File:Scherzo in 26 EDO for Oboe, Horn and Organ.mp3

This is the most ambitious microtonal piece I've written so far. As the title suggests it uses 26 tone equal temperament. The notation is normal circle of fifths notation, except the fifths are 15/26th of an octave, about 10 cents flat of just. This means that sharps and flats raise and lower notes by a little less than a quartertone. This tuning is the smallest division of the octave where one can consistently assign the first 13 harmonics and all their ratios to scale degrees.

For the main part, I used a 10 note scale: B C Db D# E Fb F# G Ab A#, inspired by the Lemba Temperament https://en.xen.wiki/w/Jubilismic_clan#Lemba . The scale steps are in a 3323223323 pattern, and the notes can be thought of as approximating the just ratios 1 : 13/12 : 7/6 : 5/4 : 4/3 : 17/12 : 3/2 : 13/8 : 7/4 : 11/6 . That said, I often found the need to deviate from this scale to stay on key and cadence in the right places. I feel like this sort of harmonic/melodic/tonal conflict is not so familiar in the classical style, where you're using the diatonic scale, but you get a bit of it in styles like blues, where chords may include many notes not used in the melodic scale. I also noticed a similar effect with the more familiar double harmonic scale I used for the trio.