MusicTheoryOnline

TheOnlineJournaloftheSocietyforMusicTheory
Volume4.4

KennethP.Scholtz*
AlgorithmsforMappingDiatonicKeyboardTuningsandTemperaments
KEYWORDS:Algorithm,chainoffifths,diatonicscale,equaltemperament,enharmonic,just
intonation,meantone,Pythagoreantuning,schisma,syntoniccomma
ABSTRACT:Diatonickeyboardtuningsinequaltemperament,justintonation,meantoneandwell
temperedscalesarederivedfromPythagoreantuningusingalgorithmswhoseoperationsinvolve
combinationsofpurefifthsandsyntoniccommas.Graphicdiagramsofthelineoffifthsareusedto
showtheharmonicandmathematicalrelationshipsbetweencommontuningsandtemperaments.Four
modesofjustintonationarederivedfromPythagoreantuningbyanalgorithmthatnarrowseach
majorthirdbyonesyntoniccomma.Equaltemperamentisapproximatedwithimperceptibleerrorby
algorithmsthatnarrowPythagoreanandjustlytunedenharmonicintervalsbyoneormoresyntonic
commas.

1.Introduction
2.TheChainofFifths
3.PythagoreanTuning
4.EqualTemperament
5.TheFourModesofJustIntonation
6.MeantoneTemperament
7.WellTemperament
8.AlgorithmsforSchismaticandSyntonicEqualTemperment
9.ConcludingThoughts
AppendixI

AppendixII

1.Introduction

[1.1]Thisarticledescribesalgorithmsthatmapthetraditionalharmonictuningsandtemperamentsfor
thekeyboard:Pythagoreantuning,equaltemperament,justintonation,andhistoricalvariationson
meantonetemperaments.Keyboardtuningisusedbecauseithasbeenworkedoutindetailover
hundredsofyearsandisunderstoodtogiveareasonableapproximationofthepitchchoicesmadeby
performersoninstrumentswithoutfixedpitches.Ihaveexcludedanalysisofmultipledivisionsofthe
octaveintomorethantwelvenotesbecausetheywerenotcommonlyusedtemperaments.Working
fromthechainoffifths,wewilldemonstratehowtheintervalsinanytuningortemperamentcanbe
mappedfromPythagoreantuningbyalgorithmsthatcombinepurefifthsandsyntoniccommas.
{1}Thealgorithmsthatmapthetuningsandtemperamentsintooneanotherarenotpurely
mathematical,butarederivedfromtheharmonicstructureofthechainoffifthsandenharmonic
relationshipsbetweennotes.
[1.2]Thisarticleisnotconcernedwithgeneratingdiatonicscaletuningfromprimenumbersor
otherwisederivingitsformfromphysicalormathematicalprinciples.Wewillusethehistoric
definitionofadiatonicscaleastwotetrachordsplusoneadditionaltonethatcompletestheoctave.
Thediatonicoctaveisdividedintofivewholetonesandtwosemitonesinalltuningsand
temperaments.Theconventionofassigningletternamestonotesina12notechromatickeyboardfor
diatonicscaleswillbeobserved.Thechainoffifthswillbeintroducedandusedasthedefining
featurecommontoallscaleswithoutinitiallyassuminganyparticulartuning.
[1.3]Severalmoderntheorists,includingMarkLindley{2}andEasleyBlackwood{3}haveapplied
algebraictechniquesindescribingthetonalrelationshipswhichformtraditionaldiatonicscales.
Othershavedevelopeddiagramstocomparethedifferencesinpitchforanoteinvarioustunings.
{4}Althoughsuchtechniqueshavetheiruses,Ididnotpersonallyfindthemparticularlyhelpfulin
visualizingtheoveralldifferencebetweenonetuningsystemortemperamentandanother.Formy
ownanalysis,Iprefertodiagramthechainoffifthsanduserationalfractionstoexpressthesizeofthe
intervals.{5}Differencesbetweentuningsystemsareindicatedbyplacingcommasorfractional
commasbetweenadjacentfifths.Thisprovidesavisualcomparisonbetweentheseparatediatonic
tuningsandtemperamentsofacompletescaleandmakesiteasiertodemonstratethemathematical
andmusicalrelationshipsbetweenthem.
[1.4]Theoristsclassifytuningsystemsaseithercyclic,generatedbyareiterativesequenceoffifths,or
divisive,tuningsthatsubdividetheoctave.{6}Historically,thisdivisionissomewhatarbitrary.Euclid
andBoethiusderivedthePythagoreantuningthatwenowassociatewithasequenceoffifthsby
dividingamonochordintotwooctaves.{7}Methodsbasedupontheovertoneseriesorothersystems
whichattempttoderivejustintonationfromacousticphenomenaareoftenconsideredtobedivisive
innature.Thetypographicaldiagramsutilizedinthisarticleinterprettuningsandtemperamentsin
termsofthelineoffifths.
2.TheChainofFifths
[2.1]Itiswellknownthateverydiatonicscalecanbereorderedintoasequenceoffifths.FortheC
majorscale,thesequenceoffifthsisFCGDAEB,renumberingthenotesofthescaleintheorder
4152637.ThisisthesequenceofnotesproducedwhenonestartswithCandthentunesa
keyboardalternatelydownafourthandupafifthuntilthelastnoteofthescaleisreached.For
consistencyofmetaphor,Icallthesequenceoffifthsa"chain"inwhichthefifthsare"links,"without
assuminganyspecifictuningsystem.

