Xenharmonic Wiki talk:Notability guidelines

Alpharabian interval pages

Hey Sintel, I got your message on my User Talk page, so I think I should try to explain why my Alpharabian interval pages have some theoretical value according to your notability requirements. It is true that a number of Alpharabian Ultramajor and Inframinor intervals have Wilson heights greater than 40, and it's also true that these intervals are largely unknown outside of people like me, Margo, and maybe Atrium.

However, from what I gather, the 2.3.11 subgroup is to quartertones what Pythagorean tuning is to diatonic and chromatic intervals- basically, both are the JI backbones of their respective interval systems. As if that weren't enough, 4096/3993 works in tandem with three instances of 33/32 to split the 9/8 whole tone into four pieces, so this serves as a demonstration of some of the essential characteristics of the 2.3.11 subgroup. It also turns out that Kyle Gann had reason to use 297/256 in his music.

From my end, even though I'm dealing in 159edo for the most part, the approximations of JI intervals like 297/256, 891/512 and 8019/4096 serve as landmarks due to them being represented with a good deal of accuracy in that system. Furthermore, 8192/8019 is one of the intervals that is crucial for the conceptualization of commas like the triagnoshenisma.

While this sums up most of what's going on with those pages at present, I do eventually intend to expand those Alpharabian interval articles with later findings on how to properly use them in musical composition- the only problem is that I haven't gotten around to figuring out how to use some of those intervals yet, as I currently have other things on my plate, but believe me, they're on my radar. Perhaps Margo can elaborate on what she knows about those intervals on her end. --Aura (talk) 00:25, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

I guess the gist of all this is that now that we know why pages such as the Alpharabian interval pages are useful to readers, I think it suffices to say that I do approve of the majority of these notability guidelines. I do think however, that we can include a few examples of what's notable and why in the guidelines themselves, so that people can spot more of the things that make pages notable, especially those that are notable in spite of other, potentially disqualifying factors. --Aura (talk) 00:35, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

May I add that 297/256 is very useful as a small minor third or a large interseptimal major second/minor third, being 896/891 smaller than 7/6. This, along with 128/99 and 99/64, for example, can be used in a neomedieval European setting as substitutes for 7/6, 9/7, and 14/9, indeed closer to the likeliest interpretation, such as that of Jay Rahn, of Marcheto (or Marchettus or Marcheto) of Padua in 1318 than my septimal interpretation.

I would need to write an article on proximality in 14th-century European style, but the tangible musical applicability of Aura’s paramajor and paraminor intervals should not be underestimated as a present reality, and thus their notability according to your excellent guidelines.

Mschulter1325 00:56, 8 May 2025 (UTC)