Unjust Intonation
Root Tones: Unjust Intonation
We have a tendency these days to think of music as a universal language which is free from the bondage of the colonial system. This article will explore a very clear example of why this is not true. First, let’s explore some other areas of knowledge and everyday life where this bondage clearly exists.
Prophet Neb Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig best exposed how our notion of time division is shaped by the colonial system in the modern era. Something that we consider to be so basic is really just an idea forced onto our consciousness. The year, the names and durations of the months, the number of days in our week, as well as our idea of when a day begins and ends are all a product of our educational process. Time division is just one of the many concepts that has been shaped by the system. It is common for people to think that things like time, mathematics, music, and science are pure disciplines, and escape human manipulation, but this is not so.
Currently the system controls our sense of time, our notions of good and bad, the way we perceive the natural world, our goals and aspirations, as well as our lifestyle and daily activities.
Our notion of good and bad is shaped by our education. We can easily see how unstable this is if we compare cultures. What may be “good” for an American, may not be “good” for someone from Afghanistan, and vice versa. All it takes is for us to be born into an environment that already has the “good” and “bad” set for us, and we never consider that these notions can be entirely political or at least subjective.
The way that we perceive the natural world is dictated by either religious propaganda, or the materialistic fixations of modern science. This is the spectrum that we are given, as we are forced to travel between these supposed opposites as though these are the only two options that exist. But this really just confines the human mind to a type of “limbo” that it is forced to traverse in its quest for truth.
Our goals and aspirations are set by the world and civilization that we are subject to from the moment of our birth. If I live in a spiritual society, my goals may be purity, humility and/or harmony with nature as a means to achieve stability in all aspects of life. If I live in a materialistic society my goals may be to acquire material stability through wealth acquisition in order to carve out a niche in the world for my own interests and family.
Our lifestyle and daily activities are clearly controlled by the system as we can see that on a daily basis we have to commute back and forth from our jobs, that we are forced to pay taxes, and forced to live in a particular set of conditions. If we deviate from any of these standards, we are then forced to face other options which are not favorable. If we want to relax from this rat race, we are also provided with a set of options such as planned vacations, nightlife on Fridays and Saturdays, and other various forms of hedonism.
Surprisingly, this same kind of control exists in music. Do you remember the tuning fork?
It is a fork shaped piece of metal that is struck in order to produce a pure tone which other instruments can be tuned to. This was one of the most popular attempts to standardize the intonation of music.
Now with standard electrical tuning, the central starting point of tuning starts at A-440. This is the note A on an instrument, tuned to 440 Hertz (Hz). Hertz is a measurement of cycles per second. These cycles are graphically represented as sine waves. The human ear usually can not hear below 20 Hz, nor above 20,000 Hz. 20 Hz and above are where bass notes start. Around 100 Hz, it changes from bass to Low-mid range, and by 500 Hz and upward, the notes get higher.
As the frequency of the wave increases, the tone gets higher.
Just like when you pluck a string, if it is long or loose, it moves slower and creates a deeper note, where if it is tight or short, it creates a high note. Sometimes if you are in your car, and the bass is turned up, you will see your rear view mirror vibrate to the same frequency as the bass note. Deeper notes vibrate slower than higher notes. If you look at a speaker, you can see it vibrate. This is the way that the speaker works; electric signals make the speaker vibrate at a certain frequency and moves the air which then reaches your ear. Most electronic music is tuned to A-440. Virtually all of the music you hear on the radio, on TV, and on the pop charts is tuned to A-440. It is the modern standard.
The contemporary musical scale is an arrangement of notes from which music can be expressed. It’s basis is 12 chromatic notes, which can be played in various arrangements.
The 12 notes can be expressed alphabetically in the following way: A/A#/B/C/C#/D/D#/E/F/F#/G/G#
Do you see the note A present at the beginning of the list of notes? We will make that A-440.
Here is a representation of some of those 12 notes in Hz.
A=440 / A#=466.16 / B=493.88 / C=523.25 / C#=554.36
Can you see that between B & C, there is a 29.37 Hz difference?
If a piece of music is in tune by modern standards, it will not touch those frequencies between the pre-designated 12 tones of the scale.
When I listen to traditional music from around the world, especially ceremonial music, I notice one thing, when I use a modern tuner to find what key it is in, it is almost always between those notes in that “forbidden territory”!
As a musician, when I sing a strong musical idea into my recorder and go back to identify the pitch of the melody, it is usually between those set notes. For example it could be between D & D#, or somewhere between A & A#!
By standardizing pitch, we are eliminating a huge range of intonation from the world of Western and recorded music, and therefore from the modern human ear! If there is 29.37 degrees between the previously mentioned notes B & C, that means that there is space between them. If we play a tone at 493 Hz (our note B), then increase the amount by 5 Hz each time from 493, to 498, to 503, to 508, to 513, to 518, and up to 523 Hz (our note C), you will notice a distinctly different note at each one of those intervals! That means that there is an entire hidden world of notes between the notes that we are being forced to accept!
If you want to test this out, here is the URL for an online tone generator:
http://plasticity.szynalski.com/tone-generator.htm
Because the components of the existence vibrate at different frequencies, it is a complex of material and non-material things that work in concert. Music is a sacred way to tune into those harmonies, frequencies, and relationships. If we create a prison for sound where it cannot touch on those subtle frequencies, what effect do you think that might have on the human mind, and the effectiveness of music for spiritual purposes?
This is food for thought, as we must come to terms with our interference with natural principles as humans, and the detriment of that imposition.
As you can now see, music is clearly subjected to the bondage of the colonial system by this prison of set intonation. Is it a coincidence that the implementation of a convenience such as having a “standard tuning” just so happens to also diminish the fundamental power of music?
If we compare all the other fields of knowledge and areas of everyday life discussed in this article with this same question in mind, can we honestly say it is a matter of coincidence and convenience?
