Untempered Music

For almost two years now, I’ve been exploring the nature of music almost full-time. I threw out everything I knew, started with the most basic thing I could think of, the number 1, the origin of the musical universe, and worked my way from there.

My explorations quickly led to the underpinnings of musical harmony, the natural notes that can be expressed as ratios of small whole numbers. These are the notes people generally played and sang, before twelve-tone equal temperament (12ET) came along. 12ET is a clever tuning system, a collection of 12 notes that are slightly retuned from the natural ones, mathematically fudged so that you can play fixed-pitch instruments in any key, and change keys without retuning.

Before 2011, I’d never seriously questioned those 12 notes. They are “The Notes,” after all. They’re the ones on the piano, and they’re what your guitar tuner tunes to. They’re right, right? Well, not really. In the past two years, I have met and made friends with a whole color palette of new, untempered notes, no two alike, each with its own function and personality. In the process, I’ve discovered new ways of thinking about and visualizing music that have greatly increased my enjoyment of it. I have even made friends with equal temperament again, after a long journey away. This website will tell about the journey. Welcome!

Gary Garrett

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