[2.2]ThechainoffifthshasitsoriginatCandextendstothesharpnotesontherightandtheflat
notesontheleft.Thechainistheoreticallyendless,neitherclosingnorrepeating,sothateachnotein
thechainismusicallyunique.{8}Figure1showsthecentral21linksinthechain,withCatthe
origin.AllthenotesinthechainareconsideredtobewithinasingleoctaveboundedbytwoC's.
Sincefifthsandfourthsareinversions,eachnoteisafifthabovethenotetoitsleftandafourthabove
thenotetoitsright.Asamatterofconvention,itisusefultoconsiderthelinkstotherightofCtobe
ascendingfifthsandthethosetothelefttobeascendingfourths.
BbbFbCbGbDbAbEbBbFCGDAEBF#C#G#D#A#E#B#
Fig.1.ASectionoftheChainofFifths
ThesamesevenletternamesrepeatthemselvesoverandoverinthesameinvariantsequenceoftheC
majorscaleFCGDAEBwitheachrepetitionaugmentedbysharpstotherightandflatstothe
left.Anygroupofsixadjacentlinksdefinesamajordiatonicscalewhosetonicnoteisonelinkfrom
theleftendofthegroup,andanaturalminorscalewhichstartstwolinksfromtherightend.
Horizontalmovementofanysixlinkgroupistheequivalentoftranspositionofthescaleintoanew
keyasexemplifiedbyFigure2.Atwelvenotechromatickeyboardcommonlycontainedthenotes
fromEbtoG#,beforetheacceptanceofequaltemperament.Whenallthefifthswerepure,the
keyboardwouldbesuitableforthediatonicmajorandminorscalesinthekeysdepictedinFigure2.
Otherkeyswouldbeunavailablebecausetherequiredsharporflatnoteswouldbeoutsidetherange
ofthechainoffifths.
Bbmajor,GminorEbBbFCGDA
Fmajor,DminorBbFCGDAE
Cmajor,AminorFCGDAEB
Gmajor,EminorCGDAEBF#
Dmajor,BminorGDAEBF#C#
Amajor,F#minorDAEBF#C#G#

Fig.2.SixDiatonicScalesinaChromaticChainFromEbtoG#
[2.3]Thechainoffifthscanbeusedtorationallyordertheharmonicstructureofthediatonicscale.
Figure3liststheharmonicintervalsavailableonatwelvenotechromatickeyboardforeachpairing
oflinksinthechainoffifths.ThepairsofnoteslistedareexamplesthatstartwithC.Anyintervalcan
behorizontallytransposedalongthechainoffifths.
AscendingHarmonicIntervals
Links Notes
LefttoRight
1
CG Perfectfifth
2
CD Majorsecond

RighttoLeft
Perfectfourth
Minorseventh

3
4
5

CA
CE
CB

Majorsixth
Minorthird
Majorthird
Minorsixth
Majorseventhorminorsecond Diatonicsemitone

6
7
8

CF# AugmentedFourthortritone
CC# Chromaticsemitone
CG# Augmentedfifth

DiminishedFifth
Diminishedoctave
Diminishedfourth

9
10

CD# Augmentedsecond
CA# Augmentedsixth

Diminishedminorseventh
Diminishedminorthird

11

CE# Augmentedthird

Diminishedminorsixth

Fig.3.HarmonicIntervalsOrderedFromtheChainofFifths
Figure3classifiesharmonicintervalsbythenumberoflinksandtheirdirectiononthechainoffifths.
Eachpairofintervalsareinversionsofoneanother.Chromaticintervalshavemorethansixlinks,
diatonicintervalshavesixorfewer.Generallyspeaking,majorintervalsandaugmentedintervals
ascendfromlefttoright,whileminorintervalsanddiminishedintervalsascendfromrighttoleft.The
perfectfourthistheonlyconsonantintervalthatascendsfromrighttoleft,whichmayreflectits
harmonicambiguity.Intervalsthatascendtotherightfromaflattoanaturalarealwaysmajor,such
asBbD,afourlinkascendingmajorthirdtransposedfromCE.Inthesamemanner,intervalsthat
ascendtotherightfromaflattoasharpareconsidered"augmented,"asinBbD#,an11link
augmentedthirdtransposedfromCE#.Intheoppositedirection,intervalsthatascendtotheleftfrom
asharptoanaturalarealwaysminor,asinC#E,athreelinkminorthirdtransposedfromCEb.
Intervalsthatascendtotheleftfromasharptoaflatarediminished,asinC#Eb,atenlink
diminishedthirdtransposedfromCEbb.Eachpairofenharmonicallyequivalentnotesisseparatedby
twelvelinks.Itisalsowellknownthattheprogressionsofdiatonicharmonycorrespondtothechain
offifths,butthisisatopicwhichwillnotbefurtherdetailed.
3.PythagoreanTuning
[3.1]Tuningthediatonicscalewithpurefifths,nowknownasPythagoreantuning,wasthenormfor
nearly2,000years.ThePythagoreantuningoftwelvenotesinastandardEbG#keyboardisshownin
Figure4.Thelinksareasequenceofpowersof3/2totherightofCandpowersof4/3totheleftofC.
Whenevernecessary,thefractionisdividedbytwotokeepthepitchwithinthecompassofasingle
2/1octave.Thus,3/2x3/2=9/4.9/4isdividedby2,makingD=9/8.Logarithmsallowthesequence
tobecalculatedbyadditioninsteadofmultiplication.Inlogarithmicmeasure,eachperfectfifthis
approximately702cents.ThetuningofDisequalto204cents,obtainedbysubtractingaanoctaveof
1200centsfrom702+702=1404.Sinceallthelinksarethesamesize,theharmonicintervalscanbe
transposedfreely.Allmajorsecondsare9/8,allmajorthirds,81/64,andetc.
16/927/16243/1282187/2048
||||
AbwEbBbFCGDAEBF#C#G#
||||||||
32/274/313/29/881/64729/5126561/4096

