Flora's analysis on septimal voice leading

In Analysis on the 13-limit Just Intonation Space: Episode I, Flora Canou explained how 28/27 is suitable for the role of voice leading. To quickly show the background, we notice that just intonation can be viewed as an expansion of the Pythagorean tuning, where the interval classes are determined by pure fifths, and each has a number of varieties differing from each other by a formal comma. So the Pythagorean scale is thought of as the backbone, inflected by commas to add to its "colors". In 7-limit specifically, the formal commas are the syntonic comma, 81/80, and the septimal comma, 64/63.

81/80 translates a Pythagorean interval to a classical one. What is its septimal counterpart, which translates a Pythagorean interval to a septimal one? The answer is 64/63, the septimal comma.

Superpyth is the corresponding temperament of the septimal comma. It is the opposite of meantone in several ways. To send 81/80 to unison, meantone tunes the fifth flat. To send 64/63 to unison, superpyth tunes the fifth sharp. In septimal meantone, intervals of 5 are simpler than those of 7, whereas in septimal superpyth, intervals of 7 are simpler than those of 5, and their overall complexities are comparable. George Secor identified a few useful equal temperaments for meantone and superpyth. He noted 17, 22, and 27 to superpyth are what 12, 31, and 19 to meantone, respectively. I call those the six essential low-complexity equal temperaments.

The significance of the septimal comma is successfully recognized by notable notation systems including FJS, HEJI (Helmholtz–Ellis Just Intonation), and Sagittal. It corresponds to the following change of basis, in terms of generator steps.

[math] \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix} \rightarrow \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 1 & 0 & 4 \\ 0 & 1 & 4 & -2 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix} [/math]

Inflected by the commas introduced above, each interval class typically comes in three flavors: a Pythagorean one, a classical one, and a septimal one. The best example for this is the minor third, they are 32/27 (m3), 6/5 (m3₅), and 7/6 (m3⁷).

Voice leading plays a significant role in traditional harmonies. It is customary to prefer the diatonic semitone to the chromatic semitone for this purpose. Consider 7-limit harmony, the class of diatonic semitones has three notable varieties. Besides 256/243 (m2), there are 16/15 (m2₅), sharp by 81/80, and 28/27 (m2⁷), flat by 64/63. In 12et, the syntonic comma, the septimal comma and the Pythagorean comma are all tempered out, so all varieties of semitones are conflated as one, which is very adequate for voice leading. The classical diatonic semitone in just intonation, however, is larger. Consequently, the traditional dominant chord using this semitone would be very weak. The Pythagorean variant is not ideal either, since it lacks color and concordance. The septimal version is a much stronger choice.

A basic form of dominant–tonic progression is, therefore, a septimal major triad followed by a classical major triad:

[math]3/2–27/14–9/4 \rightarrow 1–5/4–3/2[/math]

where 27/14 resolves to 2/1.

21/20 (m2⁷₅), the 5/7-kleismic diatonic semitone, is another possible candidate. Compound in color, however, it is not as easy to grasp as 28/27, nor is it as strong, since it is only flat of the Pythagorean version by 5120/5103, the 5/7-kleisma aka the hemififths–amity comma. In contrast, 28/27 creates more cathartic effects for voice leading.

Actually, septimal harmony entail different chord structures from classical ones, and 21/20 has a niche from this perspective. This will be discussed in Chapter VII.