Re: FAQ's "So what tuning am i using at the moment ?"

If you are reading this then it is most likely that you are a part of a 21st
century western musical paradigm.

If this is not the case please stop reading now. What follows does not
nescessarily apply to you.

You, the musician or composer are probably using a tuning system known as Twelve
Tone Equal Temperament, abbreviated as 12-tet.

" I can understand the twelve tones, but what does equal refer to ? Also what is
temperament ? They never mentioned this in music class."

Your teachers probably didn't know what tuning system they were using either !

Ok imagine an infintite continuum of pitch from very low to very high. You could
select pitches for your musical instruments from anywhere along this pitch
continuum [P.C from now on]. You also could select any amount of tones from this
P.C. Now which tones would you select ?

" I don't know... I suppose I would pick out the ones that sounded the best."

Yes so would I. So lets do that. I'm going to take two sound sources playing
harmonic timbres, I'll explain what a harmonic timbre is in a moment but for the
time being some examples of harmonic timbres are trumpets [brass], the bowed and
plucked string family, woodwinds and the human voice. All these timbres are
quite musical. Do you agree ?

"Yes."

Good ! Now I'll take, say, two trombones playing a unison [same tone or note]
and then tell Trombone 1to hold that note. I'll then instruct Trombone 2, to
slowly gliss up through the P.C. When You hear a note that you like say "Hold it
!"

Ok, let's begin. Trombone 2 do your thing !

[Trombone 1 slides up the P.C, maintaining a constant volume. It reaches a
subminor third [7/6]]

"Hold it !" [Trombone holds the note at the indicated pitch]

Ok so. Why did you choose this interval ?

"It sounded rough and made a sort or warbling tremelo sound. Like an opera
singer ! And then the warbling slowed down until it became all smooth and there
was no longer any tremelo."

What you heard are called beats. Now I'll explain harmonic timbres to you.
Trombone 2 is playing a tone now. I can sing that pitch. [He does so. And sings
a unison with the trombone.] But that is not the only tone it is playing. There
are other fainter tones as well at higher pitches that blend in with the
fundamental pitch [tonic]. Like when a string quartet plays a chord starting
and ending together. It all sounds like one instrument. Well the other tones in
the trombone are like that but they are very simple instruments and they all
sound the same. If they played on their own they would sound very boring. These
instruments are called sine tones or sine waves. The pitches of these sine
waves follow a certain numerical relationship : 1:1, 1:2, 1: 3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:7
... and so on. The numbers are called the harmonic series.

"What do the numbers mean ?"

They denote a relationship, a ratio if you will between two pitches. In my
previous example the number 1:1 is the same as the two trombones playing in
unison, in the next one ie 1:2. It is like Trombone 2 playing an actave above
Trombone 1

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