That article Cuauhtli linked to is a great introduction.IrionDaRonin wrote:Hi guys.
I'm taking advantage of this thread to ask about microtonal thing.
What is microtonal? I mean, what is it for?
I heard many times of it, but what is the main purpose of this?
Thanks in advance and have a nice day
Another way to introduce microtonality is to start with the blues. The blue notes which give the blues its distinctive feeling are microtonal- a blue seventh is usually about 1/3 of a semitone flat of where it would be in 12-tone equal temperament, for example. It's a different feeling. In the case of the blues, the blue notes tend not to be out of tune as you might hear them described in a classroom, but in tune- they tend toward being in tune with the naturally occurring harmonic ratios related to the seventh partial, 7:4, 7:6, 7:5. Although we're not conscious of it, there is a harmonic tuning reference always present "in the air" when there are voices, horns, saxes, violins, strings, etc.
This doesn't mean "a blue seventh is tuned to 7:4". The ratio is the harmonic reference point. The closer you get to it the smoother the sound. But blues musicians have their own flavors, because every microtonal variation has its own feeling.
The traditional music of the near east, central Asia, Indian subcontinent, is all microtonal in a related way. The different makamlar, ragas and so on don't just have different scales, they have different tunings, and traditionally these tunings varied with every region, village, even individual. For thousands of years, literally, experts have argued about "the best" tunings for ragas, makamlar, genera but of course there has never been a "best", it was always about expression.
Unfortunately almost everything about microtonality on the internet is a bunch of math- putting the cart before the horse. The math part of making different tunings (which is simple and can even be done without knowing any math at all)
has always been a practical affair, it's not the goal or the reason or the foundation. Just listen to some authentic (not "World Music") Middle Eastern music for an example of "microtonal".
For another example of microtonality used in the way it has been since time immemorial (for feeling, not mathturbation), check out the soundtrack, by that guy from Radiohead, of There Will Be Blood. Those super-tense string clusters are microtonal. If you play dense 12-tET semitones, it's pretty tense, but if want a really tense and mind-altering feeling, then you tune it to feel that way rather than just using what's available on a piano.
At another extreme of feeling, check out the ambient music of Robert Rich, who is quite popular. He uses microtonality not for tension but for mellowness.
When you get down to the heart of it, "microtonal" really just means "using different tunings for different feelings".
