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
border="0" cellspacing="0" cols="7" frame="void" rules="none" | ||||||
7/4 | ||||||
3/2 | 7/5 | |||||
5/4 | 6/5 | 7/6 | ||||
1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | |||
8/5 | 5/3 | 12/7 | ||||
4/3 | 10/7 | |||||
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" | |||
Fraction | Cents | Degree (31-ET) | Name (31-ET) |
---|---|---|---|
1/1 | 0 | 0.0 | C |
8/7 | 231 | 6.0 | D{{music|t}} or E{{music|bb}} |
7/6 | 267 | 6.9 | D{{music|sharp}} |
6/5 | 316 | 8.2 | E{{music|flat}} |
5/4 | 386 | 10.0 | E |
4/3 | 498 | 12.9 | F |
7/5 | 583 | 15.0 | F{{music|sharp}} |
10/7 | 617 | 16.0 | G{{music|flat}} |
3/2 | 702 | 18.1 | G |
8/5 | 814 | 21.0 | A{{music|flat}} |
5/3 | 884 | 22.8 | A |
12/7 | 933 | 24.1 | A{{music|t}} or B{{music|bb}} |
7/4 | 969 | 25.0 | A{{music|sharp}} |
2/1 | 1200 | 31.0 | C |
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}}