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7-limit
7-limit or septimal tunings and intervals are musical instrument tunings that have a limit of seven: the largest prime factor contained in the interval ratios between pitches is seven. Thus, for example, 50:49 is a 7-limit interval, but 14:11 is not. For example, the greater just minor seventh, 9:5 () is a 5-limit ratio, the harmonic seventh has the ratio 7:4 and is thus a septimal interval. Similarly, the septimal chromatic semitone, 21:20, is a septimal interval as 21÷7=3. The harmonic seventh is used in the barbershop seventh chord and music. () Compositions with septimal tunings include La Monte Young's ''The Well-Tuned Piano'', Ben Johnston's String Quartet No. 4, Lou Harrison's ''Incidental Music for Corneille's Cinna'', and Michael Harrison's ''Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation''. The Great Highland bagpipe is tuned to a ten-note seven-limit scale: 1:1, 9:8, 5:4, 4:3, 27:20, 3:2, 5:3, 7:4, 16:9, 9:5. In the 2nd century Ptolemy described the sept ...
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5-limit Tuning
Five-limit tuning, 5-limit tuning, or 5-prime-limit tuning (not to be confused with 5-odd-limit tuning), is any system for tuning a musical instrument that obtains the frequency of each note by multiplying the frequency of a given reference note (the base note) by products of integer powers of 2, 3, or 5 (prime numbers limited to 5 or lower), such as . Powers of 2 represent intervallic movements by octaves. Powers of 3 represent movements by intervals of perfect fifths (plus one octave, which can be removed by multiplying by 1/2, i.e., 2−1). Powers of 5 represent intervals of major thirds (plus two octaves, removable by multiplying by 1/4, i.e., 2−2). Thus, 5-limit tunings are constructed entirely from stacking of three basic purely-tuned intervals (octaves, thirds and fifths). Since the perception of consonance seems related to low numbers in the harmonic series, and 5-limit tuning relies on the three lowest primes, 5-limit tuning should be capable of producing very consona ...
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Septimal Major Third On C
Septimal may refer to: *Septimal chromatic semitone, the interval 21:20, about 84.47 cents *Septimal comma, a small musical interval in just intonation divisible by 7 *Septimal diatonic semitone, the interval 15:14, about 119.44 cents * Septimal diesis, an interval with the ratio of 49:48, about 38.71 cents * Septimal kleisma, an interval of approximately 7.7 cents *Septimal major third, the musical interval with a 9:7 ratio of frequencies * Septimal meantone temperament, the tempering of 7-limit musical intervals by a meantone temperament tuning * Septimal minor third, the musical interval exactly or approximately equal to a 7/6 ratio of frequencies * Septimal quarter tone, an interval with the ratio of 36:35, about 48.77 cents * Septimal semicomma, an interval with the ratio 126/125, about 13.79 cents *Septimal sixth-tone (or jubilisma), an interval with the ratio of 50:49, about 34.98 cents *Septimal tritone, the interval 7:5, about 582.51  ...
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Septimal Minor Third On C
Septimal may refer to: * Septimal chromatic semitone, the interval 21:20, about 84.47 cents * Septimal comma, a small musical interval in just intonation divisible by 7 *Septimal diatonic semitone, the interval 15:14, about 119.44 cents * Septimal diesis, an interval with the ratio of 49:48, about 38.71 cents * Septimal kleisma, an interval of approximately 7.7 cents * Septimal major third, the musical interval with a 9:7 ratio of frequencies * Septimal meantone temperament, the tempering of 7-limit musical intervals by a meantone temperament tuning *Septimal minor third, the musical interval exactly or approximately equal to a 7/6 ratio of frequencies * Septimal quarter tone, an interval with the ratio of 36:35, about 48.77 cents * Septimal semicomma, an interval with the ratio 126/125, about 13.79 cents *Septimal sixth-tone (or jubilisma), an interval with the ratio of 50:49, about 34.98 cents *Septimal tritone, the interval 7:5, about 582.51&nb ...
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Limit (music)
In music theory, limit or harmonic limit is a way of characterizing the harmony found in a piece or genre of music, or the harmonies that can be made using a particular scale. The term ''limit'' was introduced by Harry Partch, who used it to give an upper bound on the complexity of harmony; hence the name. The harmonic series and the evolution of music Harry Partch, Ivor Darreg, and Ralph David Hill are among the many microtonalists to suggest that music has been slowly evolving to employ higher and higher harmonics in its constructs (see emancipation of the dissonance). In medieval music, only chords made of octaves and perfect fifths (involving relationships among the first three harmonics) were considered consonant. In the West, triadic harmony arose ( contenance angloise) around the time of the Renaissance, and triads quickly became the fundamental building blocks of Western music. The major and minor thirds of these triads invoke relationships among the first five ...
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Ben Johnston (composer)
Benjamin Burwell Johnston Jr. (March 15, 1926 – July 21, 2019) was an American contemporary music composer, known for his use of just intonation. He was called "one of the foremost composers of microtonal music" by Philip Bush and "one of the best non-famous composers this country has to offer" by John Rockwell. Biography Johnston was born in Macon, Georgia, and taught composition and theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1951 to 1986, before retiring to North Carolina. During his time teaching, he was in contact with avant-garde figures such as John Cage, La Monte Young, and Iannis Xenakis. Johnston's students have included Stuart Saunders Smith, Neely Bruce, Thomas Albert, Michael Pisaro, Manfred Stahnke, and Kyle Gann. He also considered his practice of just intonation to have influenced other composers, including James Tenney and Larry Polansky. In 1946 he married dance band singer Dorothy Haines, but they soon divorced. In 1950 he married arti ...
