Microtonality in Western Music 

❗CORRECTION: at 0:53 the frequency for C half-sharp should be 269.29hz, not 269.4hz. I used the wrong sum to work it out, sorry! The pitch I play you though is actually sounding at 269.29hz so you are hearing a true C half-sharp. Thanks to the people who have pointed it out.

"The human voice is not constricted to any tuning system" is my new rebuttal when someone insults my singing ability

OP: Whats the note between C and C#. Me: That's C++.

I’ve been into Microtonality since I was ~16 years old (I’m 60 now), and I can say unequivocally that what you pointed out at time ~15:15 is the single most important point: For me, the most interesting microtonal tunings are those that force you to completely start over from scratch, and that is a huge boon to creativity! “88CET” tuning - 88-cent [per-step] equal temperament, which I discovered (just coincidentally) around 1988 - is an excellent example: No octaves nor fourths, but even more importantly, no major nor minor thirds! Instead, you have: - A dark, yet curiously zippy-sounding subminor (close to a 7:6 frequency ratio), - A neutral third (a perfect fifth split down the middle, and close to 11:9), and - An alarming-sounding supermajor third (close to 9:7) which splits a major sixth right in half. But what’s really curious is that, although it doesn’t have traditional Major and minor thirds, since there’s no octave, 88CET tuning *does* have traditional major and minor *tenths* ! Still, the most important thing about 88CET, and microtonality in general is, as you pointed out, _it gives you no choice_ but to start over and re-discover everything from scratch, which is a boon for creativity! It’s a strap-on-your-backpack, four-month (or 45-year in my case!), live-off-the-land adventure through an alien musical land!

For anyone who might want more microtonality from King Gizzard, their more recent albums "K.G." and "L.W." continue their exploration of microtonality, and are some phenomenal pieces of music

Microtonality: When two guitar players jam together at the beach but each of them tuned by "hearing"

I never would've thought that I'd live to see the day that "Rattlesnake" had an academic breakdown

Quarter notes usually sound weird in western music. In arabic/turkish music theory there are rules to using quarternotes, you have to use them within specific scales or "maqams" that respect certain intervals (for example in the key of C in the maqam of "rast" you skip all sharp/flat notes and you skip E and B, replacing them with E half flat and B half flat, if you don't do that the music sounds weird)

I play the Sarangi. It's a bowed Indian lute with gut playing strings (baroque), played with the cuticle of the nail sliding down the string altering it's tension (fret-less). It allows for perfect microtonality, or what is known as a 'meend' in the Hindustani music system, and allows you to mimic the human voice almost exactly if you know how, including concepts like gamak.

Love how clear and accessible you make this challenging topic - and thanks for the shout out!

hater: your singing is awful, you are out of tune!! me: i just incorporate microtonality unconsciously you don't understand the complexity of my art...

This entire video is why I like playing the violin - whenever there’s a sharp or a flat, I can slide my finger up or down and make it as flat or as sharp as I want to. It’s really interesting, and definitely adds some intrigue to whatever I’m playing since I can decide what I think will complement the note before or after it best.

9:27 in near and middle eastern music, this is the most common scale. It’s not unusual at all. It’s the Diatonic scale on note pa in Byzantine music, used in the first and plagal of the first modes. In ottoman classical music, it’s the ussak flavor on note Dugah, and is used for multiple makams, such as Ussak Bayati Neva Huseyni and more. It’s also used in the corresponding Arabic maqams. For people that grew up in other countries, this is the normal.

I’m a simple man. I see king gizzard, I click.

Pretty sure that nickleback “look at this graph” edit moves to a microtone

Indian Classical Music is completely based on these microtunes. The singers are so mastered to sing them easily and there are instructions that can play them 👍👍

As someone who always struggled to read music and STILL finds music theory perplexing, I love how I can enjoy these videos because the material is explained in such a way that, although I can't comprehend the details and terminology, I can grasp the CONCEPT. So well done.

Of course, I had to think about Nokia Arabic Ringtone.

Imagine "Flight of the Bumblebee" with microtones

Westerners: finally normalizing microtones Traditional Middle Eastern musicians: first time?

