On Saturday 17 April 2010, at 04.38.34, Rustom Mody <rustompmody(a)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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