4 ms·

Semitones fall so neatly into fractions that I can't imagine it's a matter of culture. When microtones are used I suspect tone deafness or intentional deviatio

Semitones fall so neatly into fractions that I can't imagine it's a matter of culture. When microtones are used I suspect tone deafness or intentional deviation/dissonance are the main actors.

twelvechairs 13y ago
depends what you mean by 'semitones'. for instance, much of the worlds traditional music is based on pentatonic scales which have notes which are near (but not exactly on) the semitones of an equal tempered scale. generally the differences to the corresponding chromatic notes provide more consonance, not dissonance. 'microtones' is a funny word because it covers both consonant and dissonant sounds. there's some inherited cultural background to what is perceived as consonant too. a sitar may sound odd to us, and is 'microtonal' but that doesn't mean it is not musically consonant (notes are related in simple fractions)
hetman 13y ago
I'm not sure if you can call the fractions of semi-tones of the equal tempered scale (used in most modern Western music) as neat. Indeed, its widespread introduction was very controversial because it was always considered a compromise on the purity of the sound. Never the less, its incredible convenience prevailed. When we talk about "pure" sounds. The sound intervals that sound best to the human ear form simple numeric frequency ratios. However, if you tune a scale in a way that is closer to this ideal, not every semi-tone is interchangeable and playing pieces in certain keys sounds down right horrible. That's why, choosing the key of a piece, once actually had a relatively larger impact on how it would sound, depending on how the instrument was tuned. Dissonance in some keys was even sometimes exploited by certain composers. Unfortunately we lose the impact of how these pieces would have sounded when played on modern instruments. We're talking here about pieces from composes as recent as Chopin.

Semitones fall so neatly into fractions that I can't imagine it's a matter of culture. When microtones are used I suspect tone deafness or intentional deviation/dissonance are the main actors.

twelvechairs 13y ago

depends what you mean by 'semitones'. for instance, much of the worlds traditional music is based on pentatonic scales which have notes which are near (but not exactly on) the semitones of an equal tempered scale. generally the differences to the corresponding chromatic notes provide more consonance, not dissonance. 'microtones' is a funny word because it covers both consonant and dissonant sounds. there's some inherited cultural background to what is perceived as consonant too. a sitar may sound odd to us, and is 'microtonal' but that doesn't mean it is not musically consonant (notes are related in simple fractions)

hetman 13y ago

I'm not sure if you can call the fractions of semi-tones of the equal tempered scale (used in most modern Western music) as neat. Indeed, its widespread introduction was very controversial because it was always considered a compromise on the purity of the sound. Never the less, its incredible convenience prevailed. When we talk about "pure" sounds. The sound intervals that sound best to the human ear form simple numeric frequency ratios. However, if you tune a scale in a way that is closer to this ideal, not every semi-tone is interchangeable and playing pieces in certain keys sounds down right horrible. That's why, choosing the key of a piece, once actually had a relatively larger impact on how it would sound, depending on how the instrument was tuned. Dissonance in some keys was even sometimes exploited by certain composers. Unfortunately we lose the impact of how these pieces would have sounded when played on modern instruments. We're talking here about pieces from composes as recent as Chopin.