I think this is why I love fretless bass so much. The microtonal nature of it just adds a tension to the rest of the orchestration that’s really satisfying to me.

6:38 ah yes whenever a group sings happy birthday you can hear the microtones.

I am Iranian and micro tonality is very common in our traditional music

I'm so glad that this video suddenly appeared for me today as I'm currently notating my song from vocal melody using notation software. I had a note that just wasn't sounding quite how I wanted. The song is in D flat major and it was the 7th that needed a quarter step rise. Your videos teach me so much. Thanks.

I'd barely heard of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard before, but this video convinced me to give their music a shot. And I'm really liking the band so far! Thanks for expanding my musical horizons and convincing me to give this Australian prog rock band with a doofy name a real shot.

The glissando in Rhapsody in Blue makes me feel so good.

My examples of microtones in popular music: Beastie Boys - "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" when they say "PAAAAAAAARty!" Billy Idol - "Eyes Without a Face" when he says "SUCH a human waste" Sinéad O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2U" multiple times (including "hours", "night") but most notably every time she says "TO you"

Really like that piece you came up with at the end there....it's like it shifts between sinister and soothing in a split second and somehow sounds good doing so. Also reminds me of some of the masterpieces from the 8-bit era...there's definitely a shade of those castle levels in SMB somewhere in there.

Microtonality is so common in middle eastern music that it doesn't even sound weird to us!

The fact that on the Cover of Flying Microtonal Banana there is a small "Volume 1" gives me the hope that one day we see the return of the banana!

Great video! Outside of the western world, microtonality is present in many traditional classical music traditions.

Another extremely interesting video. I love that you go all in, and create a piece yourself using what you are teaching about. You are a true teacher, one who walks the talk. I enjoyed your piece, too. : )

I'm an arabic musician. I play an instrument called the "Oud " And dude microtonal music is the standard 😅😂😂

Rattlesnake is the first song on flying microtonal banana and was written intentionally to introduce the listener to microtones so that subsequent songs aren't overwhelming, that's why its so repetitive :) later songs like Anoxia and Nuclear Fusion are a lot more involved. Also their most recent album K.G. is their second exploration into microtonal tuning and I think its one of their best albums yet, give Intrasport a listen its so fun!

As always brilliant and interesting. Thank you for the hard work.

I am not much of a music person and stumbled on this, but love and understand it, and oh, absolutely love what you created at the end!

Microtonality can convey very subtle emotion. When used well, including timbre of course, it can conveys an un-earthly-ness, eerieness or meditative (or drunkeness, lol)

I see King Gizzard and The Lizzard Wizard, I click Stu's face

This was a really well-realised explanation of a pretty trippy concept! Adam Neely's video on microtonality recommended an IDM artist called Sevish who uses microtonality in a really tasteful way, I'd recommend anyone interested in the topic after watching this video to listen to any of their albums to get a feel for what timbres and vibes you can experience from listening to microtonal music. Sevish has become a go-to artist for me when I fancy listening to something a bit out there, but still totally digestible.

The most interesting quarter note is the F𝄱 (F half-sharp), which is harmonic in the of the natural (C major) scale. It has a frequency ratio of 11:8 and can be easily played on the alphorn.

I said in my head "if he doesn't talk about king gizzard, he lost all my respect" but then you did, so here you go. You have respect from a random internet bloke. Be proud of it. Btw lovely video :)

this man sounds like the music equivalent of tom scott.

I love the instrument settings for the midi you chose. It makes the microtonality feel really good on my ears

Your microtonal composition is fab! It sounds pleasant even for the western-music-trained ear. Reminds me of buddhist sound bowls

"You like that? Its a microtonal bend in my bass line. I'm into that stuff. I'm a crazy and inspired artist." "You can't actually bend that string a whole half step, can you?" "I WAS BORN WITH WEAK FINGERS, JERK!!"

