7-limit tuning

{{Short description|Musical instrument tuning with a limit of seven}}

File:Harmonic seventh on C.png]]

File:Septimal chromatic semitone on C.png]]

File:Septimal major third on C.png from C to E{{music|L}}.Fonville, John. "Ben Johnston's Extended Just Intonation – A Guide for Interpreters", p. 112, Perspectives of New Music, vol. 29, no. 2 (Summer 1991), pp. 106–137. This, "extremely large third", may resemble a neutral third or blue note.Fonville (1991), p. 128.File:Septimal major third on C.mid]]

File:Septimal minor third on C.png on CFile:Septimal minor third on C.mid]]

7-limit or septimal tunings and intervals are musical instrument tunings that have a limit of seven: the largest prime factor contained in the interval ratios between pitches is seven. Thus, for example, 50:49 is a 7-limit interval, but 14:11 is not.

For example, the greater just minor seventh, 9:5 ({{audio|Greater just minor seventh on C.mid|Play}}) is a 5-limit ratio, the harmonic seventh has the ratio 7:4 and is thus a septimal interval. Similarly, the septimal chromatic semitone, 21:20, is a septimal interval as 21÷7=3. The harmonic seventh is used in the barbershop seventh chord and music. ({{audio|Barbershop secondary dominant.mid|Play|help=no}}) Compositions with septimal tunings include La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano, Ben Johnston's String Quartet No. 4, Lou Harrison's Incidental Music for Corneille's Cinna, and Michael Harrison's Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation.

The Great Highland bagpipe is tuned to a ten-note seven-limit scale:Benson, Dave (2007). Music: A Mathematical Offering, p. 212. {{ISBN|9780521853873}}. 1:1, 9:8, 5:4, 4:3, 27:20, 3:2, 5:3, 7:4, 16:9, 9:5.

In the 2nd century Ptolemy described the septimal intervals: 21/20, 7/4, 8/7, 7/6, 9/7, 12/7, 7/5, and 10/7.Partch, Harry (2009). Genesis of a Music: An Account of a Creative Work, Its Roots, and Its Fulfillments, pp. 90–91. {{ISBN|9780786751006}}.

Archytas of Tarantum is the oldest recorded musicologist to calculate 7-limit tuning systems. Those considering 7 to be consonant include Marin Mersenne,Shirlaw, Matthew (1900). Theory of Harmony, p. 32. {{ISBN|978-1-4510-1534-8}}. Giuseppe Tartini, Leonhard Euler, François-Joseph Fétis, J. A. Serre, Moritz Hauptmann, Alexander John Ellis, Wilfred Perrett, Max Friedrich Meyer. Those considering 7 to be dissonant include Gioseffo Zarlino, René Descartes, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Hermann von Helmholtz, Arthur von Oettingen, Hugo Riemann, Colin Brown, and Paul Hindemith ("chaos"Hindemith, Paul (1942). Craft of Musical Composition, vol. 1, p. 38. {{ISBN|0901938300}}.).

Lattice and tonality diamond

The 7-limit tonality diamond:

border="0" cellspacing="0" cols="7" frame="void" rules="none"
7/4
3/27/5
5/46/57/6
1/11/11/11/1
8/55/312/7
4/310/7
8/7

This diamond contains four identities (1, 3, 5, 7 [P8, P5, M3, H7]). Similarly, the 2,3,5,7 pitch lattice contains four identities and thus 3-4 axes, but a potentially infinite number of pitches. LaMonte Young created a lattice containing only identities 3 and 7, thus requiring only two axes, for The Well-Tuned Piano.

=Approximation using equal temperament=

It is possible to approximate 7-limit music using equal temperament, for example 31-ET.

class="wikitable"
FractionCentsDegree (31-ET)Name (31-ET)
1/100.0C
8/72316.0D{{music|t}} or E{{music|bb}}
7/62676.9D{{music|sharp}}
6/53168.2E{{music|flat}}
5/438610.0E
4/349812.9F
7/558315.0F{{music|sharp}}
10/761716.0G{{music|flat}}
3/270218.1G
8/581421.0A{{music|flat}}
5/388422.8A
12/793324.1A{{music|t}} or B{{music|bb}}
7/496925.0A{{music|sharp}}
2/1120031.0C

Ptolemy's ''Harmonikon''

Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria described several 7-limit tuning systems for the diatonic and chromatic genera. He describes several "soft" (μαλακός) diatonic tunings which all use 7-limit intervals.{{Cite book |last=Barker |first=Andrew |title=Greek Musical Writings: II Harmonic and Acoustic Theory |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1989 |isbn=0521616972 |location=Cambridge}} One, called by Ptolemy the "[https://sevish.com/scaleworkshop/?n=Tonic%20Diatonic&l=sFr_wFr_4F3_3F2_eF9_gF9_2F1&version=2.1.0 tonic diatonic]," is ascribed to the Pythagorean philosopher and statesman Archytas of Tarentum. It used the following tetrachord: 28:27, 8:7, 9:8. Ptolemy also shares the "[https://sevish.com/scaleworkshop/?n=Aristoxenus%20soft%20diatonic&l=kFj_8F7_4F3_3F2_uFj_cF7_2F1__&version=2.1.0 soft diatonic]" according to peripatetic philosopher Aristoxenus of Tarentum: 20:19, 38:35, 7:6. Ptolemy offers his own "[https://sevish.com/scaleworkshop/?n=soft%20diatonic&l=lFk_7F6_4F3_3F2_1rF14_7F4_2F1&version=2.1.0 soft diatonic]" as the best alternative to Archytas and Aristoxenus, with a tetrachord of: 21:20, 10:9, 8:7.

Ptolemy also describes a "tense chromatic" tuning that utilizes the following tetrachord: 22:21, 12:11, 7:6.

See also

References

{{reflist}}