Just-tuned chord progressions predict key drift of a full semitone
Evidence
The predicted pitch drift for just tuning of the chords in the exercise shown in Figure 4.42 is shown in Figure 4.43. It is based on the tuning of the just scale (see Section 3.4.2), and it can be seen that the prediction is for the pitch to drift a semitone flat (rather surprising for an exercise consisting of only 13 chords!). — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1381
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- XREF: Connects to earlier just intonation material (Section 3.4.2) already covered in this book.
- ADDENDUM: This is a concrete auditory illustration of tuning systems clashing — adjacent in spirit to the sacrifice piece’s attention to ritual precision and to the immodesty piece’s treatment of group conformity.
- QUESTION: This predicted drift is a general phenomenon — would any capella music in just intonation inevitably wander from the starting key?
Related
- Singing just-tuned chords predicts rapid pitch drift flat (similarity 0.90)
- Singing in just intonation causes pitch drift when modulating through keys (similarity 0.85)
- Vocal quartets empirically drift flat as just intonation predicts (similarity 0.85)
- A cappella just intonation makes a group’s overall pitch drift across key modulations (similarity 0.85)
- Musical intervals trace directly to harmonic-series frequency ratios (similarity 0.79)
- A capella groups can adopt just intonation, causing overall pitch to drift through keys (similarity 0.79)
- No tuning system can make all diatonic intervals have simple ratios (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Musical intervals trace directly to harmonic-series frequency ratios
#expands(0.80) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 811 - Musical scales universally favor intervals with small integer frequency ratios
#expands(0.78) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1300