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Interval Ratio
In music, an interval ratio is a ratio of the frequencies of the pitches in a musical interval. For example, a just perfect fifth (for example C to G) is 3:2 (), 1.5, and may be approximated by an equal tempered perfect fifth () which is 27/12 (about 1.498). If the A above middle C is 440 Hz, the perfect fifth above it would be E, at (440*1.5=) 660 Hz, while the equal tempered E5 is 659.255 Hz. Ratios, rather than direct frequency measurements, allow musicians to work with relative pitch measurements applicable to many instruments in an intuitive manner, whereas one rarely has the frequencies of fixed pitched instruments memorized and rarely has the capabilities to measure the changes of adjustable pitch instruments (electronic tuner). Ratios have an inverse relationship to string length, for example stopping a string at two-thirds (2:3) its length produces a pitch one and one-half (3:2) that of the open string (not to be confused with inversion). Intervals may be ...
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The Well-Tuned Piano
''The Well-Tuned Piano'' is an ongoing, improvisatory, solo piano work by composer La Monte Young. Begun in 1964, Young has never considered the composition or performance "finished", and he has performed incarnations of it several times since its debut in 1974. The composition utilizes a piano tuned in just intonation. A typical performance lasts five to six hours. Young's wife, the artist Marian Zazeela, has contributed the lighting work ''The Magenta Lights'' to these performances. A 1987 performance of the piece was released on DVD in 2000. ''The Guardian'' described it as "one of the great achievements of 20th-century music." Inspiration and influence Young gives credit to Dennis Johnson, a former schoolmate and composer from UCLA, for inspiring ''The Well-Tuned Piano''. Johnson wrote an extensive, improvisatory, solo piano piece titled ''November'' in 1959, a few years before Young began working on ''The Well-Tuned Piano''. Although the piece is said to be as long as six ...
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Septimal Chromatic Semitone On C
Septimal may refer to: * Septimal chromatic semitone, the interval 21:20, about 84.47 cents * Septimal comma, a small musical interval in just intonation divisible by 7 *Septimal diatonic semitone, the interval 15:14, about 119.44 cents * Septimal diesis, an interval with the ratio of 49:48, about 38.71 cents * Septimal kleisma, an interval of approximately 7.7 cents * Septimal major third, the musical interval with a 9:7 ratio of frequencies * Septimal meantone temperament, the tempering of 7-limit musical intervals by a meantone temperament tuning *Septimal minor third, the musical interval exactly or approximately equal to a 7/6 ratio of frequencies * Septimal quarter tone, an interval with the ratio of 36:35, about 48.77 cents * Septimal semicomma, an interval with the ratio 126/125, about 13.79 cents *Septimal sixth-tone (or jubilisma), an interval with the ratio of 50:49, about 34.98 cents *Septimal tritone, the interval 7:5, about 582.51&nb ...
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Harmonic Seventh
The harmonic seventh interval, also known as the septimal minor seventh, or subminor seventh, is one with an exact 7:4 ratio (about 969 cents). This is somewhat narrower than and is, "particularly sweet", "sweeter in quality" than an "ordinary" just minor seventh, which has an intonation ratio of 9:5 (about 1018 cents). The harmonic seventh arises from the harmonic series as the interval between the fourth harmonic (second octave of the fundamental) and the seventh harmonic; in that octave, harmonics 4, 5, 6, and 7 constitute a purely consonant major chord with added seventh (root position). When played on the natural horn, as a compromise the note is often adjusted to 16:9 of the root (for C maj7, the substituted note is B, 996.09 cents), but some pieces call for the pure harmonic seventh, including Britten's '' Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings''. Composer Ben Johnston uses a small "7" as an accidental to indicate a note is lowered 49 cents ...
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Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a difference in pitch between two sounds. An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or harmonic if it pertains to simultaneously sounding tones, such as in a chord. In Western music, intervals are most commonly differences between notes of a diatonic scale. Intervals between successive notes of a scale are also known as scale steps. The smallest of these intervals is a semitone. Intervals smaller than a semitone are called microtones. They can be formed using the notes of various kinds of non-diatonic scales. Some of the very smallest ones are called commas, and describe small discrepancies, observed in some tuning systems, between enharmonically equivalent notes such as C and D. Intervals can be arbitrarily small, and even imperceptible to the human ear. In physical terms, an interval is the ratio between two sonic f ...
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Septimal Chromatic Semitone
In music, a septimal chromatic semitone or minor semitoneHaluska, Jan (2003). ''The Mathematical Theory of Tone Systems'', p.xxiv. . is the interval 21:20 (). It is about 84.47 cents. The septimal chromatic semitone may be derived from the harmonic series as the interval between the twentieth and twenty-first harmonics. The septimal chromatic semitone equals a just chromatic semitone A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ... (25:24) plus a septimal semicomma (126:125). When added to the 15:14 semitone, the 21:20 semitone and 28:27 semitone produce the 9:8 tone ( major tone) and 10:9 tone (minor tone), respectively. References 7-limit tuning and intervals Seconds (music) 0021:0020 {{Music-theory-stub ...
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Harmonic Seventh On C
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the other harmonics are known as ''higher harmonics''. As all harmonics are periodic at the fundamental frequency, the sum of harmonics is also periodic at that frequency. The set of harmonics forms a '' harmonic series''. The term is employed in various disciplines, including music, physics, acoustics, electronic power transmission, radio technology, and other fields. For example, if the fundamental frequency is 50  Hz, a common AC power supply frequency, the frequencies of the first three higher harmonics are 100 Hz (2nd harmonic), 150 Hz (3rd harmonic), 200 Hz (4th harmonic) and any addition of waves with these frequencies is periodic at 50 Hz. In music, harmonics are used on string instruments and wind instru ...
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