Fig.4PythagoreanTuning
ThedashesbetweentheletternamesofthenotesinFigure4indicatethatthefifthsarepure.
[3.2]AlthoughD#(19683/16384)andEb(32/27)areenharmonicallyidenticalinequaltemperament,
theirpitchesinPythagoreantuningaredifferentD#ishigherthanEbby531441/524288the
Pythagoreancomma(P).ThemorecommonmethodforderivingthePythagoreancommaisto
calculateitasthedifferencebetween12consecutivefifthsandsevenoctaves.{9}AsEuclidknew,it
isalsothedifferencebetweensixwholetonesandoneoctave.{10}
[3.3]Awolffifth,"w,"occursattheendofthelinewhenEbhastobeusedenharmonicallybecause
D#isunavailablethe"fifth,"whichismorepreciselyadiminishedsixth,fromG#toEb(D#)willbe
toonarrowbyaPythagoreancomma.Blackwooddescribessuchanarrowfifthasdiscordantand
soundingbadlyoutofplaceinascalewhoseotherfifthsarepure.{11}Itwasknownasthewolffifth,
becauseofthehowlingsoundthatitmadeonanorgan.
4.EqualTemperament

[4.1]Equaltemperamenthasbeencommonlyusedforthepast150yearstotunepianosandorgans
and,beforethat,wasusedforfrettedinstrumentssuchasguitarsandlutes.Equaltemperamentflattens
thefifths(andsharpensthefourths)by1/12ofaPythagoreancomma,"p,"asshowninFigure5.This
isjustenoughtogiveatrueoctavefromachainof12links.Inmusicalterms,the12fifthsinthe
chromaticlinearemadeexactlyequalto7octaves.AscanbeseenfromFigure5,theterm"equal
temperament"onlyappliestothefifths.Theotherintervalsarenottemperedequallywithrespectto
Pythagoreantuning.
|<octave(1p)>|
||seventh>|(5/12P)|
||maj.Third>||(1/3P)|
|fifth}|>||>|(1/12P)|
|||||
EbpBbpFpCpGpDpApEpBpF#pC#pG#pD#
||||
fourth}|<|<||(+1/12P)maj.snd.|>||(1/6P)
|mj.sixth>|(1/4P)

Fig.5.SchematicofEqualTemperament
InFigure5,thePythagoreancommaisindicatedbytheuppercase"P"and1/12ofthePythagorean
commabythelowercase"p."Thedirectionofthearrowindicatestheascendingharmonicinterval.
Reversingthearrowwouldinverttheintervalandchangethesignofthefraction,asillustratedbythe
fifth(1/4p)andthefourth(+1/4p).
[4.2]Sinceequaltemperamentmakeseverythirteenthnotethesame,itmakesallenharmonicpairs
equalforexample,G#becomesidenticalwithAbandD#becomesidenticalwithEb.This
superpositionisquitedifferentfromaPythagoreankeyboardinwhichsubstitutionofenharmonically
equivalentnotesgivesafifththatisnarrowedbyaPythagoreancomma.Compressingthechromatic
lineoftwelvepurefifthsbyaPythagoreancommamakesthetuningofAbequaltothetuningofG#.
Insteadofaninfiniteseriesoflinksextendingalongthechainoffifthsinbothdirections,equal
temperamentreducesthechromaticscaletoexactly12noteswhichendonanoctaveandthenrepeat.
Inequaltemperament,onedoesnothavetochoosebetweenanavailableG#andanunavailableAb
bothareavailableandthetuningofthetwonotesisnowthesame.Equaltemperamentmadepossible
modernkeyboardmusicwithfullmodulationbetweenallkeys.Ithasbecomecommontoconsider
equaltemperamentasbeingthedivisionofanoctaveintotwelveequalsemitones,sincetheratioofan
octaveis2/1andanequallytemperedsemitonemultipliedbyitself12timesproducesanexactoctave.
{12}
[4.3]Wecaneasilydemonstratefromthechainoffifthsthatequaltemperamentmakesboththe
tuningandthemusicalfunctionofeachpairofenharmonicallyequivalentnotesequal,usingthe12
linksfromCtoB#.AftersubtractingthePythagoreancomma,B#becomesthesamemusicalnoteas
C.CcanbesubstitutedforB#,whichisindicatedbyplacingitverticallybelowB#inFigure6.E#is
afifthbelowB#,butsinceB#hasbeenreplacedbyC,FmustbeplacedbelowE#sinceFisafifth
belowC.ThesubstitutionscontinuetotheleftalongthetoprowfromB#toCuntilthebottomrowis
completefromContherighttoDbbontheleft.Figure6showsthatthetworowscreatedbythese
substitutionsarethesameasifthechainoffifthswassplitintotworows,withthesharpnotesabove
theflatnotes.Thesubstitutionsderivedfromequaltemperamenthavemadethetuningofthetoprow
identicaltothatofthebottomrow.Equaltemperamentcombineseachverticalpairofenharmonically
equivalentnotesintoonesinglenote.{13}
C

