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Equal Tempered
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system that approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into steps such that the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same. This system yields pitch steps perceived as equal in size, due to the logarithmic changes in pitch frequency. In classical music and Western music in general, the most common tuning system since the 18th century has been 12 equal temperament (also known as ''12 tone equal temperament'', ' or ', informally abbreviated as ''12 equal''), which divides the octave into 12 parts, all of which are equal on a logarithmic scale, with a ratio equal to the 12th root of 2, (\sqrt 2/math> ≈ 1.05946). That resulting smallest interval, the width of an octave, is called a semitone or half step. In Western countries the term ''equal temperament'', without qualification, generally means '. In modern times, is usually tuned relative to a sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octave
In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems". The interval between the first and second harmonics of the harmonic series is an octave. In Western music notation, notes separated by an octave (or multiple octaves) have the same name and are of the same pitch class. To emphasize that it is one of the perfect intervals (including unison, perfect fourth, and perfect fifth), the octave is designated P8. Other interval qualities are also possible, though rare. The octave above or below an indicated note is sometimes abbreviated ''8a'' or ''8va'' (), ''8va bassa'' (, sometimes also ''8vb''), or simply ''8'' for the octave in the direction indicated by placing this mark above or below the staff. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A440 (pitch Standard)
A440 (also known as Stuttgart pitch) is the musical pitch corresponding to an audio frequency of 440 Hz, which serves as a tuning standard for the musical note of A above middle C, or A4 in scientific pitch notation. It is standardized by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 16. While other frequencies have been (and occasionally still are) used to tune the first A above middle C, A440 is now commonly used as a reference frequency to calibrate acoustic equipment and to tune pianos, violins, and other musical instruments. History and use Before standardization to 440 Hz, many countries and organizations followed the French standard since the 1860s of 435 Hz, which had also been the Austrian government's 1885 recommendation. Johann Heinrich Scheibler recommended A440 as a standard in 1834 after inventing the "tonometer" to measure pitch, and it was approved by the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians at a meeting in Stuttgart th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fret
A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instruments and non-European instruments, frets are made of pieces of string tied around the neck. Frets divide the neck into fixed segments at intervals related to a musical framework. On instruments such as guitars, each fret represents one semitone in the standard western system, in which one octave is divided into twelve semitones. ''Fret'' is often used as a verb, meaning simply "to press down the string behind a fret". ''Fretting'' often refers to the frets and/or their system of placement. Explanation Pressing the string against the fret reduces the vibrating length of the string to that between the bridge and the next fret between the fretting finger and the bridge. This is damped if the string were stopped with the soft fingert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keyboard Instruments
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers that are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital pianos. Other keyboard instruments include celestas, which are struck idiophones operated by a keyboard, and carillons, which are usually housed in bell towers or belfries of churches or municipal buildings. Today, the term ''keyboard'' often refers to keyboard-style synthesizers and arrangers as well as work-stations. These keyboards typically work by translating the physical act of pressing keys into electrical signals that produce sound. Under the fingers of a sensitive performer, the keyboard may also be used to control dynamics, phrasing, shading, articulation, and other elements of expression—depending on the design and inherent capabilities of the instrument. Modern keyboards, especially digital ones, can simulate a wide range of sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Instruments
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of the effective length of the vibrating column of air. In the case of some wind instruments, sound is produced by blowing through a reed; others require buzzing into a metal mouthpiece, while yet others require the player to blow into a hole at an edge, which splits the air column and creates the sound. Methods for obtaining different notes * Using different air columns for different tones, such as in the pan flute. These instruments can play several notes at once. * Changing the length of the vibrating air column by changing the length of the tube through engaging valves ''(see rotary valve, piston valve)'' which route the air through additional tubin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Just Intonation
In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in this way are said to be pure, and are called just intervals. Just intervals (and chords created by combining them) consist of tones from a single harmonic series (music), harmonic series of an implied fundamental frequency, fundamental. For example, in the diagram, if the notes G3 and C4 (labelled 3 and 4) are tuned as members of the harmonic series of the lowest C, their frequencies will be 3 and 4 times the fundamental frequency. The interval ratio between C4 and G3 is therefore 4:3, a just fourth (music), fourth. In Western musical practice, bowed instruments such as violins, violas, cellos, and double basses are tuned using pure fifths or fourths. In contrast, keyboard instruments are rarely tuned using only pure intervals—the desire fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open String (music)
