Our November 29-30 concert featured Haydn’s “Quinten” quartet, and in our program notes, we explained that “Quinten” means “Fifths” and we commented on the importance of “Fifths” in music. This video below picks up where we left off, and does an excellent job, in its first 8 minutes, at explaining important realities of music. The last 4 minutes are more piano-centric, but worth watching too.

Sum-up of the video:

0:00 Introduction. Some grouping of notes (“chords”) sound better than others… Why is that?

0:49 Frequency vs. Intervals. Absolute measurement vs. Proportion. The “Fifth” is first defined by its 3/2 ratio at 2:30.

2:38 Modes of a String / The Harmonic Series (“overtones”). The “Fifth” is then defined as the “second overtone” at 4:10. The second overtone is also the most noticeable one in the overtone series.

4:46 Just Intonation. “Major” and “minor” scales are defined at 5:20.

6:56 Pythagorean Tuning. The “Circle of Fifths” is defined at 7:38.

9:55 Equal Temperament. The solution for pianos…

11:17 Final thoughts.

The conclusion of our pianist-vlogger saying that “tradition” is the only good reason to keep the 12-note scale seems to ignore the first 8 minutes of his own video. String and wind instruments, as well as the vibration of a singer’s vocal chords, can never break free of the reality and proportionality of overtones. With pianos, the actions of tuning and playing are non-simultaneous. For string players and singers, they are simultaneous, and the perception of harmonics and overtones, as defined in the first 8 minutes of the video, is key to the simultaneity of tuning & playing/singing.

Another explanation of the same realities was made by Leonard Bernstein in his famous 1973 Norton Lectures at Harvard University. His explanations are longer: about 17 minutes. Click on this link if you would like to review Bernstein’s brilliant explanation.

Thank you for reading, and please do not hesitate to leave questions of comments below. Hervé