...
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2answers
87 views

Are there similarities between musical temperament and colorimetry? [closed]

It is well known that musical temperament is the basic of music theory, just as colorimetry is the basic of color theory.
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2answers
1k views

Whereabouts is G?

In 12TET, concert G is always at a particular pitch, frequency, etc. However, on instruments such as violin, players will stray slightly to make a note sound more in tune, dependent on key. (As in ...
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3answers
467 views

Are there any tuning differences between the C# Major Scale and Db Major Scale? [duplicate]

I am looking for a little clarification related to the differences between sharp (♯) and flat (♭) notes in music theory. Some people say C♯ and D♭ are the same, but some say they are not. Some say ...
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2answers
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What do you call a scale with 19 notes per octave? Howabout 17 notes per octave?

I know that a 12-note scale (as in the currently ubiquitous 12 equal temperament) is called "chromatic". In a chromatic system, there are sharps and/or flats, but no neighboring sharps and flats. ...
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3answers
480 views

What is a 'temperament', in the most general sense?

In Does this scale have a name: 1, 15/14, 15/13, ..., 15/8?, some commenters to the question opined that the OP was looking for a 'temperament', not a scale. This surprised me as I've while I've ...
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1answer
331 views

Is this music (flow my tears) here being played in 31 TET or a form of renaissance unequal temperament such as quarter comma meantone?

While looking for 31TET music I stumbled across this recording of "flow my tears" my John Dowland The video description and the album artwork indicate that it's ...
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2answers
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Do the EDO and TET acronyms mean the same thing?

In the context of dividing an octave into n intervals, I understand n EDO to mean n Equal Divisions per Octave and n TET to mean n Tones Equal Temperament. Do the EDO and TET acronyms mean the same ...
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1answer
590 views

Equal temperament nearest possible to the just intonation

It is ever possible to have an equal temperament without using the pure octave. In this case we can produce equal temperament where an universal half tone is used. It will permit to stay nearest ...
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3answers
3k views

How to compensate for inaccuracy of equal temperament?

It is a widely recognized fact that equal temperament gives inaccurate intervals (particularly, the major third). People usually ignore it, but some people try to actually fix this. I have heard that ...
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3answers
698 views

Tuning a string instrument with well temperament

When I practice the cello, sometimes it is noticeable that, when playing big chords, they tend to be out of tune - the C string sounds a bit too flat. This is the issue of tuning by 5ths for any ...
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4answers
4k views

On Tuning: What's in a Temperament? (Well-Temperament vs. Equal Temperament)

I just had my whole world shattered this morning when I was unwise enough to do a "quick" Google search on what exactly "equal temperament" means before I had started my work. Of course, the loudest ...
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2answers
286 views

software to determine the tuning (temperament) of a recording?

Case in point: Glenn Gould's recording of the WTC. The liner notes mention nothing about the tuning (in fact, I doubt the author understood the difference between equal and well temperament). This is ...
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5answers
492 views

Equal temperament

Practically speaking: Does equal temperament only mean arranging a set of intervals (scale) such that it can be repeated (similarly t o what is defined in 12 tone equal temperament as an octave)? ...
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10answers
6k views

With modern electronic technology is temperament unnecessary?

I am a Physics student but also love math and music, and know a little bit about tuning because it is related to mathematics. So as far as I understand, Just Intonation is more consonant than ...
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5answers
387 views

“∞-TET”: Is there music that doesn't use discretely pitched notes?

Is there music that doesn't use notes with discrete* pitches, but rather has instruments playing continuously changing frequencies? I know there are microtonal tunings as high as 72-TET, but is there ...

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