Kite Guitar explanation for non-microtonalists: Difference between revisions
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Getting new sounds is easy -- just add new frets anywhere, and you get something new! But getting everything in tune is much harder. So most of this article is about that. But it turns out that by getting enough notes to tune everything accurately, we also get many exciting new sounds "for free". | Getting new sounds is easy -- just add new frets anywhere, and you get something new! But getting everything in tune is much harder. So most of this article is about that. But it turns out that by getting enough notes to tune everything accurately, we also get many exciting new sounds "for free". | ||
First, some terminology: Our standard tuning divides the octave into 12 equal steps, which is called 12-equal or 12-EDO ('''E'''qual '''D'''ivision of the '''O'''ctave). Microtonal music is anything that deviates significantly from that. Intervals are measured in cents. One hundred cents equals | First, some terminology: Our standard tuning divides the octave into 12 equal steps, which is called 12-equal or 12-EDO ('''E'''qual '''D'''ivision of the '''O'''ctave). Microtonal music is anything that deviates significantly from that. Intervals are measured in cents. One hundred cents equals a semitone. For example, a 12-EDO minor 3rd is 3 semitones, or 300¢. | ||
A musical pitch is actually a frequency. In fact, it's multiple frequencies at once. For example, A below middle-C is 220hz, but it's also 440 hz, 660 hz, 880 hz, etc. These higher frequencies are called harmonics, and they make a harmonic series. Every string and wind instrument including the voice has these harmonics present in every note. Understanding the harmonic series is <u>essential</u> for understanding microtonal music theory. For more on this, see the [[wikipedia:Harmonic_series_(music)|wikipedia article]], or these excellent youtube videos by [https://youtu.be/Wx_kugSemfY Andrew Huang] and [https://youtu.be/i_0DXxNeaQ0 Vi Hart]. | A musical pitch is actually a frequency. In fact, it's multiple frequencies at once. For example, A below middle-C is 220hz, but it's also 440 hz, 660 hz, 880 hz, etc. These higher frequencies are called harmonics, and they make a harmonic series. Every string and wind instrument including the voice has these harmonics present in every note. Understanding the harmonic series is <u>essential</u> for understanding microtonal music theory. For more on this, see the [[wikipedia:Harmonic_series_(music)|wikipedia article]], or these excellent youtube videos by [https://youtu.be/Wx_kugSemfY Andrew Huang] and [https://youtu.be/i_0DXxNeaQ0 Vi Hart]. | ||