Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [intonation]

Marks questions discussing the precise control over pitch that musicians exhibit as part of their technique; also used to describe the tuning of one's instrument or one's system of tuning.

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Why Is Just Intonation Impractical?

I've read about the debate of "just intonation" vs 12-tone equal temperament. And nowhere it was clearly stated why just intonation is impractical. Here are my assumptions. Please let me know if I am correct. Just intonation frequencies are based on…
Bozho
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Why do E♯ and F♮ not sound the same (according to Wikipedia)?

I was just reading the Wikipedia page on the note F (as I do every evening) and was confused by this part where it says that even though F♮ and E♯ are enharmonic they “do not sound the same”: E♯ is a common enharmonic equivalent of F, but is not…
Aran G
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Is there a sound theoretical reason why a capella choirs "drift off" of the starting pitches in a piece?

Is the "comma pump" an empirical problem, or merely theoretical? It's a standard music theory exercise to show that certain chord progressions don't actually quite work. For example, in the I-IV-ii-V-I progression, following the "naive" method of…
Micah
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B -> C and E -> F, No Sharp?

The keyboard has these notes: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G# Why do B and C and E and F not have a sharp note between them? If they did, the keyboard would look like this: A A# B B# C C# D D# E E# F F# G G# Bold being black keys. Would…
Jacob Swanson
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Do people with perfect pitch distinguish between equal temperament and just temperament?

Do people with perfect pitch distinguish between equal temperament and just temperament? Suppose someone with perfect pitch is singing a duet and wants to harmonise in thirds above the main melody. Will they harmonise in equal temperament or just…
chasly - supports Monica
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Should the dominant-seventh chord in just intonation use 9:5 for its seventh, or rather 16:9?

It may be just out of habit, what with the 12-edo temperament all around us, but anyway: I find the dominant-seventh rendition 20:25:30:36 sounds extremely harsh. In particular, the tritone from the third to the seventh is so wide that it raises…
leftaroundabout
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How does string gauge affect intonation?

I have a problem with intonation adjustment on my g-string on my Epiphone Les Paul. It's correct now but the bridge saddle cannot be adjusted any farther in range. I need to change strings but I don't know what strings I have now and worry that I…
Luke
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Slightly tone-deaf?

I'm incredibly depressed. I have always wanted to be a musician and for the last 5 years I have learned various scales, chords in each key in various positions up and down the neck of the guitar and spent a lot of money on lessons and wondered why I…
Jon
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Is my mandolin broken?

I read here that playing a string on the 12th fret will produce a note that is an octave above the note produced by playing the same string open (with no frets held down). For instance, if the bottom string is tuned to G, then playing the bottom…
Big McLargeHuge
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What frequencies should the violin and viola be tuned to?

I'm using this app to tune my violin, it supports many temperament options. What I want to do is tune the A string to 440Hz first, then comparing the other strings sympathetically to the adjacent string, E by A, D by A and G by D. Here are some of…
Shimmy Weitzhandler
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Was equal temperament caused by the invention of the piano, or was it inevitable?

Historically, which key a piece of music was written in made a big difference. Toccata and Fugue in D minor for instance had to be played in that key or it wouldn't sound right. But over the last couple of centuries, tonality has become less and…
Ray Butterworth
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How can I improve my note accuracy and intonation?

Over time my pitch has improved simply through singing more, but I still have some problems with being a bit off sometimes (or way off on very high or very low notes). It helps if I focus on a specific pitch and experiment a little till I hit it,…
user28
11
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Why was Le Concert Spirituel playing out of tune at Proms 2012?

I know it sounds like an odd question, but I was listening to a recording of Handel's music for the Royal Fireworks (available here on Youtube), and there are sections where the horn players are playing noticeably out of tune, such as here,…
anonymous2
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How do instruments with discrete tuning play chords alongside those with continuous tuning?

I was taught that when playing a triad, the third should be played sharper and the fifth flatter than the notes would sound on an instrument tuned to equal temperament, such as the piano. However this intonation adjustment is not possible on all…
JohnLBevan
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Does string length affect intonation?

Does string length affect intonation? Like on a Les Paul Jr. that has a wraparound bridge but intonation is still flat. If I use a Bigsby type tailpiece to correct the intonation would that correct the problem?
Docp602
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