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Nominal-accidental chain: Difference between revisions

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: ''"Sharp" and "flat" redirect here. For the temperaments that used to go by those names, see [[Sharpie]] and [[Flattie]].''
This is a neologism for the common pattern in [[Musical notation|notating]] microtonal pitch systems. These are analogous extensions of basic Western musical notation.
'''Nominals''' are pitch elements that have specific names. In Western musical notation, these names are the seven letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G (historically, H has also been used). In a pentatonic notation, there would be only five names.
{{Wikipedia| Accidental (music) }}
{{Wikipedia| Accidental (music) }}


: ''"Sharp" and "flat" redirect here. For the temperaments, see [[Sharp (temperament)]] and [[Flat (temperament)]].''
'''Accidentals''' are additional pitches that arise as modifications of the nominals. Unmodified pitches are natural notes. In diatonic [[circle-of-fifths notation]], the additional pitches are denoted by adding '''sharps''' or '''flats''' to the natural notes. The sharp accidental denotes a pitch raise by a [[chromatic semitone]], equivalent to a raise by 7 fifths minus 4 octaves. Conversely, the flat accidental denotes a pitch drop by the same amount. In [[equal temperament]]s, the number of steps this interval is mapped to is called the [[sharpness]].
 
These pitches form a chain, with each one separated from the next by a specific interval. This interval can be said to generate the notation, or the notation can be said to be based on this interval. In diatonic circle-of-fifths notation, this interval has been a just or near-just 3/2. Other intervals are possible, and even desirable for certain edos like 13, 18, and 23.
 
[[Enharmonic equivalence]] may arise from this approach, which is when the same pitch can have multiple names. People are often taught that C♯ is enharmonically equivalent to D♭ but this is only true in [[12edo]] and its multiples (24edo, 36edo, etc). The same term is sometimes used to refer to equivalence in general, but each edo technically has its own equivalence. [[7edo]] has the type of equivalence that could be called ''chromatic equivalence'', for example, since in 7edo the fact that stacking seven fifths takes one back to the root note means that sharps and flats are redundant.
 
== Inflections and alterations ==
Microtonal accidentals are sometimes referred to as '''inflections'''. Using this term allows the term ''accidental'' to refer exclusively to sharps, flats and naturals. Accidentals and inflections may then be referred to collectively as '''alterations'''. This terminology facilitates discussions of microtonal scores, especially in rank-1 and rank-2 systems.
 
Examples:
{| class="wikitable center-all"
|+ style="font-size: 105%" | Edo alterations
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | Accidentals
! colspan="2" | Inflections
|-
! colspan="2" | Arrows
|-
| Sharp
| Flat
| Up
| Down
|-
| ♯
| ♭
| ^
| v
|}
 
{| class="wikitable center-all"
|+ style="font-size: 105%" | [[Pergen]] alterations
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | Accidentals
! colspan="4" | Inflections
|-
! colspan="2" | Arrows
! colspan="2" | Slashes
|-
| Sharp
| Flat
| Up
| Down
| Lift
| Drop
|-
| ♯
| ♭
| ^
| v
| /
| \
|}


This is a neologism for very common pattern in [[Notation|notating]] microtonal pitch systems. These are analogic extensions of basic Western music notation.
{| class="wikitable center-all"
|+ style="font-size: 105%" | Just intonation alterations
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | Accidentals
! colspan="6" | Inflections
|-
! colspan="2" | Prime 5
! colspan="2" | Prime 7
! colspan="2" | Prime 11
|-
! rowspan="2" | Color notation
| Sharp
| Flat
| Yo
| Gu
| Zo
| Ru
| iLo
| Lu
|-
| ♯
| ♭
| y
| g
| z
| r
| 1o
| 1u
|-
! FJS notation
| ♯
| ♭
| 5
| /5
| 7
| /7
| 11
| /11
|-
! Prime-factor Sagittal
| ♯
| ♭
| \!
| <nowiki>/|</nowiki>
| !)
| <nowiki>|)</nowiki>
| <nowiki>/|\</nowiki>
| \!/
|}


'''Nominal''' means that some pitches have specific names. In Western music notation, these names are the seven letters A B C D E F G (historically, H has also been used.) In a pentatonic notation, there would be only five names.
Each JI inflection inflects by a certain [[formal comma|comma]].  


'''Accidental''' means that additional pitches arise as modifications (accidentals) of the named pitches. Unmodified pitches are natural notes. In Western music notation, the five "black keys" are named by adding "sharp" or "flat" to A-G.
These usages of the terms accidental, inflection and alteration were coined by [[Kite Giedraitis]].


The named pitches form a chain, with each one separated from the next by a specific interval. This interval can be said to generate the notation, or the notation can be said to be based on this interval. This interval traditionally has been a just or near-just 3/2. Other intervals are possible, and even desirable for certain edos like 13, 18 and 23.
== Specific notation schemes ==
; Diatonic
* [[Circle-of-fifths notation]] (and neutral circle-of-fifths notation)
** [[Ups and downs notation]]
** [[Syntonic&ndash;rastmic subchroma notation]]
** [[Sagittal notation]]


Western musical notation uses 7 nominals in a chain of fifths, and is a heptatonic fifth-based notation.
; Nondiatonic
* [[4L 5s (3/1-equivalent)#Notation|Bohlen&ndash;Pierce "Lambda" notation]]
* [[Armodue]] number notation (based on the [[superdiatonic]] scale)
* [[Fox&ndash;Raven notation]] (based on the [[oneirotonic]] scale)
* [[Arcturus hendecatonic notation]] (based on the [[Arcturus]][11] scale)
* [[Diamond-mos notation]]


'''[[Enharmonic equivalence]]''' may arise from this approach. This is when you have multiple names for the same pitch. C-sharp is enharmonically equivalent to D-flat, but only in 12edo, 24edo, 36edo, etc.
; Unsorted
* [[Erv Wilson]]'s Greek letters <!-- what's this? -->
* [[Aaron Hunt]]'s system


This page is incomplete, and will eventually contain or refer to
== Related topics ==
{{Todo| update |inline=1|comment=Find materials for these topics.}}


* How to use A-G circle-of-fifths notation to notate any tuning with a [[circle of fifths]]
* The term "albitonic" (see [[Chromatic pairs]])
* Non-A-G extensions, including [[Erv Wilson]]'s greek letters, [[Bohlen-Pierce]] notation, [[Armodue]] number notation
* [[Mark Gould]]'s connection of accidentals to [[bi-level MOS]]
* [[Mark Gould]]'s connection of accidentals to [[bi-level MOS]]
* the term "[[albitonic]]"
* Connections to [[Sagittal notation]] and [[Aaron Hunt]]'s system


{{Todo| expand | update }}
[[Category:Notation]]
[[Category:Notation]]
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