[LAU] Developing perfect pitch

[David Olofson]

On Saturday 17 April 2010, at 04.38.34, Rustom Mody <rustompmody at gmail.com> 
wrote:
[...]
> How easy is it to understand (hear and sing) the difference between an
> equal-tempered major triad, and a just or a Werckmeister-III etc?

Basically, if you hear some really great sounding harmonies, the notes played 
(or sung, more commonly) are *not* on the equal-tempered scale. ;-)

Beyond that, I don't really know... The theory doesn't seem all that 
complicated; it's mostly about the intervals, and different compromises trying 
to make harmonies sound better than they do in twelve-tone equal-tempered, as 
I understand it. What you want is to eliminate unwanted low beat frequencies 
between notes in a chord; that's what makes it sound pure.

When it comes to synthesizers, there are some solutions that re-tune the scale 
dynamically, based on the harmonies at hand - again focusing on making the 
harmonies sound better.

Either way, I don't think it's something one is actively thinking about when 
singing or playing (other) "continuous pitch" instruments. One rather focuses 
on making the harmonies sound good - and if they do, one is most likely off 
the TTEQ tuning. :-)


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//David Olofson - Developer, Artist, Open Source Advocate

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