Kite's thoughts on harmonic and subharmonic nomenclature: Difference between revisions

TallKite (talk | contribs)
Created page with "One can prefix any conventional theory term with the term ''harmonic'' or ''subharmonic'', and ideally it would refer to a specific JI interval, chord or scale. This is my (Kite's) attempt to systematically explore this. Often the resulting terms are rather useless, because it duplicates a much more widespread term. There's not much point in calling 3/2 a harmonic fifth when we can call it a perfect fifth! == Intervals == 7/4 is often called the harmonic 7th. 9/5 is not..."
 
m + category for opinion piece
 
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=== Triads ===
=== Triads ===
These names are somewhat arbitrary. Arguably, 7:9:11 isn't an augmented chord, and the simplest augmented chord should be 8:10:13 or 16:20:25.
{| class="wikitable center-all"
{| class="wikitable center-all"
|+Harmonic and subharmonic triads (the more useful terms are bolded)
|+Harmonic and subharmonic triads (the more useful terms are bolded)
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Each subharmonic chord is the melodic inversion of the corresponding harmonic chord, and vice versa.
Each subharmonic chord is the melodic inversion of the corresponding harmonic chord, and vice versa.
Arguably, 7:9:11 isn't an augmented chord, and the harmonic augmented chord should be 8:10:13 or 16:20:25.


=== 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th chords ===
=== 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th chords ===
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I left out heptatonic scales because the 7::14 scale always feels to me like an 8::16 scale with a missing note.
I left out heptatonic scales because the 7::14 scale always feels to me like an 8::16 scale with a missing note.
[[Category:Essays]]
[[Category:Notation]]
[[Category:Naming]]