Read more: Alto saxophonist shares his astonishing trick for playing 128 notes in an octave
Notes outside the typical 12 can of course also be accessed by instruments that don’t rely on a set of keys, for example violins and trombones. The melodies and harmonies microtones build can sound too dissonant, so they don’t tend to catch on widely. The catch with microtonal music, and music that explores adding extra notes with uneven intervals, is it tends to sound less pleasing to the ear due to its containing more intervals that aren’t our pleasing perfect fifth and perfect fourth (see above). There are Western composers that have done this, including Ivan Wyschnegradsky who created 24 notes between one note and the octave above, and Harry Partch who tore up the rule book and composed 43 different notes within the octave. If the 12 notes of the typical scale exist due to intervals, and how we’re dividing the octave we’ve talked about, it’s a case of finding a new way to divide that octave to find alternative pitches. More than 12 notes exist in actual sound waves, and these are most commonly explored in what is called ‘microtonal’ music – music that uses the notes in between the notes. Read more: Classic FM’s glossary of useful musical termsĭoes any music get composed using more than these 12 notes? So that, in a nutshell, is how we landed on our 12 notes – a mix of enough intervals that are harmonious and pleasing, with just one or two more tense intervals to add a sprinkle of colour. Ask Beethoven – he was the absolute master of meeting dissonance with harmony to create an irresistible and enduring body of melodies. If a piece has only harmonious intervals, it will sound pleasant but nothing much more. It builds the tension and release that is vital for making music catchy and engaging to listen to. Two notes right next to each other, played together, are difficult to listen to – and it’s with these spaces that composers add the occasional shade of dissonance to juxtapose the light of harmonious sounds. The dissonant intervals are minor and major seconds (also called tones and semitones) and major and minor sevenths. All music with these intervals sounds ‘harmonious’ and pleasing, rather than dissonant and jarring. Other intervals that typically sound pleasing, safe and resolved to the human ear are major and minor thirds, and major and minor sixths. Most Western melodies are built around a journey between these octave, perfect fourth and perfect fifth interval relationships. The next most pleasing intervals are the perfect fifth and the perfect fourth. And that divide in Western music is prioritised around those intervals that are ‘harmonious’ like the octave. And once we have this octave, it’s about how we divide that up. Most tuning systems around the world tend to prioritise building music around this most pleasing octave interval. What are the most ‘harmonious’ intervals?
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