DefineMicrotonal
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==What is microtonal music?== Microtonal music makes use of intervals smaller than the smallest common interval in Western music theory, the half step (semitone). In Western music theory, the semitone is of a fixed size, exactly one-twelfth of an octave. Many folks have proceeded most obviously from the half step by dividing it into equal parts, which results in quarter-tones, eighth-tones, twelfth-tones, etc. In any case you're dealing with a lot more than twelve notes per octave. Macrotonal music, on the other hand, only uses intervals which are larger than the semitone (but not necessarily multiples of it). Dividing the octave eight equal ways, for example, is a macrotonal tuning. ==What is xenharmonic music?== Xenharmonic is a term coined by the late Ivor Darreg, from Greek //xenos// "strange, foreign" + //harmonikos// "sound, harmonic" to classify music in tunings that are definitely aurally distinct from the typical twelve tone equal tuning. Unfortunately, "microtonal" implies that you're using tiny intervals when you may not be, and "xenharmonic" is so...negative. Ivor also suggested "neoteric" which doesn't really carry any meaning but "new"...
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<html><head><title>DefineMicrotonal</title></head><body><!-- ws:start:WikiTextHeadingRule:0:<h2> --><h2 id="toc0"><a name="x-What is microtonal music?"></a><!-- ws:end:WikiTextHeadingRule:0 -->What is microtonal music?</h2> Microtonal music makes use of intervals smaller than the smallest common interval in Western music theory, the half step (semitone). In Western music theory, the semitone is of a fixed size, exactly one-twelfth of an octave.<br /> <br /> Many folks have proceeded most obviously from the half step by dividing it into equal parts, which results in quarter-tones, eighth-tones, twelfth-tones, etc. In any case you're dealing with a lot more than twelve notes per octave.<br /> <br /> Macrotonal music, on the other hand, only uses intervals which are larger than the semitone (but not necessarily multiples of it). Dividing the octave eight equal ways, for example, is a macrotonal tuning.<br /> <br /> <!-- ws:start:WikiTextHeadingRule:2:<h2> --><h2 id="toc1"><a name="x-What is xenharmonic music?"></a><!-- ws:end:WikiTextHeadingRule:2 -->What is xenharmonic music?</h2> Xenharmonic is a term coined by the late Ivor Darreg, from Greek <em>xenos</em> "strange, foreign" + <em>harmonikos</em> "sound, harmonic" to classify music in tunings that are definitely aurally distinct from the typical twelve tone equal tuning.<br /> <br /> Unfortunately, "microtonal" implies that you're using tiny intervals when you may not be, and "xenharmonic" is so...negative. Ivor also suggested "neoteric" which doesn't really carry any meaning but "new"...</body></html>