Microtonal music is music using microtones -- intervals of less than a semitone, or as Charles Ives put it, the "notes between the cracks" of the piano. The term is also used to refer to any music whose tuning is not based on semitones, such as western just intonation, Indonesian gamelan music and Indian classical music. An alternative term explicitly covering such possibilities is xenharmonic music. Music is an art, entertainment, or other human activity which involves organized and audible sound, though definitions vary. ... In music theory, an interval is the difference (a ratio or logarithmic measure) in pitch between two notes and often refers to those two notes themselves (otherwise known as a dyad). ... A semitone (also known in the USA as a half step) is a musical interval. ... This photo from around 1913 shows Ives in his day job: he was the director of a successful insurance agency. ... This page is about musical systems of tuning, for the musical process of tuning see tuning. ... In music, Just intonation, also called rational intonation, is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by whole number ratios; that is, by positive rational numbers. ... Saron - Indonesian Embassy in Canberra A gamelan is a musical ensemble of Indonesian origin typically featuring metallophones, xylophone(s), drums, and gongs. ... The origins of Indian classical music (marga), the classical music of India, can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. ... Xenharmonic is fairly recent broad musical term used to refer to tuning systems or music using those systems not using the common twelve-tone equal temperament. ...

The Italian Renaissance composer and theorist Nicola Vicentino (1511-1576) [1] experimented with microintervals and built for example a keyboard with 36 keys to the octave, known as the archicembalo. However Vicentino's experiments were primarily motivated by his research (as he saw it) on the ancient Greek genera, and by his desire to have acoustically pure intervals available within chromatic compositions. Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... Nicola Vicentino (Vicenza, 1511 – Milan, 1575 or 1576) was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. ... 1511 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Events May 5 - Peace of Beaulieu or Peace of Monsieur (after Monsieur, the Duc dAnjou, brother of the King, who negotiated it). ... The archicembalo of Nicola Vicentino is a kind of harpsichord of 36 notes to the octave which Vicentino constructed in 1555. ... In ancient Greek music there were three genera (singular: genus) for classifying musical scales: diatonic chromatic enharmonic, diatonic being the simplest and enharmonic the most complex. ...

Some Western composers have embraced the use of microtonal scales, dividing an octave into 19, 24, 31, 43, 72 and other numbers of pitches, rather than the more common 12. The intervals between pitches can be equal, creating an equal temperament, or unequal, such as in just intonation or linear temperament. In music, a scale is a set of musical notes in order by pitch, either ascending or descending. ... In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ... In music, pitch is the perception of the frequency of a note. ... Equal temperament is a scheme of musical tuning in which the octave is divided into a series of equal steps (equal frequency ratios). ... In music, Just intonation, also called rational intonation, is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by whole number ratios; that is, by positive rational numbers. ...

Pioneers of modern Western microtonal music include:

• Henry Ward Poole (keyboard designs, 1825-1890)
• Charles Ives (U.S., 1874-1954)
• Julián Carrillo (Mexico, 1875-1965) look here or here (mostly Spanish but some English too)
• Béla Bartók (Hungary, 1881-1945)
• George Enescu (Romania, 1881-1955) (in Oedipe to suggest the enharmonic genus of ancient Greek music)
• Alois Hába (Czechoslovakia, 1893-1973)
• Ivan Wyschnegradsky (U.S.S.R. (Russia), 1893-1979)
• Harry Partch (1901-1974)
• Eivind Groven (1901-1977)
• Hans Luedtke (keyboard designs, d.1973)
• Henk Badings (1907-1987)
• Giacinto Scelsi (1915-1982)
• Lou Harrison (1917-2003)
• Tui St. George Tucker (1924-2004)
• Ben Johnston (b. 1926)
• Ezra Sims (b. 1928)
• Sofia Gubaidulina (b. 1931)
• Alvin Lucier (b. 1931)
• Easley Blackwood (born 1933)
• James Tenney (b. 1934)
• Terry Riley (b. 1935)
• La Monte Young (b. 1935)
• Wendy Carlos (b. 1939)