E B F# C# G# D# A# E# B#

Dbb Abb Ebb Bbb Fb Cb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F C

Fig.6.EnharmonicPairsinEqualTemperament

Thisprocesscanbeextendedouttoinfinitybyverticallystackingeachgroupof12notesinrows
belowDbbCandaboveCB#.Eachverticalstackofenharmonicnoteswillbeidentical.The
profoundconsequenceofequaltemperamentisthatthechainoftwelvetemperedlinksabsorbsthe
infinitechainintoasinglerowof12chromaticnotesthatcorrespondsexactlytothe12notestothe
octave(7diatonicand5chromatic)equallytemperedkeyboard.
[4.4]Calculatingthetuningofanequallytemperedscalegeneratesirrationalnumbers,{14}because
therationalfractionthatmeasuresthePythagoreancommamustbedividedintotwelveroots.One
equallytemperedsemitoneequalsthetwelfthrootof2,anirrationalnumberwhosevalueisnormally
giveninadecimalapproximationas1.05946(100cents.)Thetuningofthechainofequaltempered
fifthsinsixplacedecimalsisgiveninFigure7.
Note
G#/Ab
C#/Db
F#/Gb

Tuning Cents
1.587401 800
1.059463 100
(13001200)
1.414214 600
(18001200)

B
E
A
D
G
C

1.887749
1.259921
1.6817793
1.122462
1.498307
1.0

1100
400
(16001200)
900
200
(14001200)
700
0/1200

F
1.334840 500
Bb/A# 1.781797 1000
Eb/D# 1.189207 300

(17001200)

Fig.7.EqualTemperament
UsingthediagraminFigure5,the700centlogarithmictuningofanequallytemperedfifthis
narrowerthana702centperfectfifthby2cents,1/12ofthe24centPythagoreancomma.Thelast
columninFigure7displaysthispatternthepitchofeachnoteintheverticalchainis700centsabove
thenotebelowitbeforesubtractingouttheoctave.
5.TheFourModesofJustIntonation

[5.1]InPythagoreantuning,onlythefifthsandfourthsaretunedasconsonantintervals.Thethirds
andsixthsgeneratedbyasequenceofperfectfifthsarenotgenerallyconsideredconsonantby
comparisontothemostconsonantmajorthirdwhichis5/4,aminorthirdof5/6andtheirinversions,a
majorsixthof5/3andaminorsixthof8/5.Thediatonictuningthatincludesbothconsonantthirds
andpurefifthsisknownasjustintonation.OnetraditionalmethodofformingaCmajorscaleinjust
intonationistocombineconsonanttonic,dominantandsubdominanttriads,FAC,CEGandGB
D.ThistunesthejustdiatonicscaleshowninFigure8.TheDAlinkisnarrowedbyasyntonic
commaindicatedbythe"k."Sincetheotherlinksarepure,thepitchofA,EandBwillalsobelower
thanPythagoreanbyasyntoniccomma.EventhougheachnotehasitsoptimumtuningrelativetoC,
justintonationisatheoreticalscalewhichisunsatisfactoryfortuninganinstrumentwithfixedpitch
becausethenarrowDAresultsintheunjustintervalsshowninFigure8.ThenarrowDAsounds
muchthesameasaPythagoreanwolffifth.ThePythagoreanminorthirdanditsinversion,themajor
sixthbetweenDandFalsosoundbadlyoutofplaceinanotherwisejustscale.

CG D kA E

4/3 1 3/2 9/8

5/3 5/4 15/8

DA=5/3x8/9=40/27,AD=27/20
DF=4/3x8/9=32/27,FD=27/16
Fig.8.DissonantInternalIntervals
inJustIntonationScale
[5.2]Tuningachromaticoctaveinjustintonationcreatesfurtherdifficultiessincealternatetunings
arerequiredforeachnote.Atheoreticalscaleofjustintonationcanbecalculatedforfourdiatonic
majorscalesinthechromaticoctavebyreplicatingtheprocedureusedtoformthescaleofCmajor.A
scaleofBbmajorwouldhavetriadsinwhichEbG,BbDandFAwerepuremajorthirds.Thepure
thirdswouldbeBbD,FA,CEinFmajorandCE,GBandDF#inGmajor.Figure9showsthe
twoalternativetuningsforG,DandAthatarerequiredforthesefourscales.Themultiplicityof
alternatetuningsmakesjustintonationevenmoreimpracticalforthenormalkeyboardwithtwelve
keystotheoctave.
EbBbFCkGDA
32/2716/94/3127/2010/95/3
BbFCGkDAE
16/94/313/210/95/35/4
FCGDkAEB
4/313/29/85/35/415/8
CGDAkEBF#
13/29/827/165/415/845/32

Fig.9.JustscalesinBb,F,CandG
ItcanalsobeseenfromFigure9thattheabsolutelocationofthesyntoniccommamovesbutthatits
relativelocationisalwaysonthefourthlinkofthescale.Eachjustscalecouldbeconsideredtobe
virtuallyaseparateentitywhosetuningisfixedbythetuningofthetriadsthatitcontains.
[5.3]Itishelpfulatthispointtointroducetheconceptofanalgorithm,whichisasetofinstructions
formakingaseriesofcalculations.Eachofthetuningswehavediscussedsofarcanbederivedfrom
analgorithmfortuningthechainoffifthsintoone12notechromaticoctaveonakeyboard.The
Pythagoreantuningalgorithmhasfoursteps:
1. Cistunedtoanarbitraryunitpitchof1.
2. Tunethepitchofeachnotetobeaperfectfifth(3/2)
fromthenotesimmediatelyadjacenttoit.
3. Ifthepitchofanynoteisgreaterthan2,dividethe
pitchby2tokeepitwithinthesameoctave.
4. Stopafterthe12notesfromEbtoG#havebeentuned.
TheequaltemperamentalgorithmisthesameasthePythagoreanalgorithmexceptthattheintervalin
step2is1/12ofaPythagoreancommanarrowerthanapurefifth.Althoughjustlytunedscalesoften
havebeenconsideredtorepresentadifferentspeciesfromthePythagoreanortheequallytempered
scale,wewillshowinFigure10howanalgorithmcanbederivedthatmapsPythagoreantuninginto
justchromaticscales.
[5.4]ThescaleinFigure10hasasyntoniccommaateveryfourthlink.Thisproducesachromatic
scaleinwhichthediatonicscaleofCmajorisjustandthemaximumnumberofmajorthirdsarea