So SO happy King Gizzards featured on this channel. recently got into them and theyre fucking amazing. Possibly the most talented band of the last decade.

very well done on this video. i have a novice understanding of music but an advanced understanding of physics and this made complete sense to me. very good implementation of the applications of what you're talking about, syncing the music with the visual representation of where we are in the measure.

Your microtonal piece was super cool and suspenseful, I really enjoyed it :)

David Bennett: "So why don't we have access to these notes on a piano?" ME: "Ah, that's why..."

9:26 wow this is so trippy, just the scale on it's own sounds so Gizzard

Great video, thank you! I think violin (and co) are very suitable for playing microtonal music, they have been used in Arabic/Turkish/Persian music for a long time. Also, there are keyboards that support microtuning. The scale that King Gizzard use for Rattlesnake (and most of their songs) is called Maqam Bayati, and it's exactly like you described it in the key of F#, but sometimes you don't detune the 6th note.

Quarter-tones are more common in Arabic music, especially with the use of Oud or Violins. Some Arabic scales such as rast, saba, sikah, and bayati has some quarter-tones.

Here is my my most recently compiled list of must-listen microtonal music in popular/accessible genres: Jack Tickner: Reassuring Weight jacktickner.bandcamp.com/album/reassuring-weight Sean Archibald (aka Sevish): Sean but not heard seanarchibald.bandcamp.com/album/sean-but-not-heard Zia: Four-Momentum split-notes.com/zia-four-momentum/ Mercury Tree: Spidermilk themercurytree.bandcamp.com/album/spidermilk James Mulvale/Fast-fast: New Color Bomb jamesmulvale.bandcamp.com/album/new-color-bomb Ilevens: Transmitter ilevens.bandcamp.com/album/transmitter A clarification/nitpick: The note with a frequency of 269.4 Hz isn't actually halfway between 261.6 Hz and 277.2 Hz, because our perception of pitch is logarithmic. The pitch halfway in between them is 261.6*2^(50/1200) = ~269.3 Hz. (Small difference here, but much bigger differences when you're finding halfway between notes further apart.) If you'll excuse the shameless self-promotion, anyone curious about "microtonality"/"xenharmonic music" is welcome to check out the temperament tutorials on my channel which take you well beyond the typical "just add a note in between all the notes we already have" methods that lead so many people to 24 tone equal temperament.

King Gizz is an incredible band

So so cool! And I love your composition! I am just starting to learn at all about music theory at 38, and I feel a new world is opening to me.

That piece of yours is so captivating, I love it

14:43 I saw what you did there. Tuning the error sound A456 too.

The quarter tones in the bit of “Rattlesnake” almost song like notes with a heavy amount of chorus effect on them. Pretty cool

Really appreciate the quality of your language, makes these videos far easier to watch

thank you for these videos. i've been binging your content non-stop in hopes of making my music sound more interesting and generally better, even though on the surface my music is rather simple EDIT: my father is Lebanese and has a special middle-eastern Casio keyboard with microtonal tuning settings to suit the Arabic tonal needs

Do the transitions in “A Day in the Life” use microtonality?

That composition of yours at the end of the video is really good! It sounds like music that would play in a cave level of a video game.

Instant sub. The piece at the end was amazing, bravo

Those king Gizzard albums are so rad. Thanks for the video!

I can't believe I found a video like this on RU-vid This is so unbelievably good

"No I'm not out of tune, I'm just improvising microtonally"

Just added " Study in 24-tone equal temperament " track to my "Laid Back Stuff" and "Leftfield" Spotify Playlists - haunting and rather lovely. Nice one David. V interesting vid too.

Really great work you’re doing. Thanks for your efforts.

all of king gizzard and the lizard wizard

I absolutely love the videos that Adam Neely has made about this topic and I've loved other vids about Jacob Collier, which is why I'm so excited that you've made a vid too. Thank you for uploading! I really appreciate you continuing to upload to keep us entertained. :D

Loving the video-great explanation and examples!Thank you

This is a really good explanation of this. Thanks for covering this topic! Very interesting.

