Primer for 19edo: Difference between revisions

== Background ==

[[19edo]] can be an easy tuning for those with a little music theory background, but no xenharmonic experience.  Standard notation can be used (just be vigilant with spelling and watch enharmonic equivalents), and there are only 7 more notes than 12edo (making it the edo with the fewest notes more than 12 where standard notation can be used without new accidentals).

Longer scale fretted instruments like guitar and bass guitar have fret placements that don't require major modification of playing techniques, and isometric keyboard instruments can represent this tuning ergonomically with three rows of keys or buttons.  Due to the close relationship with other classical temperaments, some wind instruments can be played with alternative fingerings to approximate 19edo.   

Looking at 19edo as an extension of 12edo, standard notation can be used, whether it is staff notation (with five lines), letter notation (with standard accidentals), solfege, or sargam. Notes with enharmonic equivalents are different than they are in 12edo, though.

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Chords would follow the same spelling as with standard 12edo notation, just be careful with spelling. For example, Bb chord would be spelled Bb D F, and A# chord would be A# Cx E#; but the two are different chords, one degree apart from each other.

=== Solfege ===

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== Tuning (a stringed instrument) ==

There are many approaches to tuning (if you are reading this, then that statement should seem ironic here), so tuning something like a guitar in 19edo might seem like a daunting task.

For viola or 'cello, or mandola or mandocello, you will need to offset the C string only if the reference tone is not C standard.  For A standard, tune C 16 cents sharp.

To review some scale formulas (in degrees) from regular old 12edo:

=== Roman numeral notation ===

Just how the staff and letter names of notes from 12edo can carry over into 19edo with a simple shift in mindset, roman numeral chord notation can be used in pretty much the same way it was used in 12edo.  Only the relationships between enharmonic equivalent chords are changed.

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Again, there are sometimes, confusingly, other notation conventions.  For example, in common practice, the chords in the natural minor scale are i - ii° - bIII - iv - v - bVI - bVII, but since the minor scale is sometimes assumed, some people use the notation "i - ii° - III - iv - v - VI - VII" without the accidentals.  This is not expressly incorrect, but many consider it confusing.  In the case of xenharmonic music, it is recommended to use the accidental marks whenever possible to avoid the confusion introduced by notation that doesn't specify them, compounded by the complication of having more accidentals for which to account.

In 12edo, there are some key changes that may be subtle, while others can be a little jarring to the listener.

For example:

I - IV - V - I - vi - II - II7 - V

Another example from Schubert's op.9 D365

More complex harmonies are possible in 19edo than are available in 12edo, by the nature of the extended option palette of intervals, but most are quite difficult for a beginner to use.  It would be recommended to start out looking at 19edo as an alternative version of 12edo, at first, and then add some experimentation as the composer begins to get comfortable with the nuances of the tuning system.  Although any rule of thumb in music, generally speaking, is just begging to be dashed apart by a good counter-example.

== Serialism ==

This tool can be used in any tuning system with a set number of discrete tones per defined interval.  For example, in Bohlen-Pierce, there are 13 tones per perfect twelfth.  The technique can still be used.  In a continuous tuning system, the technique cannot be used.  But in 19edo, the technique can be used similarly to how it is used in 12edo.

== Onward ==