consonant5/4.Thisscaleisgeneratedbyanalgorithminwhich(1)thefourthlinkofaPythagorean
Cmajorscaleisnarrowedbyasyntoniccommaand(2)everyfourthlinkaboveandbelowthatlinkis
alsonarrowedbyasyntoniccomma.ThetuningofthejustchromaticscalefromEbtoG#depictedin
Figure10correspondstothetuninggivenbyRossingforthesesame12chromaticnoteswithina
largerchromaticscaleofjustintonationfromFbtoB#.{15}
JustIntonation
6/59/54/313/29/85/35/415/845/3225/2425/16
||||||||||||
EbBbkFCGDkAEBF#kC#G#

EbBbFCGDAEBF#C#G#
||||||||||||
32/2716/94/313/29/827/1681/64243/128729/5122187/20486561/4096
PythagoreanTuning

Fig.10.JustIntonationComparedtoPythagoreanTuning
WecanusethegraphicdiagraminFigure10toevaluatethedifferencebetweenthejustand
Pythagoreanpitchofeachnotewithouthavingtomultiplyoutthe81/80syntoniccomma.Inthisjust
chromaticscale,BbandEbareeachasyntoniccommahigherinpitchwhilejustlytunedA,E,Band
F#areeachasyntoniccommalowerinpitch.JustC#andG#arelowerthanPythagoreanbytwo
syntoniccommas.ExaminingFigure10demonstratesstillmorereasonswhyachromaticscaleofjust
intonationisunusableonastandardkeyboard.Narrowingeveryfourthlinkbyacommadoesnot
leaveallthethirdsandfifthsconsonant.Thefifthsthatarenarrowed(whichmeansthatthefourthsare
inverselybroadened)byafullsyntoniccommaareobviouslydissonant.Thus,thejustchromaticscale
hastwomoredissonantlinksthanaPythagoreanchromaticscale.ThewolffifthfromenharmonicD#
(Eb)toG#willbenarrowedbythreesyntoniccommas.Anygroupofthreeadjacentlinksthatdoes
notincludeacommawillformaPythagoreanminorthirdandaPythagoreanmajorsixth.Wholetones
inthisscalethatincludeasyntoniccommaare10/9,whiletheotherwholetonesareinthejustand
Pythagoreanproportionof9/8.Toassessthesevereimpactofthesetuningdiscrepancieswe
summarizethemostsignificantconsequenceswhenakeyboardtunedinjustintonationasinFigure
10isusedtoplaythesixdiatonicmajorscaleslistedinFigure2.
Bbmajor:fifthoftonictriadnarrowedbyasyntoniccomma.
Fmajor:majorfourthbroadenedbyasyntoniccomma.
Cmajor:fifthoftheIIchordnarrowedbyasyntoniccomma.
Gmajor:fifthofthedominanttriadnarrowedbyacomma.
Dmajor:fifthoftonictriadnarrowedbyasyntoniccomma.
Amajor:majorfourthbroadenedbyasyntoniccomma.
Itis,thus,amplyclearthatjustscaleswithconsonantthirdscannotbemeaningfullyusedona
chromatickeyboard.
[5.5]SincethescaleinFigure10wascreatedbyanalgorithmthatnarrowedeveryfourthlinkbyone
syntoniccomma,onecangeneratefourchromaticmodesofjustintonation,oneforeachofthescales
showninFigure9.ThesearetheonlyjustchromaticscalesthatarepossiblewhenChastherelative
tuningof1,sincethepatternofthealgorithmrepeatsafterthefourthlink.{16}Figure11presentsthe
tuningofthefourmodesofjustintonationalongachromaticscalefromDbbtoB#foraverticalchain
offifthsinPythagoreantuningandthefourjustchromaticmodesinBb,F,C,andG.Thenumberof
syntoniccommasbywhicheachnotehasbeenalteredfromPythagoreantuningisindicatedin
parentheses,thepitchofthenotesaboveCbeingloweredbythenumberofsyntoniccommas
indicatedandtheonesbelowCbeingraised.TheremainingnotesarePythagorean.

NtPythagoreanJust(G)Just(C)Just(F)Just(Bb)
B#531441/524288125/64(3k)125/64(3k)125/64(3k)125/64(3k)
E#177147/131072675/512(2k)125/96(3k)125/96(3k)125/96(3k)
A#59049/32768225/128(2k)225/128(2k)125/72(3k)125/72(3k)
D#19683/1638475/64(2k)75/64(2k)75/64(2k)125/108(3k)
G#6561/409625/16(2k)25/16(2k)25/16(2k)25/16(2k)
C#2187/2048135/128(1k)25/24(2k)25/24(2k)25/24(2k)
F#729/51245/32(1k)45/32(1k)25/18(2k)25/18(2k)
B243/12815/8(1k)15/8(1k)15/8(1k)50/27(2k)
E81/645/4(1k)5/4(1k)5/4(1k)5/4(1k)
A27/1627/165/3(1k)5/3(1k)5/3(1k)
D9/89/89/810/9(1k)10/9(1k)
G3/23/23/23/240/27(1k)
C11111
F4/327/20(+1k)4/34/34/3
Bb16/99/5(+1k)9/5(+1k)16/916/9
Eb32/276/5(+1k)6/5(+1k)6/5(+1k)32/27
Ab128/818/5(+1k)8/5(+1k)8/5(+1k)8/5(+1k)
Db256/24327/25(+2k)16/15(+1k)16/15(+1k)16/15(+1k)
Gb1024/72936/25(+2k)36/25(+2k)64/45(+1k)64/45(+1k)
Cb2048/218748/25(+2k)48/25(+2k)48/25(+2k)256/135(+1k)
Fb8192/656132/25(+2k)32/25(+2k)32/25(+2k)32/25(+2k)
Bbb32768/19683216/125(+3k)128/75(+2k)128/75(+2k)128/75(+2k)
Ebb65536/59049144/125(+3k)144/125(+3k)256/125(+2k)256/125(+2k)
Abb262144/177147192/125(+3k)192/125(+3k)192/125(+3k)1024/675(+2k)
Dbb524288/531441128/125(+3k)128/125(+3k)128/125(+3k)128/125(+3k)

