36edo: Difference between revisions

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Relation to 12edo and other tunings: Fix comma splice in description of intervals in 2nd paragraph. Still need to think of better wording for this paragraph
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For people accustomed to 12edo, 36edo is one of the easiest (if not ''the'' easiest) higher edo to become accustomed to. This is because one way to envision it is as an extended 12edo to which [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_note blue notes] (which are a sixth-tone lower than normal) and "red notes" (a sixth-tone higher) have been added.
For people accustomed to 12edo, 36edo is one of the easiest (if not ''the'' easiest) higher edo to become accustomed to. This is because one way to envision it is as an extended 12edo to which [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_note blue notes] (which are a sixth-tone lower than normal) and "red notes" (a sixth-tone higher) have been added.


The intervals in 36edo are all either the familiar 12edo intervals, or else "red" and "blue" versions of them. In [[24edo]], intervals such as 250 cents (halfway between a tone and a third) and 450 cents (halfway between a fourth and a third) tend to sound genuinely foreign, the new intervals in 36edo are all variations on existing ones. Unlike 24edo, 36edo is also relatively free of what Easley Blackwood called "discordant" intervals. The 5th and 11th harmonics fall almost halfway in between scale degrees of 36edo, and thus intervals containing them can be approximated two different ways, one of which is significantly sharp and the other significantly flat. The 333.333-cent interval (the "red minor third") sharply approximates 6/5 and flatly approximates 11/9, for instance, whereas the sharp 11/9 is 366.667 cents and the flat 6/5 is 300 cents. However, 11/10, 20/11, 15/11, and 22/15 all have accurate and consistent approximations since the errors on the 5th and 11th harmonics cancel out with both tending sharp.
The intervals in 36edo are all either the familiar 12edo intervals, or else "red" and "blue" versions of them. In [[24edo]], intervals such as 250 cents (halfway between a tone and a third) and 450 cents (halfway between a fourth and a third) tend to sound genuinely foreign, whereas the new intervals in 36edo are all variations on existing ones. Unlike 24edo, 36edo is also relatively free of what Easley Blackwood called "discordant" intervals. The 5th and 11th harmonics fall almost halfway in between scale degrees of 36edo, and thus intervals containing them can be approximated two different ways, one of which is significantly sharp and the other significantly flat. The 333.333-cent interval (the "red minor third") sharply approximates 6/5 and flatly approximates 11/9, for instance, whereas the sharp 11/9 is 366.667 cents and the flat 6/5 is 300 cents. However, 11/10, 20/11, 15/11, and 22/15 all have accurate and consistent approximations since the errors on the 5th and 11th harmonics cancel out with both tending sharp.


36edo is fairly cosmopolitan because many genres of world music can be played in it. Because of the presence of blue notes, and the closeness with which the 7th harmonic and its intervals are matched, 36edo is an ideal scale to use for African-American genres of music such as blues and jazz, in which septimal intervals are frequently encountered. Indonesian gamelan music using pelog easily adapts to it as well, since 9edo is a subset and can be notated as every fourth note, and Slendro can be approximated in several different ways as well. 36edo can therefore function as a "bridge" between these genres and Western music. Arabic and Persian music do not adapt as well, however, since their microtonal intervals consist of mostly quarter tones.
36edo is fairly cosmopolitan because many genres of world music can be played in it. Because of the presence of blue notes, and the closeness with which the 7th harmonic and its intervals are matched, 36edo is an ideal scale to use for African-American genres of music such as blues and jazz, in which septimal intervals are frequently encountered. Indonesian gamelan music using pelog easily adapts to it as well, since 9edo is a subset and can be notated as every fourth note, and Slendro can be approximated in several different ways as well. 36edo can therefore function as a "bridge" between these genres and Western music. Arabic and Persian music do not adapt as well, however, since their microtonal intervals consist of mostly quarter tones.