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 Forum index » How-tos » Micro Tuning
How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony
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seraph
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PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2007 3:05 pm    Post subject: How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

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A captivating look at how musical temperament evolved, and how we could (and perhaps should) be tuning differently today.


arrow http://www2.wwnorton.com/catalog/fall06/006227.htm

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PostPosted: Sun May 13, 2007 11:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

it looks like a nice read. the title is intriguing Exclamation
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PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Equal temperament enabled composers to modulate to distant keys in the course of a musical work. One of the reasons that Bach could write extended length works (before Bach, most long works were, in reality, a collection of short sections) was that he could modulate in the course of a work. Equal temperament, then, ushered in an era in music of towering symphonies and other works amazing in their depth and complexity.

However, for music that is less involved (say hymns or songs that don't venture too far from the key of the work) the sameness of the intervals result in somewhat bland results.

I play a multi-temperament organ (Yep, one of the advantages of a digital organ is all those temperaments!) and I rarely choose equal temperament for anything. Equal temperament is the tuning of choice, though, for extended-length works written after 1800. (I tend to play the major Bach works in equal temperament, too, despite the availabity of Werkmiester I and III). For hymns, depending on the key, I favor Meantone or Kirnberger.

To elaborate on Kirnberger -- the C, F, and G chords are tuned beatless. Thus, the comma is distributed throughout the rest of the scale. When moving through a simple song with tertian harmony and root position triad harmonies, the chords other than C, F, and G offer varying degrees of complexity -- some have slow beats and others sound almost dissonant. Such simple music would be boring in Equal Temperament.

What is a composer to do when working in 12TET? Well, to put "spice" into the sound we use inversions, various kinds of 7th, 9th (and beyond) chords, whole-tone harmony, quartal/quintal harmony -- basically ANYTHING to break the monotony of root position triads (all of which have the same relative tension in 12TET).

One interesting case is the music of Couperin (French Baroque keyboard music). With 12TET, Couperin is well... ok... it sounds kind of like "little ditties" for church. However, in meantone tuning the real passion of this music springs forth. Couperin's music performed in meantone will really bend your ears! Of course, such composers wrote for meantone tuning -- the ebb and flow of the music is the result of the varying tensions between the keys.

One of the features of my synthesizer (a K2600) is that I can create my own temperaments on it. I have messed with it and there is much to explore. Most of my work, to date, has been in 12TET because I utilized harmonic language that requires 12TET (or close to it).

To say that 12TET "ruined" harmony is possibly an overstatement. 12TET enabled extensions to harmony which wouldn't have worked all that well in tunings such as meantone. However, we are a couple hundred years down the road from the wide implementation of 12TET and modern instruments are capable of multi-temperaments in ways that were unheard of in the not-distant past.

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PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

kkissinger wrote:

To elaborate on Kirnberger -- the C, F, and G chords are tuned beatless.

Kevin
isn't the organ you play with capable to switch the root note so that in any key you have beatless triads on I, IV and V Question a movable Kirnberger, so to speak Very Happy

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PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 1:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Seraph,

Unfortunately the root of the temperaments are set on 'c'. The instrument has a transposer switch and the temperament shifts along with the notes -- that is, if I transpose down a half step, then the root of the temperament moves down, too.

I really wish it had user-settable temperaments.

The local organ rep has told me more than once that the multiple temperament feature is an "under used" feature.

I use the multi-temperament feature so much that I would miss it if I didn't have it.

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PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

kkissinger wrote:

The local organ rep has told me more than once that the multiple temperament feature is an "under used" feature.

do you know if among those who listen to you playing this instrument, you are the only one noticing the difference between one temperament and another one Question

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PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

seraph wrote:
do you know if among those who listen to you playing this instrument, you are the only one noticing the difference between one temperament and another one Question


I think only one person actually asked if I was playing in a "different tuning" (I believe were words to that effect.) Some other folks have commented that the organ had an "antique" sound. For the most part, folks don't comment on tuning or very much else (when church is over, most rush to the parking lot!).

In many cases, I accompany chant and am purposely choosing a plaintive sound from the organ. I don't think anyone notices on a conscious level however I think people respond to it none-the-less.

To most people, music-making is magic. They can be moved by music and are unaware of the underlying technicalities.

Church music has some things in common with film music -- church music supports the "action" and does not draw attention to itself much of the time.

If they comment often about the tuning, then I am likely overdoing it.

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PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 10:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

kkissinger wrote:

If they comment often about the tuning, then I am likely overdoing it.

I guess you are perfectly right Very Happy

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PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

This thread makes me want to write some music that explores unequal temperaments -- definately on my do list. Smile
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PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

kkissinger wrote:
This thread makes me want to write some music that explores unequal temperaments

it means we need more threads like this one Wink

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