Fig.11.TheFourModesofJustIntonation
Figure11providesaninsightontherelationshipbetweenPythagoreanandjusttuning.{17}Insteadof
presentingjustintonationasaseriesofpitchesthatareindependentlyderived,Figure11showsthat
thepitchofthesharpandflatnotesaremodifiedinaregularprogressionassyntoniccommasare
sequentiallyaddedtoorsubtractedfromPythagoreantuning.Thelogarithmictuningofeachnotecan
beeasilycalculatedusingthefactthatapurefifthis702cents,apurefourth,itsinversion,is498
cents,andasyntoniccommais22cents.Asanexample,27/25,thetuningofDbinthejustGmajor
modeis5linksplus2syntoniccommasleftofC:5x498=2490+44=2534.Aftersubtracting
2400,Db+2k=134cents.
[5.6]F.MurrayBarbourlisted22historicalscalesofjustintonationdatingfrom1482to1776inhis
historicalsurveyoftuningandtemperament.{18}Barbourdefinedjustintonationmorebroadlythan
wehavedone,includingwithintheconceptany12notechromaticscalethatpossessedsomepure
fifthsandatleastonepurethird.Barbourdescribedalate18thcenturytuningbyMarpurgwhichis
thesameasFigure10as"themodelformofjustintonation."{19}Twoscaleswhichcorrespondtothe
FmajormodeshowninFigure11weredescribedbyBarbouras"themostsymmetricarrangementof
all."Thefirstwasanearly17thcenturyscalebySalomondeCauswhichstartedwithBbthesecond
wasbyMersenneandstartedonGb.{20}AnevenearliertuningbyFoglianointheFmajormode
startingwithEbwasalsoincluded.{21}NoneoftheothertuningsarepreciselyintheformofFigure
11.AcompletelistingofthesehistoricaljusttuningsisgiveninAppendixI.
[5.7]ItisalsointerestingtocomparetheactualtuningofnotesinFigure11withEllis's"Tableof
IntervalsnotexceedingOneOctave"inhisappendixtoHelmholtz.{22}Figure11givesnew
significancetointervalswhosenamesasgivenbyEllisimplyadiatonicorigin.ThusEllis'slist
includesthefollowingvarietiesoffourths:"acute,"27/20,a"superfluous,"25/18andanother
"superfluous,"125/96.Figure11showsthatthe"acute"fourthisthejustfourthintheGmajormode,
thefirst"superfluous"fourthisanaugmentedfourth,F#intheFmajorandBbmajormodes,andthe
second"superfluous"fourthisanaugmentedthird,E#,intheC,FandBbmodes.Inall,Ellislists33
intervalsobtainedbycombiningoneormoreperfectfifthswithoneormorejustthirds,only3less
thanthe36tuningsinFigure11thatarealteredbyoneormorePythagoreancommas.Allbuttwoof

Ellis's33intervalsareincludedinFigure11oneisawelltemperedintervalandtheotherisnotpart
ofachromaticscaleinwhichCistunedto1.ThecompletelistofEllis'sintervalsandtheirnotationin
termsofPythagoreantuningandsyntoniccommasiscontainedinAppendixII.
[5.8]Wecannowappreciatewhythechainoffifthsisusefulforevaluatingtheharmonic
consequencesofalternatetuningsofadiatonicscaleembeddedinachromatickeyboard.Itisnot
possibletoarbitrarilychangethepitchofonenotewithoutalteringitsrelationshipwithallothernotes
inthechromaticspace.Theinterdependenceoftuningisnotlimitedtoinstrumentswithfixedpitch.
Forexample,astringquartetcouldnotplaypassagescontainingasequenceoftriadsinjustintonation
withoutalteringthemelodicintervalsand,possiblytheoveralllevelofpitch.{23}Theproblemsof
tuningharmonicintervalscanonlybesolvedbydynamicadhocadjustmentsofpitchtoobtain
optimumconsonancewhilepreservingthemelodiclineandstabilityofpitch.{24}Thisisoneofthe
reasonswhyitissodifficultforinexperiencedmusicianstoachievegoodensembleintonation.
[5.9]Thesyntoniccommaisnotanindependentvariabletheindependentvariablesarethetuning
ratiosfortheconsonantfifthandmajorthirdasdeterminedbypsychoacousticmeasurements,which
are3/2and5/4.Thesyntoniccomma,eventhoughithasbeenknownandseparatelynamedfortwo
thousandyearsismerelyderivedfromthedifferencebetweentheconsonantorjustmajorthirdand
thePythagoreanmajorthirdgeneratedbyfourconsecutivefifths.However,onewouldnotintuitively
expectthatthissingledependentvariablecouldbeusedtomeasureallthedifferencesintuning
betweenPythagoreanandjustscales,includingintervalsthatarenotgeneratedbymajorthirds.
{25}Thejustintonationalgorithmsprovideacoherentframeworkforthisancientandwellrespected
dependentvariableknownasthesyntoniccomma.Aswasnotedabove,justintonationand
Pythagoreantuningarecommonlythoughtofasdifferentspeciesoftuning.Thejustintonation
algorithmsdemonstratethatjustintonationcanmorecompletelybeunderstoodintermsofthechain
offifthsandsyntoniccommasthanifconsideredindependently.
6.MeantoneTemperament

