Leedy & Corey - Tuning Systems (Grove)
Leedy & Corey - Tuning Systems (Grove)
Leedy & Corey - Tuning Systems (Grove)
Tuning systems
Douglas Leedy and Charles Corey
https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2252551
Published in print: 26 November 2013
Published online: 16 October 2013
Until about 1850 many organs in New England were tuned to some
practical variant of meantone temperament, while in areas of
German influence (such as the Moravian communities) equal
temperament prevailed. The universal acceptance of 12-tone equal
temperament as standard from the mid-19th century nearly silenced
discussion of alternative systems; only a few isolated composers and
theorists advocated or experimented with non-standard tuning
systems before about 1960. (Even so, an undercurrent of
dissatisfaction with 12-tone equal temperament was expressed even
by figures in the musical mainstream, e.g., Henry Cowell and Paul
Hindemith.)
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experiments were very much a continuation of his father’s work,
most especially in the plans for the Universe Symphony (1911–28,
unfinished), for which Ives envisioned “continents” of instruments,
each tuned to a different system, including “perfectly tuned
overtones … perfectly tuned correct scales, … scales of a smaller
division than a semitone, scales of uneven division greater than a
whole tone, scales with no octave …”—all to be generated,
apparently, from a 32′ “pedal A.” Although Charles Ives published an
account of a very thorough empirical study of the intervals and
sonorities available in the quarter-tone system, he used quarter-
tones in only a few works, most notably the Three Quarter-Tone
Pieces (1923–4) for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart.
Beginning with the work of harry Partch , the United States became
the center of significant activity in alternative tuning systems. Partch
entirely rejected the development of Western music and, taking his
inspiration from the ancient Greeks, created a unique music, one of
the central features of which is a just system of tuning. His most
famous scale included 43 tones per octave, but Partch lamented the
fact that this was often the total knowledge of his just-intoned
system. Partch assigned to the “unity” ratio, 1:1, the pitch gʹ (392
Hz). From here and from several other pitches, Otonalities (derived
from the overtone series) and Utonalities (the inversions of the
Otonality ratios) were derived, and crucial pitches were identified as
Identities (tones that could be interpreted in multiple tonalities).
This system is fully elucidated in chapters 7, 8, and 10 of his Genesis
of a Music (1949, rev. and enlarged 1974).
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theoretical writings on earlier Western music; the availability of
analog and digital electronic systems to create and analyze music; a
tendency, especially among younger musicians, to reject or question
traditional opinions regarding tuning and intonation; and the
influence of the ideas and music of composers such as Partch and
Ives. Such exploration has proven that no single practical system can
adequately serve every musical need.
The impetus to explore different tuning systems arises from the fact
that no single practical system can adequately serve every musical
need. Considering the two fundamental alternatives—a just system,
consisting entirely of pure intervals, or one that is tempered—there
are three principal differences between them: whereas just systems
consist entirely of pure intervals, equal temperaments contain no
absolutely pure intervals except the octave; just systems are by
nature infinite in size, while equal temperaments are closed and
finite; internal symmetry and the possibilities of transposition are
both complex and limited in just systems, while any equal
temperament offers an evident and readily manipulated structure, as
well as the possibility of uniform modulation through all its degrees
(too much has been made, however, of the presumed disadvantage of
limited transposition in systems that are not equal-tempered—see
Partch, chapter 11). To this end, equal-tempered systems typically
derive their harmonic function out of context, while just-intoned
systems may have harmonic functions inherent in the interval.
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notational convenience, the suitability of the system for some or all
of a traditional repertory of music, and the convenience of adapting
or constructing musical instruments for the system.
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Varèse, Cage, and Lou Harrison has also probably been influential.
Notable instruments (besides those built by Partch and Harrison)
include Dean Drummond’s zoomoozophone, Darreg’s megalyras, and
the tubulons built by Ervin Wilson and his student Craig Huxley
(born Craig Hundley). An important intercultural synthesis is the
American gamelan, a consort of instruments modeled tonally and
structurally on the central-Javanese gamelan, built of a combination
of traditional and modern materials, and suited both to new music
and much traditional (Javanese) repertory (see Gamelan).
Bibliography
A.J. Ellis: Appendices, On the Sensations of Tone as a
Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music (London,
1875, 6/1948) [trans. of H. von Helmholtz: Die Lehre von
den Tonempfindungen als physiologische Grundlage für
die Theorie der Musik, Brunswick, Germany, 1863, with
addns]
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A. Benade: Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics (New York,
1976)
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J.H. Chalmers, Jr.: Divisions of the Tetrachord: a
Prolegomenon to the Construction of Musical Scales
(Hanover, NH, 1993)
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