providing a focus for microtonal music in the UK

creating a melting pot of practice, debate and inspiration

microtonality: a brief explanation

Microtonal music uses pitches other than the 12 equally spaced semitones heard in western music or their very close relations (such as those found in the temperaments used in Baroque music). Microtonal music is not particularly rare. The ancient Greeks used structured intervals as small as a quatertone. So do various traditional and classical musics from around the world.

In the west, most of us have been brought up on a diet of music based on 12 division equal temperament: 12 equal divisions of an octave, most commonly represented by the 5 black and 7 white keys on the piano keyboard. This tuning system continues to predominate and be taught to music students as the unquestionable norm.

However, the expanded palette of sounds that becomes available through microtones is increasingly being explored by composers, with the following representing a crude summary of interests:

• dividing the tone into divisions other than 2 semitones
• dividing the octave into other than 12 divisions
• dividing the octave into intervals based on the harmonic series (just intonation)

These ideas have implications for instrumental technique and the design of instruments, and require some understanding of the mathematics and physics which underpin music theory.