[6.1]Meantonetemperamentisakeyboardtuningthatmakesachromaticscalewithconsonantmajor
thirdsplayableindiatonicscalesinafewcloselyrelatedkeys.Itdoessobyequallydividingthe
syntoniccommaoverthefourlinksofeachmajorthird.Thisresultsinawholetonethatisexactly
halfwaybetweenthealternate9/8and10/9foundinjustscales.Thename"meantone"isderived
fromtheresultingmidsizeintervalforthewholetoneeventhoughthedivisionofthewholetonewas
onlyabyproductofdistributingthesyntoniccomma.Dividingthecommaintofour"quarter
commas"anddistributingthequartercommassothateveryfifthwastemperedbyonequartercomma
alsosmoothsoutthethreenarrowfifthscreatedbytheundividedcommainthejustscale,replacing
themwithasequenceoftemperedfifthsthatarefarmoretolerabletotheear.Theearliestgenerally
acceptedmeantonescalewasdescribedbyPietroAronintheearlysixteenthcenturyforachromatic
scalefromEbtoG#.{26}
[6.2]Thequartercomma(4q=1k)narrowingofeachlinkinthechainoffifthsisshowninFigure12,
whichalsodepictstheresultingalterationofotherintervalsfromPythagoreantuning.Comparedto
Pythagoreantuning,itisevidentthatthefifthstotherightofCarealltunedaquartercommaflat,
whilethefourthstotheleftofCbecomeaquartercommasharp.
|mj.seventh5/4k>||
|mj.third1k>||>|{fifth1/4k|
||||
EbqBbqFqCqGqDqAqEqBqF#qC#qG#
||||
fourth+1/4k}|<||second>|{(1/2k)
|sixth3/4k>|

Fig.12.SchematicofQuarterCommaMeantoneTemperament

Asbefore,Figures10and12allowustomeasurethedifferencebetweenthejustandmeantonescales
withoutusingarithmetic.Asanexample,ameantonechromaticsemitoneisnarrowedby7/4
syntoniccommascomparedtoPythagoreantuningand3/4ofasyntoniccommacomparedtojust
intonation.
[6.3]Meantonetemperamentanditsvariationswastheestablishedmodefortuningkeyboardsfor
nearlythreecenturies.Englishpianosandorgansweretunedthiswayuntilthemiddleofthe
nineteenthcentury.{27}AsThurstonDartexplainedinhistreatiseonearlymusic:
Thusmeantoneprovidestheplayerwithagroupofaboutadozen'central'keysinwhichallthe
importantchordsaremoreintunethantheyareinthemodernpiano....Meantoneisadmittedly
imperfectasatuningforchromaticmusicfordiatonicmusic,however,itcannotbebettered,as
themusiciansofearliertimesknewverywell.{28}
Foratime,organswerebuiltwithmorethantwelvekeysperoctaveinordertoutilizemoreofthe
extendedchromaticscale.Thekeyscouldbesplitorotherdevicesusedtoenabletheperformerto
playeithernoteofanenharmonicpairsuchasAb/G#orDb/C#.{29}Therewasapractice,
apparently,ofraisingorloweringthelocationofthewolfinthetuningofharpsichordstofitthe
compositionbeingplayedatthemoment.{30}However,manufacturersrefrainedfromconstructing
instrumentswithmorethan12keysperoctaveandperformersrefrainedfromlearninghowtoplay
suchinstruments,probablybecausethestandardkeyboardwassuitableformostuses.Asmusical
developmentledtotheuseofmorekeysoutsideitscentralcompass,meantonetemperamentbecame
increasinglyimpractical.
[6.4]Sinceasyntoniccommais81/80,aquartercomma,itsfourthroot,isanirrationalnumber.
However,rationalfractionsthatcloselyapproximatethesizeofaquartercommaandwhich
cumulativelyequalafullsyntoniccommacanbederivedbyarithmeticallydividingasyntoniccomma
of324/320intofourpartsasfollows:
324/320=321/320x322/321x323/322x324/323

Therefore,aquartercommafifthmaycalculatedasbeing:
3/2x320/321=160/107

Rationalfractionsapproximatingeachoftheothermeantoneintervalsmaybecalculatedinasimilar
manner,usingtheotherfractionsintheexpansion.Achromaticmeantonetuningforakeyboardis
showninFigure13forachainoffifthstemperedbyaquartercomma(q).{31}
323/270107/80180/161540/323225/16125/16
||||||
EbqBbqFqCqGqDqAqEqBqF#qC#qG#
|||||
161/901160/107200/107675/626

Fig.13.QuarterCommaMeantoneTemperament
Logarithmicvaluesforameantonescalecanbeeasilycalculatedbysubtractingonefourthofa
syntoniccomma(22/4=5.5cents)fromeverypurefifth.Thuseachmeantonefifthwillbe696.5
cents.
7.WellTemperament