More recent composers composing microtonal music include: Henry Ward Poole (1825-1890) // Biography Born 13 September, 1825 in Salem, Massachusetts (divided to Salem, Danvers and South Danvers 1855; S. Danvers renamed Peabody 1868). ... This photo from around 1913 shows Ives in his day job: he was the director of a successful insurance agency. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Béla Bartók in 1927 Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music. ... George Enescu George Enescu (pronunciation in Romanian: ; known in France as Georges Enesco) (August 19, 1881, Liveni – May 4, 1955, Paris) was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher, preeminent musician of the 20th century, one of the greatest interpreters of his time. ... Oedipus and the Sphinx, from an 1879 illustration from Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church Oedipus (Greek , Oidipous, swollen-foot; rarely ; Latin Oedipus) or Å’dipus was the mythical king of Thebes, son of Laius and Jocasta, who, unknowingly, killed his father and married his mother. ... The enharmonic genus has historically been the most mysterious and controversial of the three Greek genera. ... The Music of Ancient Greece is almost completely lost. ... Alois Hába (June 21, 1893 - November 18, 1973) was a Czech composer primarily known for his microtonal compositions, especially using the quarter tone scale, though he used others such as sixth-tones and twelfth-tones. ... Ivan Alexandrovich Vïshnegradsky (1893-1979, also Wyschnegradsky) was a Russian composer primarily known for his microtonal compositions, including the quarter tone scale, though he used scales of up to 71 divisions. ... Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer. ... Eivind Groven (October 8, 1901–February 8, 1977) was a Norwegian microtonal composer and music-theorist. ... Patent drawing GB 413,483, accepted 19. ... Henk Badings (January 17, 1907 - June 26, 1987) was a Dutch composer. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 - February 2, 2003) was an American composer. ... Tui St. ... Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Junior (born March 15, 1926 in Macon, Georgia) is one of the best known composers writing in the just intonation system. ... Ezra Sims (born January 16, 1928 in Birmingham, Alabama) is one of the pioneers in the field of microtonal composition. ... Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina, (Russian София Асгатовна Губайдулина, Tatar Sofia Äsğät qızı Ğöbäydullina) (born October 24, 1931) is a Russian-Tatar composer of deeply religious music. ... Alvin Lucier Alvin Lucier (born May 14, 1931) is an American composer of music and sound installations exploring acoustic phenomena, especially resonance, as well as a former member of the Sonic Arts Union along with Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma. ... Easley Blackwood {April 21, 1933-) is a professor of music, a composer of music using unusual tunings, and the author of books on music theory. ... James Tenney (August 10, 1934 in Silver City, NM) is an American composer and influential music theorist. ... Terry Riley - (Portrait by Betty Freeman) Terry Riley (born 24 June 1935 in Colfax, California) is an American composer associated with the minimalist school. ... La Monte Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer whose eccentric and often hard-to-find works have been included among the most important post World War II avant-garde or experimental music. ... Wendy Carlos in 1980 Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos—see Personal life section below—November 14, 1939 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island) is an American composer and electronic musician. ...

• Glenn Branca (b. 1948)
• David First (b. 1953)
• Kyle Gann (b. 1955)
• Kraig Grady (b. 1952)
• Johnny Reinhard (b. 1956)
• Joe Monzo (b. 1962)
• Harold Fortuin (b. 1964)
• Marc Luis Jones (b. 1966)

Microtonal scales that are played contiguously are chromatically microtonal, those which are not use the various contiguous pitches as alternative versions of larger intervals (Burns, 1999). Glenn Branca is an avant garde composer and guitarist. ... David First (born Aug 20, 1953) is an American composer. ... Kyle Gann (born November 21 1955) is a composer and music critic born in Dallas, Texas. ... Kraig Grady is a composer who uses microtonal just intonation. ... Johnny Reinhard is a microtonal composer and virtuoso bassoonist. ... Joe Monzo Joe Monzo (born January 5, 1962) is an American microtonal composer and tuning-theorist who has authored books and multiple webpages on music theory. ... Harold Fortuin (1964-) is an American composer, pianist, and designer of hardware and software for electronic music. ...