In music, there are two common meanings for tuning: * Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice. * Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases. Tuning practice Tuning is the process of adjusting the pitch of one or many tones from musical instruments to establish typical intervals between these tones. Tuning is usually based on a fixed reference, such as A = 440 Hz. The term "''out of tune''" refers to a pitch/tone that is either too high ( sharp) or too low ( flat) in relation to a given reference pitch. While an instrument might be in tune relative to its own range of notes, it may not be considered 'in tune' if it does not match the chosen reference pitch. Some instruments become 'out of tune' with temperature, humidity, damage, or simply time, and must be readjusted or repaired. Different methods of sound production require different methods of adjustment: * Tuning to a pitch with one's vo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
String Ensemble
A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first and second violin players (each usually playing different parts), the viola, the cello, and usually, but not always, the double bass. String orchestras can be of chamber orchestra size ranging from between 12 (4 first violins, 3 second violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos and 1 bass = 12) and 21 musicians (6 first violins, 5 second violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos and 2 double basses= 21) sometimes performing without a conductor. It could also consist of the entire string section of a large symphony orchestra which could have 60 musicians (16 first violins, 14 second violins, 12 violas, 10 cellos and 8 double basses = 60; ''Gurre-Lieder'' calls for 84: 20.20.16.16.12). Repertoire The repertoire includes several works by Mozart (including ''Eine kleine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudo-octave
In music theory, a pseudo-octave, pseudooctave, or paradoxical octave is an interval whose ratio of frequencies is not exactly expected for perfectly harmonic pitches, but slightly wider or narrower in pitch – for example , , or even as large as The pseudo-octave is never-the-less perceived as if it were equivalent to the conventional 2:1 harmonic ratio, and consequently is treated the same: Pitches separated by a pseudo-octave appropriate for a given instrument are considered equivalent to each other just as with normal ''"pitch classes"'' (which are typically explained only in terms of the idealized 2:1 octave). Stretched octave The stretched octave, for example rather than (an 8.6 cent pitch difference), sounds ''out of tune'' when played with ideal harmonic overtones, but ''in tune'' when played with lower notes whose overtones are themselves naturally stretched by an equivalent amount. In piano tuning, stretched octaves are commonly encou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bohlen–Pierce Scale
The Bohlen–Pierce scale (BP scale) is a musical musical tuning, tuning and scale (music), scale, first described in the 1970s, that offers an alternative to the octave-repeating scales typical in Classical music, Western and other musics, specifically the equal temperament, equal-tempered diatonic scale. The interval 3:1 (often called by a new name, ''tritave'') serves as the fundamental harmonic ratio, replacing the diatonic scale's 2:1 (the octave) with a perfect twelfth (an octave higher than a perfect fifth). For any pitch that is part of the BP scale, all pitches one or more tritaves higher or lower are part of the system as well, and are considered equivalent. The BP scale divides the tritave into 13 steps, either Equal temperament, equal tempered (the most popular form), or in a Just intonation, justly tuned version. Compared with octave-repeating scales, the BP scale's interval (music), intervals are more consonance and dissonance, consonant with certain types of acous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arab Tone System
The modern Arab tone system, or system of musical tuning, is based upon the theoretical division of the octave into twenty-four equal divisions or 24-tone equal temperament, the distance between each successive note being a quarter tone (50 cents). Each tone has its own name not repeated in different octaves, unlike systems featuring octave equivalency. The lowest tone is named ''yakah'' and is determined by the lowest pitch in the range of the singer. The next higher octave is ''nawa'' and the second ''tuti''. However, from these twenty-four tones, seven are selected to produce a scale and thus the interval of a quarter tone is never used and the three-quarter tone or neutral second should be considered the characteristic interval. By contrast, in the European equally tempered scale the octave is divided into twelve equal divisions, or exactly half as many as the Arab system. Thus, when Arabic music is written in European musical notation, a slashed or reversed flat sign is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
31 Equal Temperament
In music, 31 equal temperament, which can also be abbreviated (31 tone ) or (equal division of the octave), also known as tricesimoprimal, is the tempered scale derived by dividing the octave into 31 equally-proportioned steps (equal frequency ratios). Each step represents a frequency ratio of , or 38.71 cents (). is a very good approximation of quarter-comma meantone temperament. More generally, it is a regular diatonic tuning in which the tempered perfect fifth is equal to 696.77 cents, as shown in Figure 1. On an isomorphic keyboard, the fingering of music composed in is precisely the same as it is in any other syntonic tuning (such as so long as the notes are spelled properly—that is, with no assumption of enharmonicity. History and use Division of the octave into 31 steps arose naturally out of Renaissance music theory; the lesser diesis – the ratio of an octave to three major thirds, 128:125 or 41.06 cents – was app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
