Pitch and Tuning Systems

Explains how the modern system of equal temperament, trans-positional notation, 12 note class keyboard and key signatures were four causes which transformed western music and culminated in symphonic synchronism and jazz improvisation.

TUNING: the adaption of the word in Polish.

School Music NEWS: The Official Publication of the New York State School Music Association, 2016

2009

2007

A discussion on the tuning systems in the music of German composer Manfred Stahnke is presented. This paper analyses the core characteristics of Stahnke's music, and his unique tendency for inventing new tuning systems to imprint a personal signature on his sound-world. Comments are made on three of his most interesting pieces, "Partch Harp", "Trace des sorciers" and "Partota 2".

2007

... The Analysis and Determination of the Tuning System in Audio Musical Signals Peyman Heydarian, Lewis Jones and Allan Seago Sir ... recognises the tuning in different ways: Perceptually: based on the emotions that a song conveys Through direct melody/theme ...

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

2018

This paper involves the historical development of concert pitch in United States orchestras. The goal is to show a brief development of tuning pitch and the understanding of the actual tendency of tuning pitch in United States orchestras. A wide range of tuning pitch was used in Western music since the Baroque period. This research highlights the use of A’ = 435 Hz (the diapason normal), also known as the“French pitch,” the A’ = 440 Hz, known in the nineteenth century as the “Scheibler pitch” and the international standard pitch. The pitch memory is the basic type of musical memory developed by musicians. It can affect the capacity of musicians to adapt to different tuning pitch. This research will allow musicians to be aware of the actual tendency of concert pitch in United States orchestras

2013

At the Edinburgh University Collection of Historical Instruments (EUCHMI) there are two virginals where the strings are plucked extremely close to 1/4 of their length over a substantial part of the compass. Principles of Acoustics dictate that in such cases the fourth partial of the resulting sound is unlikely to be produced with any appreciable magnitude. Similar situations affecting different partials also occur when the plucking point is located at other fractional parts of the string length, such as 1/3 or 1/5. A database of plucking points, based on museum catalogues, was created and analysed, so that pitch regions are identified where such phenomena are likely to occur for different categories of instruments. The main cue used in harpsichord tuning is related to beat phenomena produced by partials of two simultaneously played notes, whenever there is a small difference between their frequencies. Partial four being relevant for major thirds and perfect fourths, these intervals may result less accurate, or less reliably tuned, in instruments like the above virginals. Historical sources were surveyed for expressions which describe the cues that tuners were supposed to use in identifying the ideal of an interval. Although expressions such as Schwebungen are mostly related with beats, broader meanings are discussed. Hints of the use of alternative, not beat-related cues, are identified. A series of practical tuning experiments was performed in which selected intervals were tuned, the accuracy of the tuning process being assessed from recordings, which were subjected to spectral analysis. Only cues that could be related to historical sources were used. The effects of factors such as pitch, pitch region, instrument, interval type, and particularly the potential absence of relevant partials were investigated, statistical methods playing a substantial role in the research. A logbook was created, where the experimenter detailed the cues used for each tuned interval in one of the experiments. The recorded information provided some insight into a number of strategies a tuner may use for coping with difficulties in cases of absent or weak partials. The impact of inharmonicity on the exact size of just intervals was also examined, both on theoretical grounds and based on data from the experiments. A number of case studies were included, where a comparison was made between missing partial notes predicted from plucking points and the degree of absence of those partials in the actual spectra for some historical instruments.""

COMPARISON OF HISTORICAL NEAR-EASTERN INSTRUMENT TUNINGS: TUNBUR, OUD, TAR, SAZ, 2023

The aim of the present work is to compare historical tunings/frettings of such string Near-Eastern instruments as tunbūr, barbat/oud, tar and saz, making observations and conclusions regarding their affinity and possible representations by equal temperaments (EDO).