Microtonalism in rock music

The American hardcore punk band Black Flag (1976-86) made interesting vernacular use of microtonal intervals, via guitarist Greg Ginn, a free jazz aficionado also familiar with modern classical. (During their peak in the late '70s and early '80s, long before American punk was mainstream, the band was considered, not unwarrantedly, a thuggish and hostile street unit, although time has given their work a considerable measure of musical acclaim.) A worthwhile song is "Damaged II," from 1981's Damaged LP -- a live-in-studio recording in which intentional (and surprisingly scale-aware) use of quarter- and eighth-steps suggests a guitar in danger of detonation. Another is "Police Story," most versions of which end in a cadence played an eighth-tone sharp, to similar effect. Hardcore punk (or hardcore) is a faster and heavier version of Punk Rock usually characterized by short, loud, and often passionate songs with exceptionally fast tempos and chord changes. ... Black Flag was a hardcore punk group formed in 1976 in southern California, largely as the brainchild of Greg Ginn, guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes. ... Gregory Regis Ginn (born June 8, 1954) is a guitarist, songwriter and singer. ... Free jazz is a movement of jazz music characterized by diminished dependence on formal constraints. ...

Other rock artists using microtonality in their work include Glenn Branca (who has created a number of symphonic works for ensembles of microtonally tuned electric guitars) and Jon and Brad Catler (who play microtonal electric guitar and electric bass guitar). Glenn Branca is an avant garde composer and guitarist. ...

The British rock act My Vitriol make use of microtonal tunings on their debut album Finelines, which features songs tuned a quarter step down from E in order to better emphasize vocalist Som Wardner's ethereal singing style. The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Born in Sri Lanka in the late 70s to a well known Sri Lankan father and musician mother. ...

The American band Zia founded by composer Elaine Walker has released several partially microtonal rock albums since the early 1990s. Their works include use of the Bohlen-Pierce scale. http://www.ziaspace.com/ZIA/sections/music.html The Bohlen-Pierce scale (BP scale) is a musical scale that offers an alternative to the 12-tone equal temperament typical in western music. ...

Source

• Burns, Edward M. (1999). "Intervals, Scales, and Tuning", The Psychology of Music second edition. Deutsch, Diana, ed. San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0122135644.

External links

General

• Joe Monzo's Tonalsoft Encyclopedia of Microtonal Music Theory
• Huygens-Fokker Foundation Centre for Microtonal Music
• John Starrett's Microtonal Music Page
• The American Festival of Microtonal Music
• The Centre for Microtonal Music
• Graham's Microtonal Website
• Modes and Scales in Indian music
• The North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
• Xentonic -- Xenharmonikon, Interval, etc.
• Hearing Greek Microtones by John Curtis Franklin
• Groven Piano Project

Discussion of tuning theory and microtonal music

• The Tuning List
• The Tuning-math List
• Making Microtonal Music

Theory pages

• The Wilson Archives
• Paul Erlich
• LucyTuning
• Graham Breed
• Gene Ward Smith
• Kees van Prooijen

Discography

• Microtonal music on CD
• Carl Lumma's Top Ten microtonal albums
• Recommended Listening in Microtonal Synthesis
• Microtonal Listening List

Microtonal music on the web

• Kyle Gann
• Rick McGowan (b. 1958)
• LucyTuned Lullabies
• Samuel Pellman
• Jeff Harrington
• Andrew Heathwaite
• Ralph Jarzombek
• Aaron Krister Johnson
• Joseph Pehrson
• Prent Rodgers
• Carlos Sampaio
• Gene Ward Smith
• Dan Stearns
• Art of the States: microtonal/just intonation microtonal works by American composers
• The International Society for Creative Guitar and String Music

See also

• Arab tone system and maqam
• Harry Partch's 43-tone scale
• Fokker periodicity blocks
• Bohlen-Pierce scale
• Genus (music)
• Harmony
• Just intonation
• Lucy Tuning
• Quarter tone
• Raga
• Scala