Aggravations of being a Wikipedia editor

You leave an article like

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_of_musical_scales

in reasonable shape, and some anoymous editor comes along and adds this:

In equal temperament the half step, rather than the fifth or third, is
the basis of tuning. Each half step is the interval of the twelfth
root of two, so that twelve of these equal half steps add up to
exactly an octave. This is the 12-step, equal tempered scale. In
non-equal tempered scales, it is necessary to retune whenever changing
keys. Also, fretted instrument must use an equal tempered scale, or
else the frets would not align evenly across the strings.

Equal tempered scales have been built using 19 equally spaced tones,
and also 24 equally spaced tones. These scale have their uses, but the
12 tone scale does the best job approximating the perfect fifth,
perfect fourth, minor third, major third, minor sixth, and major
sixth. The 12 tone, equal tempered scale does compromise in
approximating these tones. But, this tonal compromise is normally
forgiven in light of the advantage of quick key changes and uniformly
tuned instruments.

That was in there since last October.

yes.and believe it or not, I've seen worse.......MUCH WORSE! But
imperfect as it is, i still think it's a great resource .

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <genewardsmith@...>
wrote:
>
> You leave an article like
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_of_musical_scales
>
> in reasonable shape, and some anoymous editor comes along and adds
this:
>
> In equal temperament the half step, rather than the fifth or third,
is
> the basis of tuning. Each half step is the interval of the twelfth
> root of two, so that twelve of these equal half steps add up to
> exactly an octave. This is the 12-step, equal tempered scale. In
> non-equal tempered scales, it is necessary to retune whenever
changing
> keys. Also, fretted instrument must use an equal tempered scale, or
> else the frets would not align evenly across the strings.
>
> Equal tempered scales have been built using 19 equally spaced tones,
> and also 24 equally spaced tones. These scale have their uses, but
the
> 12 tone scale does the best job approximating the perfect fifth,
> perfect fourth, minor third, major third, minor sixth, and major
> sixth. The 12 tone, equal tempered scale does compromise in
> approximating these tones. But, this tonal compromise is normally
> forgiven in light of the advantage of quick key changes and
uniformly
> tuned instruments.
>
> That was in there since last October.
>

> Equal tempered scales have been built using 19 equally spaced tones,
> and also 24 equally spaced tones. These scale have their uses, but
> the ...
//
> That was in there since last October.

Dear lord. We need a full-time editor with all the microtonal
pages in his watchlist.

-Carl

On 5/29/06, Carl Lumma <clumma@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Dear lord. We need a full-time editor with all the microtonal
> pages in his watchlist.

I come pretty close to satisfying that wish. "Mathematics of musical
scales" wasn't on my watchlist before, but it is now.

Keenan

From: Gene Ward Smith on Sun May 28, 2006:
>
> You leave an article like
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_of_musical_scales
>
> in reasonable shape, and some anoymous editor comes along and adds this:
>
> In equal temperament the half step, rather than the fifth or third, is
> the basis of tuning. Each half step is the interval of the twelfth
> root of two, so that twelve of these equal half steps add up to
> exactly an octave. This is the 12-step, equal tempered scale. In
> non-equal tempered scales, it is necessary to retune whenever changing
> keys. Also, fretted instrument must use an equal tempered scale, or
> else the frets would not align evenly across the strings.
>
> Equal tempered scales have been built using 19 equally spaced tones,
> and also 24 equally spaced tones. These scale have their uses, but the
> 12 tone scale does the best job approximating the perfect fifth,
> perfect fourth, minor third, major third, minor sixth, and major
> sixth. The 12 tone, equal tempered scale does compromise in
> approximating these tones. But, this tonal compromise is normally
> forgiven in light of the advantage of quick key changes and uniformly
> tuned instruments.
>
> That was in there since last October.

Ah yes! But you left it *much* better than you found it. ;-)

Regards,
Yahya

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