User:Lhearne/Extra-Diatonic Intervals: Difference between revisions

Line 24:

''tonos'' referred both to the interval of a whole tone, and something more akin to [[mode]] or key in the modern sense ([http://lumma.org/tuning/chalmers/DivisionsOfTheTetrachord.pdf Chalmers, 1993])

''ditone'' referred to the interval made by stacking two [[9/8]] whole tones~~, was referred to as ''tonos''~~, resulting in [[81/64]], the Pythagorean major third~~, as a ''ditone''~~ ([[Joe Monzo|Monzo]], http://www.tonalsoft.com)

''ditone'' referred to the interval made by stacking two [[9/8]] whole tones, resulting in [[81/64]], the Pythagorean major third. ([[Joe Monzo|Monzo]], http://www.tonalsoft.com)

[[256/243]] - the ''limma'', which is the ratio between left over after subtracting two 9/8 tones (together making a ditone) a perfect fourth, the ''diatonic semitone'' of the Pythagorean diatonic scale

Line 32:

The Ancient greek term ''diatonon'', meaning 'through tones', refers to the genus with two whole tones and a semitone, or any genus in which no interval is greater than one half of the fourth (Chalmers, 1993). The Pythaogrean diatonic scale is the scale that may be built from one two Pythagorean tetrachords, and the left over interval of 9/8.

=== ~~Our current diatonic interval names~~ ===

=== Zarlino and Meantone ===

Intervals were referred to by the Ancient Greek names through the the 18th century, as Latin names. By the Renaissance it had been discovered that a Pythagorean diminished fourth sounded sweet, and approximated the string length ratio 5/4. This just tuning for the major third was sought after, along with the complementary 6/5 tuning for the minor third, and octave complements to both - 8/5 for the minor sixth and 5/3 for the major sixth. Influential Italian music theorist and composer Gioseffo Zarlino put forth that choirs tuned the diatonic scale to the tuning built from this tetrachord, the ''intense diatonic scale'', also known as the ''syntonic or syntonus diatonic scale'' or the ''Ptolemaic sequence'':

1/1 9/8 5/4 4/3 3/2 5/3 15/8 2/1

Included in this scale, however, were ''wolf intervals:'' imperfect consonances that occurred as tunings of the same interval as perfect consonances. For example, between 1/1 and 3/2, 4/3 and 1/1, 5/3 and 5/4; and 5/4 and 15/8 occurs the perfect fifth, 3/2, whereas between 9/8 and 5/3 occurs the wolf fifth, 40/27, flat of 3/2 by 81/80. This was also the interval by which four 3/2 fifths missed 5/1 (the interval two octaves above 5/4). It was named the ''syntonic comma'' after Ptolemy's ''syntonus'' or ''intense diatonic tetrachord'' which consists of the intervals 9/8, 10/9 and 16/15, where 9/8 and 10/9 differ by this interval. By making the syntonic comma a unison the wolf fifth could be made a perfect fifth. It was discovered that this could be achieved by flattening (tempering) the perfect fifth by some fraction of this comma such that four of these fifths less two octaves gave an approximation of 5/4. Where two fifths less an octave give 9/8, the next two add another 10/9 to result in the 5/4. 9/8 and 10/9 were referred to as the ''major tone'' and ''minor tone'', respectively, and where this tuning led to them being equated, it was referred to as Meantone temperament, which is said to 'temper out' the syntonic comma. Zarlino advocated the flattening of the fifth by 2/7 of a comma, leading to 2/7-comma Meantone, but also described 1/3-comma and 1/4-comma Meantone as usable (Zarlino, 1558).

The perfect tuning for the ditone was considered then to be 5/4, rather than 81/64. The interval for which 6/5 is considered a perfect tuning was referred to as a ''semiditone'' (labelled also by Zarlino as ''Trihemituono)''. This may seem odd to us now, but in Latin 'semi' referred not to 'half', but to 'smaller', so 'semiditone' translated to something like 'smaller ditone'. Additionally 'semitone' referred to the interval smaller than the 'tone'. Like the tone, this interval possessed two alternative perfect tunings: 16/15, the difference between 15/8 and 2/1, or 5/4 and 4/3, and 25/24, the difference between 6/5 and 5/4. 16/15 was referred to as the ''major semitone'' and 25/24 as the ''minor semitone''.

In Zarlino's 1558 treatise ''Le istitutioni harmoniche,'' the first diagram associates many intervals with their tuning as perfect consonances.

2/1, 3/2 and 4/3 were labelled 'perfect' because they were seen to be the perfect consonances. The two sizes of second, third, sixth and seventh in the diatonic scale are labelled ''major'' or ''minor'', the larger sizes of each labelled major. Any perfect or major interval raised by a chromatic semitone (the difference, for e.g. between C and C#) is referred to as 'Augmented' and any minor or perfect interval lowered by a chromatic semitone is referred to as 'diminished'.

