5 ms·

Is anyone else annoyed by the inaccurate use of the name "tri-tone"? I'm guessing a real tritone would be far too anxious as a phone sound for most western ears

Is anyone else annoyed by the inaccurate use of the name "tri-tone"? I'm guessing a real tritone would be far too anxious as a phone sound for most western ears.

cardamomo 13y ago
My co-worker's office phone is a real tritone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone). Considering that her desk is right next to mine, I find it incredibly jarring to hear that interval blaring in my ear whenever she gets a call. ...but in the end, I think you're right. I've been trained by Western music to think of the tritone as anxious or dissonant.
- widdershins 13y ago
  Your anxiety at the tritone is not just a culturally learned response - as the Wikipedia article you linked explains, the harmonic ratios in a tritone really are mathematically 'dissonant' when compared to, say, a perfect fifth or major third.
  - cardamomo 13y ago
    A mathematical explanation of consonance and dissonance in music is appealing for its simplicity, but it is somewhat of a reductionist approach to understanding listeners' experience of music. There are many elements of the European musical tradition that, though they sound consonant to our ears, cannot be explained on mathematical grounds. The minor mode and the minor triad are notable examples. A more subtle and insidious case is that of equal temperament. Background reading: "Musical Consonance and Dissonance: A Cultural Criterion" (http://www.jstor.org/stable/426253 http://www.jstor.org/stable/426253)
Camillo 13y ago
Could you post a sound clip?
- nandemo 13y ago
  I don't know if the tritone in the ring grandparent comment mentions is a melodic (2 notes in sequence) or harmonic interval (2 notes at the same time). In any case here is how a tritone interval sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9laoGPB_o#t=0m25s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9laoGPB_o#t=0m25s

Is anyone else annoyed by the inaccurate use of the name "tri-tone"? I'm guessing a real tritone would be far too anxious as a phone sound for most western ears.

cardamomo 13y ago

My co-worker's office phone is a real tritone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone). Considering that her desk is right next to mine, I find it incredibly jarring to hear that interval blaring in my ear whenever she gets a call. ...but in the end, I think you're right. I've been trained by Western music to think of the tritone as anxious or dissonant.

widdershins 13y ago
Your anxiety at the tritone is not just a culturally learned response - as the Wikipedia article you linked explains, the harmonic ratios in a tritone really are mathematically 'dissonant' when compared to, say, a perfect fifth or major third.
- cardamomo 13y ago
  A mathematical explanation of consonance and dissonance in music is appealing for its simplicity, but it is somewhat of a reductionist approach to understanding listeners' experience of music. There are many elements of the European musical tradition that, though they sound consonant to our ears, cannot be explained on mathematical grounds. The minor mode and the minor triad are notable examples. A more subtle and insidious case is that of equal temperament. Background reading: "Musical Consonance and Dissonance: A Cultural Criterion" (http://www.jstor.org/stable/426253 http://www.jstor.org/stable/426253)

Camillo 13y ago

Could you post a sound clip?

nandemo 13y ago
I don't know if the tritone in the ring grandparent comment mentions is a melodic (2 notes in sequence) or harmonic interval (2 notes at the same time). In any case here is how a tritone interval sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9laoGPB_o#t=0m25s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9laoGPB_o#t=0m25s