pianoman wrote: > > Dear list, > What type of temperament would come close to approximating barbershop > harmony? > James Grebe > R.P.T. from St. Louis > pianoman@inlink.com > "Business is like an automobile. If not guided it goes downhill easiest"DH Most acapella music is sung in "natural" temperament which is the classic just diatonic scale, AKA just intonation. This is possible, because unlike keyboards, human vocal cords and string instruments have the capability to vary pitch to suit the the particular intervals being sung. Natural intonation utilizes pure thirds and fifths, thus there are uneven whole and half tones in the course of a scale, in fact two different whole tone sizes occur. Further, naural intonation is not a true system of temperament because the intervals used are not tempered from their counterparts in the harmonic series, and while very harmonically sound, it is impossible to modulate in natural intonation on a keyboard instrument - about a jillion keys would be required. The closest tuneable Western temperament to natural intonation would probably be Pythagorean which uses pure intervals of octaves and fifths. Curiously, and probably because Eastern music evolved scales without the benefit of keyboards, there are many Eastern scales which include tones which closely approximate natural. On the other hand, these Eastern systems recognize microtonal variations, and may use at minimum 22 different notes! Frank Weston - I'm sticking with Vallotti
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