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ''tonos'' referred both to the interval of a whole tone, and something more akin to [[mode]] or key in the modern sense ([http://lumma.org/tuning/chalmers/DivisionsOfTheTetrachord.pdf Chalmers, 1993])
-''ditone'' referred to the interval made by stacking two [[9/8]] whole tones, was referred to as ''tonos'', resulting in [[81/64]], the Pythagorean major third, as a ''ditone'' ([[Joe Monzo|Monzo]], http://www.tonalsoft.com)
+''ditone'' referred to the interval made by stacking two [[9/8]] whole tones, resulting in [[81/64]], the Pythagorean major third. ([[Joe Monzo|Monzo]], http://www.tonalsoft.com)
 [[256/243]] - the ''limma'', which is the ratio between left over after subtracting two 9/8 tones (together making a ditone) a perfect fourth, the ''diatonic semitone'' of the Pythagorean diatonic scale
@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 The Ancient greek term ''diatonon'', meaning 'through tones', refers to the genus with two whole tones and a semitone, or any genus in which no interval is greater than one half of the fourth (Chalmers, 1993). The Pythaogrean diatonic scale is the scale that may be built from one two Pythagorean tetrachords, and the left over interval of 9/8.
-=== Our current diatonic interval names ===
+=== Zarlino and Meantone ===
+Intervals were referred to by the Ancient Greek names through the the 18th century, as Latin names. By the Renaissance it had been discovered that a Pythagorean diminished fourth sounded sweet, and approximated the string length ratio 5/4. This just tuning for the major third was sought after, along with the complementary 6/5 tuning for the minor third, and octave complements to both - 8/5 for the minor sixth and 5/3 for the major sixth. Influential Italian music theorist and composer Gioseffo Zarlino put forth that choirs tuned the diatonic scale to the tuning built from this tetrachord, the ''intense diatonic scale'', also known as the ''syntonic or syntonus diatonic scale'' or the ''Ptolemaic sequence'':
+/1 9/8 5/4 4/3 3/2 5/3 15/8 2/1
+Included in this scale, however, were ''wolf intervals:'' imperfect consonances that occurred as tunings of the same interval as perfect consonances. For example, between 1/1 and 3/2, 4/3 and 1/1, 5/3 and 5/4; and 5/4 and 15/8 occurs the perfect fifth, 3/2, whereas between 9/8 and 5/3 occurs the wolf fifth, 40/27, flat of 3/2 by 81/80. This was also the interval by which four 3/2 fifths missed 5/1 (the interval two octaves above 5/4). It was named the ''syntonic comma'' after Ptolemy's ''syntonus'' or ''intense diatonic tetrachord'' which consists of the intervals 9/8, 10/9 and 16/15, where 9/8 and 10/9 differ by this interval. By making the syntonic comma a unison the wolf fifth could be made a perfect fifth. It was discovered that this could be achieved by flattening (tempering) the perfect fifth by some fraction of this comma such that four of these fifths less two octaves gave an approximation of 5/4. Where two fifths less an octave give 9/8, the next two add another 10/9 to result in the 5/4. 9/8 and 10/9 were referred to as the ''major tone'' and ''minor tone'', respectively, and where this tuning led to them being equated, it was referred to as Meantone temperament, which is said to 'temper out' the syntonic comma. Zarlino advocated the flattening of the fifth by 2/7 of a comma, leading to 2/7-comma Meantone, but also described 1/3-comma and 1/4-comma Meantone as usable (Zarlino, 1558).
+The perfect tuning for the ditone was considered then to be 5/4, rather than 81/64. The interval for which 6/5 is considered a perfect tuning was referred to as a ''semiditone'' (labelled also by Zarlino as ''Trihemituono)''. This may seem odd to us now, but in Latin 'semi' referred not to 'half', but to 'smaller', so 'semiditone' translated to something like 'smaller ditone'. Additionally 'semitone' referred to the interval smaller than the 'tone'. Like the tone, this interval possessed two alternative perfect tunings: 16/15, the difference between 15/8 and 2/1, or 5/4 and 4/3, and 25/24, the difference between 6/5 and 5/4. 16/15 was referred to as the ''major semitone'' and 25/24 as the ''minor semitone''.
+In Zarlino's 1558 treatise ''Le istitutioni harmoniche,'' the first diagram associates many intervals with their tuning as perfect consonances.
 /1, 3/2 and 4/3 were labelled 'perfect' because they were seen to be the perfect consonances. The two sizes of second, third, sixth and seventh in the diatonic scale are labelled ''major'' or ''minor'', the larger sizes of each labelled major. Any perfect or major interval raised by a chromatic semitone (the difference, for e.g. between C and C#) is referred to as 'Augmented' and any minor or perfect interval lowered by a chromatic semitone is referred to as 'diminished'.