Marvelous dwarves

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This revision was by author genewardsmith and made on 2010-10-10 17:31:55 UTC.
The original revision id was 169293443.
The revision comment was:

The revision contents are below, presented both in the original Wikispaces Wikitext format, and in HTML exactly as Wikispaces rendered it.

Original Wikitext content:

A marvelous dwarf is a scale with the following attributes:

(1) It is a [[Marvel family|marvel]] tempering of a 5-limit [[Dwarves|dwarf]].
(2) It has the same number n of otonal tetrads, otonal pentads, utonal tetrads and utonal pentads. As a consequence of this it also has n subminor and n supermajor tetrads.
(3) It is covered by its pentads--that is, every note is harmonized by a pentad, and the scale is the union of its pentads.
(4) It has more 5-limit triads than pentads.
(5) It has no approximate tetrads deriving from anything but marvel; in the 5-limit scale which is tempered the smallest comma which produces approximate tetrads is 225/224.

If every condition but the third--the covering condition--is
satisfied, I'm calling it a semimarvelous dwarf. Why there are these scales exhibiting such regularity as a result of finding the 5-limit dwarf is an interesting question. Whatever the reason for it, the marvelous dwarves--of size 12, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 25--seem like excellent scales for instrumentalists and composers interested in 9-limit harmony and scales in this size range. The 25-note scale, whose 5-limit preimage we've discussed before as genus(15^4), is particularly striking from the point of view of the quantity of pentads it supplies.

There is a marvelous or semimarvelous dwarf for each scale size from 11 to 22, and then the 25 note scale. So far as I know this is the complete list. 

Here is a brief description; the numbers are pentad number, numbers of major-minor triads, and size/pentad ratio.

<11 17 26| 1 6-6 11 semimarvelous
<12 19 28| 2 6-6 6 marvelous
<13 20 30| 1 7-6 13 semimarvelous
<14 22 33| 2 7-6 7 semimarvelous
<15 24 35| 3 8-8 5 marvelous
<16 25 37| 2 7-6 8 semimarvelous
<17 27 40| 4 10-9 4.25 semimarvelous
<18 29 42| 4 10-10 4.5 marvelous
<19 30 44| 5 12-11 3.8 marvelous
<20 32 47| 6 12-12 3.333 marvelous
<21 33 49| 5 12-12 4.2 marvelous
<22 35 51| 6 14-13 3.667 semimarvelous
<25 40 58| 9 16-16 2.778 marvelous

Original HTML content:

<html><head><title>Marvelous dwarves</title></head><body>A marvelous dwarf is a scale with the following attributes:<br />
<br />
(1) It is a <a class="wiki_link" href="/Marvel%20family">marvel</a> tempering of a 5-limit <a class="wiki_link" href="/Dwarves">dwarf</a>.<br />
(2) It has the same number n of otonal tetrads, otonal pentads, utonal tetrads and utonal pentads. As a consequence of this it also has n subminor and n supermajor tetrads.<br />
(3) It is covered by its pentads--that is, every note is harmonized by a pentad, and the scale is the union of its pentads.<br />
(4) It has more 5-limit triads than pentads.<br />
(5) It has no approximate tetrads deriving from anything but marvel; in the 5-limit scale which is tempered the smallest comma which produces approximate tetrads is 225/224.<br />
<br />
If every condition but the third--the covering condition--is<br />
satisfied, I'm calling it a semimarvelous dwarf. Why there are these scales exhibiting such regularity as a result of finding the 5-limit dwarf is an interesting question. Whatever the reason for it, the marvelous dwarves--of size 12, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 25--seem like excellent scales for instrumentalists and composers interested in 9-limit harmony and scales in this size range. The 25-note scale, whose 5-limit preimage we've discussed before as genus(15^4), is particularly striking from the point of view of the quantity of pentads it supplies.<br />
<br />
There is a marvelous or semimarvelous dwarf for each scale size from 11 to 22, and then the 25 note scale. So far as I know this is the complete list. <br />
<br />
Here is a brief description; the numbers are pentad number, numbers of major-minor triads, and size/pentad ratio.<br />
<br />
&lt;11 17 26| 1 6-6 11 semimarvelous<br />
&lt;12 19 28| 2 6-6 6 marvelous<br />
&lt;13 20 30| 1 7-6 13 semimarvelous<br />
&lt;14 22 33| 2 7-6 7 semimarvelous<br />
&lt;15 24 35| 3 8-8 5 marvelous<br />
&lt;16 25 37| 2 7-6 8 semimarvelous<br />
&lt;17 27 40| 4 10-9 4.25 semimarvelous<br />
&lt;18 29 42| 4 10-10 4.5 marvelous<br />
&lt;19 30 44| 5 12-11 3.8 marvelous<br />
&lt;20 32 47| 6 12-12 3.333 marvelous<br />
&lt;21 33 49| 5 12-12 4.2 marvelous<br />
&lt;22 35 51| 6 14-13 3.667 semimarvelous<br />
&lt;25 40 58| 9 16-16 2.778 marvelous</body></html>