Excellent. I have synesthesia, as in I can see patches of colour when I hear music and close my eyes. The pattens and colours change according to tone and pitch and harmonies (Oboes, bassoons and big phat synths work best). Microtonal music gives a different visual effect to normal. It has a finer texture and is more geometrical than the blobby coloured clouds I usually get. Before anyone asks, No, I don't use any recreational substances. Even the swoosh sounds of a dishwasher running has a pale blue/ green transparent thing associated with it. Doesn't happen when I'm driving because when I am focused on looking at things moving outside the synesthesia source goes away. It has made sight reading sheet music harder. When you get going the page looks coloured in with many thin layers of different watercolour paints and you can't read it fast enough. Normally I would try to learn as much of the score as possible, then not rely on it too much when playing in a large group.

The piece you wrote at the end was one of my favourite microtonal vibes. Really trappy and dystopian sounding, love it!

Wow, your experimenting song is really great! I like the feeling it brings.

Thanks bro, your videos are the best😍

I'm legit scared by how good Jacob Collier is

Jacob Collier's single "All I need" modulates to G half sharp, and it still feels so pop-like. This is an example of music that can sound like pop but can still be filled with insanely interesting musical content.

Love your track at the end. Well done!

Thank you so much for this and your other videos. I’ve always struggled between the physical (an octave is a doubling in frequency) and the 12 tone division over half- and semi-tones and don’t start about the bar notation. Have driven musician friends to “it just is, okay” making it seem like my problem, but you’re able to connect, for my mind, the physical and western conventions by examining these border cases. Of course there are more then 12 notes! Of course you can harmonize quarter tones! Thanks again

A piano in my school has got quarter tones😎

I like your composition in the end

I was wondering just this morning why I couldn’t match my tone to my keyboard’s. Makes so much more sense, thank you!

great video, thank you! this modulation is truly something miraculous

14:00, I never knew what it was like to be out of tune, until I heard that smooth pass, and I actually could hear it!!! If you can’t tell, I don’t play music

This has to be one of the best channels on youtube

god i wanna hear a full version of your microtonal piece at 16:14 it sounds so haunting yet mesmerising, it sounds brilliant

This was FUN! Thank you 💗💗💗

That piece at the end sounds like something from Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works vol. II

Anyone else see a semi tone as a much bigger interval now?

When you said "so I wrote my own microtonal piece and thought it might be interesting if I shared it with you" I almost yelled YES at the screen XD thanks for sharing your process!! I'm learning about this stuff for the first time and I'm excited. Where can I listen to your whole song?

You'll hear this a lot in western music, in many jazz bass lines. Even in the Sweet Child of Mine solo, I'm pretty sure there's a half-bend/quarter-bend somewhere. Just as some examples.

Violins be like: “I’m not like other girls, I can play microtones”

Another piece that uses the micro tonal interval is Dolphin Shoals from Mario Kart 8. The saxophone solo climaxes to a high G half flat before going back to the beginning of the song again.

The acapella piece with the 'modulation' key changing in the first chords is very interesting. I haven't until now heard a microtonal piece that sounded good to my 'western tuned' ears. It's really fascinating how having a sort of 'ear tuning' initial chord progression to go from what we are used to to something different makes our ears adjust to make it less jarring and learn to like it.

12:00 Jacob here in the medieval peasant shirt

I know im late to this but if anyone wants to hear some real micro tonal music look up Sevish. He is an amazing electronic artist that uses so much microtonal scales from 5 tet to 313 edo (diffrent tuning type) hes just so good at this stuff and has an amazing video about how to make a song like this.

Your composition has a cool vibe. I like it. I don’t think I’ll be diving into the world of microtonality anytime soon but it’s always nice to learn new stuff. Thanks, David.

I fell in the microtonal music rabbit hole after finding out there were quarter tones in arabic music. I'm so glad it is being casually discussed, because as hard as it can be to the beginner music theory student, it's also very satisfying to hear. strongly recommend Sevish to discover more microtonal and xenharmonic music!

Diana Haskell released an album in 2006 called Clarinet Enchantments. In one or more of the movements of the Bartok Dances, she stuffed different materials of fabric (if I recall correctly) into parts of her instrument in order to have consistent quarter tones.