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It's almost as if Patterson has no clue about the history of tunings, in the West or elsewhere. Perfect harmonic tunings sound incredibly exotic and out of tun
by TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
It's almost as if Patterson has no clue about the history of tunings, in the West or elsewhere.
Perfect harmonic tunings sound incredibly exotic and out of tune to Western ears - not least because we're so used to slightly-imperfect equal temperament. We have decades of exposure to it, so it sounds normal. A perfect perfect fifth sounds very strange, even a little disturbing, and thirds are almost dissonant.
I don't think anyone who has even the first idea about this has ever suggested that harmonic tunings are a goal, an ideal, or even a practical possibility. (See also, Pythagorean Comma.)
- mrob 3y agoJust intonation tuning of chords (but not melodies) is the ideal in barbershop music. Barbershop music also uses harmonic sevenths, which are not found in standard 12EDO equal temperament. I've never heard of anybody calling barbershop "strange" or "disturbing". I don't think anybody is likely to call a perfect fifth or third those things either. You can easily check using the "Generate, Tone..." feature in Audacity. I recommend using a sawtooth wave, which contains prominent high harmonics that make it easy to hear subtle difference in tuning. The worst criticism I'd make of perfect just intonation is that it can sound boring, for the reason the GP post suggests.
- ben_w 3y agoMy suspicion is that learning music theory (for any specific cultural norm) is a bit like learning about font kerning: https://xkcd.com/1015/ https://xkcd.com/1015/ Many of the auditory things that trained musicians describe as creepy or weird, seem unremarkable to me.
- xotesos 3y agoI would say that is because there is nothing to compare barber shop music too. I am a big fan of Terry Riley's - Harp of New Albion exactly because its five-limit just intonation piano sounds so incredibly weird to my ears.
- dekhn 3y agoSee also La Monte Young- Forever Bad Blues Band. I listened to it and it sounded "different" but not particularly weird (I was already listening to Phish, The Dead, and indian music, so I think I was prepared for blues in just intonation).
- hax0ron3 3y agoI don't think everyone is equally sensitive to this. Just intonation sounds a bit different to me from equal temperament, but it doesn't sound disturbing. Likewise, although I have heard a lot of Indian classical music that is not in equal temperament, so I am pretty acclimated to it, when I hear Indian classical music played on equal temperament instruments it does not sound that bad. Some subtleties are definitely lost, and I prefer the non equal temperament tunings for that kind of music, but I do not find it disturbing.