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> This is not the case for most other musical traditions. Do you have examples of musical traditions that don't do this? Both the Indian and Chinese musical sy

> This is not the case for most other musical traditions. Do you have examples of musical traditions that don't do this? Both the Indian and Chinese musical systems do something similar. ---- I'm not really sure if this post is "wrong". It gets the chronology mixed up a bit -- talking of twelfth roots of two before talking about ratios, but I thought that was just done to help explain things by reverse-engineering them. I don't think it claims that the notes "came from" roots of two.

acjohnson55 10y ago
I'm not an expert, but Indian classical music isn't known for having harmony in the same sense [1]. Modern Indian music is influenced by Western music. I know even less about Chinese music, which isn't mentioned in that article. But in all the sources I've read, the concept of deeply developed chordal harmony is pretty unique to the Western music tradition. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony
- Manishearth 10y ago
  Right, it doesn't involve playing notes together the same way it's done in Western music. I guess I misinterpreted what you were saying -- the Indian notes are still derived by looking at notes which sound harmonious when played together, roughly the same way Western notes are derived. They are not usually played together on the same instrument like you would with a piano or a guitar. Harmony between vocal parts is not uncommon as is harmony with background instruments like the tanpura. But yes, Indian music doesn't have harmony in the same sense as Western music. But the origins of the notes are very similar. (I'm talking about classical Indian music, btw)
  - acjohnson55 10y ago
    Yep! Many traditions got their notes the same way Western music did. The Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale book does a great job illuminating this.
    - Manishearth 10y ago
      Ooh, that sounds like a fun book to read! I spent a lot of time studying this myself because I was fascinated with the fact that these 12 notes in particular seemed ubiquitous in many music systems, and that there wasn't any immediately obvious reason as to why these notes sounded pleasing. Ultimately learned some music theory in the process (I've studied Indian and some Western music, so a lot of it was stuff I already knew, but not in concrete form), but never in a very structured fashion -- more along the lines of asking people and reading snippets. Put this book on my list, sounds like a structured way to learn something I've been super interested in for years.

acjohnson55 10y ago

I'm not an expert, but Indian classical music isn't known for having harmony in the same sense [1]. Modern Indian music is influenced by Western music. I know even less about Chinese music, which isn't mentioned in that article. But in all the sources I've read, the concept of deeply developed chordal harmony is pretty unique to the Western music tradition. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony

Manishearth 10y ago
Right, it doesn't involve playing notes together the same way it's done in Western music. I guess I misinterpreted what you were saying -- the Indian notes are still derived by looking at notes which sound harmonious when played together, roughly the same way Western notes are derived. They are not usually played together on the same instrument like you would with a piano or a guitar. Harmony between vocal parts is not uncommon as is harmony with background instruments like the tanpura. But yes, Indian music doesn't have harmony in the same sense as Western music. But the origins of the notes are very similar. (I'm talking about classical Indian music, btw)
- acjohnson55 10y ago
  Yep! Many traditions got their notes the same way Western music did. The Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale book does a great job illuminating this.
  - Manishearth 10y ago
    Ooh, that sounds like a fun book to read! I spent a lot of time studying this myself because I was fascinated with the fact that these 12 notes in particular seemed ubiquitous in many music systems, and that there wasn't any immediately obvious reason as to why these notes sounded pleasing. Ultimately learned some music theory in the process (I've studied Indian and some Western music, so a lot of it was stuff I already knew, but not in concrete form), but never in a very structured fashion -- more along the lines of asking people and reading snippets. Put this book on my list, sounds like a structured way to learn something I've been super interested in for years.