A Wisdom Archive on microtonal 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 w ...

Read more here: » Microtonal music: Encyclopedia II - Microtonal music - Microtonalism in rock music

Composers of microtonal music have developed a number of notations for indicating the various pitches outside of standard notation. One such system for notating quarter tones, used by the Czech Alois Hába and other composers, is shown at right. In the 19th and beginning 20th century when Turkish musicians switched from their traditional notation systems -- which were not staff based -- to the European staff based system, they created a refinement to the European accidental system in order to be able to notate Turkish scales which mak ...

Read more here: » Accidental music: Encyclopedia II - Accidental music - Microtonal notation

Xenharmonic music includes all tuning systems and music using those systems not using the common European twelve-tone equal temperament. The term was coined by Ivor Darreg from the Greek for strange or foreign, xenos, though it often includes all microtonal music. Xenharmonic tunings include nineteen or other tone equal temperament, some tunings based on the 'music of the spheres', or less systematic tunings such as Annie Gosfield's purposefully "out of tune" sampler based music. Other composers of xenharmonic music inc ...

Read more here: » Xenharmonic: Encyclopedia - Xenharmonic

Although a barline is always understood to cancel the effect of an accidental (except for a tied note), often publishers will use a courtesy accidental as a reminder if the note occurs in the following measure. This usage varies: whereas a few situations are construed to require a courtesy accidental, such as when the first note in a measure is one which had had an accidental applied in the previous measure after a tie carries an accidental across a barline, when the ...

Read more here: » Accidental music: Encyclopedia II - Accidental music - Courtesy accidentals

20th century classical music, the classical music of the 20th century, was extremely diverse, beginning with the late Romantic style of Sergei Rachmaninoff and the Impressionism of Claude Debussy, and ranging to such distant sound-worlds as the complete serialism of Pierre Boulez, the simple triadic harmonies of minimalist composers such as Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, the musique concrète of Pierre Schaeffer, the microtonal music adopted by Harry Pa ... Including:

• 20th century classical music - Romantic style
• 20th century classical music - Modernism
• 20th century classical music - The Second Viennese School atonality and serialism
• 20th century classical music - Free dissonance and experimentalism
• 20th century classical music - Neoclassicism
• 20th century classical music - Post-modern music
• 20th century classical music - Post-modernity's birth
• 20th century classical music - Minimalism
• 20th century classical music - Electronic music
• 20th century classical music - Jazz-influenced composition
• 20th century classical music - Other

Read more here: » 20th century classical music: Encyclopedia - 20th century classical music

Raga (rāg /राग (Hindi), raga (Anglicised from rāgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rāgam /ராகம் (Tamil)) are the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. "Raag" is the modern Hindi pronunciation used by Hindustani musicians; "Ragam" the Tamil form used by Karnatak Carnatic music musicians. A raga functions both as description and prescription. It describes a generalized form of melodic practice; it prescribes a set of rules for how to build a melody. It specifies rules for move ... Including:

• Raga - Footnotes

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In most cases, a sharp raises the pitch of a note one semitone while a flat lowers it a semitone. A natural is used to cancel the effect of a flat or sharp. Since about 1700, accidentals have been understood to continue for the remainder of the measure in which they occur, so that a subsequent note on the same staff position is still affected by that accidental, unless replaced by an accidental of its own. Notes on other staff positions, including those an octave away, are unaffected. Once a barline is passed, the effect of the accide ...

Read more here: » Accidental music: Encyclopedia II - Accidental music - Standard use of accidentals

Scales in traditional Western music generally consist of seven notes, made up of a root note and six other scale degrees whose pitches lie between the root and the root's first octave. Notes in the commonly used scales (see just below) are separated by whole and half step intervals of tones and semitones (the harmonic minor scale including a three-semitone interval; the pentatonic including two of these). There are a number of different types of scales used commonly in Western music, including: The major sca ...

Read more here: » Scale music: Encyclopedia II - Scale music - Scales in Western music

A scale degree is a numeric position of a note within a scale ordered by increasing pitch. The simplest system is to name each degree after its numerical position in the scale, for example: the first, the fourth. Because intervals are inclusive, a fifth describes a note which is four notes after the tonic. Major scales have seven notes which are named, in order: tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading-tone (or leading-note). Also commonly used is the "movable do" solfege naming convention in which each scale degree is given a syllable. In the major scale, the solfege syllables are: Do ...

Read more here: » Scale music: Encyclopedia II - Scale music - Scale degrees

Aleatoric Music- Also called 'chance music' (Cage's habitual usage). Music in which the composer introduces the elements of chance or unpredictability with regard to either the composition or its performance. Graphic Score- Music which is written in the form of diagrams or drawings rather than using “conventional” notation (with staves, clefs, notes etc). Microtones- A pitch interval that is smaller than a semitone. This includes quarter tones and intervals even smaller. Composers have, for example, experimented in dividing the octave into 31 and 53 microtones, a ...

Read more here: » Experimental music: Encyclopedia II - Experimental music - Keywords