[7.1]Thetermwelltemperamentincludesafamilyoftemperamentsthatmodifiedmeantone
temperamenttoeliminatewolvesandtoexpandtherangeofplayablekeysbytakingadvantageofthe
smalldifferencebetweenthePythagoreancommaandthesyntoniccomma.Thedifferencebetween
thetwocommasisanintervalof32805/32786(2cents),whichiscalledtheschisma.Ifonlyfourlinks

ofachromatickeyboardscalearetemperedbyaquartercomma,withtheremainderbeingtunedpure,
thechromaticscalewillexceedanacousticoctavebyonlyaschismaandthewolffifthwillbethereby
minimizedtothepointofnonexistence.
|CE>|(1k)
|<GB>|(3/4k)
|FA>|(3/4k)
|BbD>|DF#>|(1/2k)
|EbG>|||AC#>|(1/4k)
|||||
AbEbBbFCqGqDqAqEBF#C#G#
||
|<(pk)chromaticOctave>|

Figure14.SchematicofWellTemperament
[7.2]Figure14illustratesasimplifiedformofwelltemperamentinwhichallbutthecentralfourlinks
arePythagoreanandthemajorthirdsvaryfromjust(CE)tofullyPythagorean(AbCandEG#).No
majortriadwillbeexactlyconsonant.ThewolffifthbetweenAb(G#)andEbhasbeenessentially
eliminated,andnoteswhichareenharmonictoEb,Bb,F#,C#andG#willdifferinpitchonlybya
schisma.Therefore,useofthesenotesenharmonicallyincreasesthenumberofavailablescalesfrom6
to11.ThetuningforthisversionofwelltemperamentaregiveninFigure15.
32/37180/1615/445/32405/256
||||\
AbEbBbFCqGqDqAqEBF#C#G#
\|||||||
128/8116/94/31160/107540/32315/8135/128

Figure15.WellTemperament
Anumberofhistoricalwelltemperamentsweredevisedthatseparatedthequartercommasbyoneor
morelinkstoimproveplayabilityindesiredkeys.Othertemperamentssubdividedthesyntoniceven
furtherinto2/7and1/6commas.Themorethatthecommasweredividedanddispersed,themorethat
welltemperamentapproachedequaltemperament.
8.AlgorithmsforSchismaticandSyntonicEqualTemperment

[8.1]WewilldevelopandexpanduponthemethodadvocatedbyKirnbergerintheeighteenthcentury
forderivingascaleofequaltemperamentfromPythagoreanintonation.{32}Ascaleobtainedbythe
firstprocedureisschismaticequaltemperamentandascaleobtainedbythesecondprocedureis
syntonicequaltemperament.ThetuningofschismaticETisexactlyequaltothetuningforsyntonic
ET,theonlydifferencebeingintheiralgorithms.Bothmatchthetuningofequaltemperamentto
severaldecimalplacesasshowninFigure16.
[8.2]Schismaticandsyntonicequaltemperamentisderivedbyextendingawelltemperedscale
elevenlinkstotheleftandrightofC.WhentheeleventhnotetotheleftofCisraisedbyonesyntonic
commaandtheeleventhnotetotherightofCisloweredbyonesyntoniccommatheresultsare
tuningsforE#andforAbbthatarealmostexactlythesameastheequallytemperedtuningsforFand
Grespectively.
E#1k=10935/8192=1.334839F(ET)=1.334840
Abb+1k=16384/10935=1.498308G(ET)=1.498307

Thisstrategyworksbecauseasyntoniccommaisverynearly11/12ofaPythagoreancomma,
expressedask=11/12P.Thereforeaschisma,definedassk=Pk=32805/32786,isverynearly1/12
ofaPythagoreancomma"p,"theamountbywhicheachlinkisnarrowedinequaltemperament.The
pitchofE#inPythagoreantuningishigherthanitsenharmonicnote,F,byaPythagoreancomma(P).

Therefore,
E#k~F+Pk~F+sk~F+p.

AsshowninFigure5,F+pisthepitchofFinequaltemperament.Sincetheprecisevalueofa
schismais1.954centsand1/12ofaPythagoreancommais1.955cents,theerrorisonly1/1000ofa
cent.Onecanthenobtaindecimaltuningsforequaltemperamentbyreiteratingtheproportionsfor
E#1ktoafullchromaticchainof12linksthatwouldexceedanexactoctavebyaratioofonly
2.000018/2or0.012cents.
[8.3]WewillnowderiveandapplytwoalgorithmswhichmapPythagoreantuningintoequal
temperament.ThealgorithmbasedupontheschismaproducesschismaticET.Aswithordinaryequal
temperament,thisprocedureequatesthetuningofenharmonicpairs,substitutingGforAbb+k,Dfor
Ebb+k+1sk,andsoon.Every10thlinktotheleftofAbb+kandtotherightofE#1kistempered
byoneschisma.ThefiveschismaticnotestunedtotherightofAbb+kareenharmonicallyequivalent
tothenotesnormallylocatedtotherightofG,whilethefiveschismaticnotestunedtotheleftofE#k
areenharmonicallyequivalenttothenotesnormallylocatedtotheleftofF.Thestepsofthealgorithm
areasfollows.
1. StartingwithC,move10linkstothelefttoAbb+1k.
SubstituteGenharmonicallyforAbb+1k.
2. Move1linktotheright5times,adding1schismato
thewidthofeachinterval.Renameeachnoteenharmonically.
3. ReturningtoC,move10linkstotherighttoE#1k.
SubstituteFenharmonicallyforE#1k.
4. Move1linktotheleft4times,subtracting1schisma
fromthewidthfromeachinterval.Renameeachnoteenharmonically.
[8.4]ThealgorithmthatproducessyntonicequaltemperamentalsostartswiththeintervalsCAbb,
tenlinkstotheleftofC,andCE#,tenlinkstotherightofC.SubstitutingG,whichisenharmonicto
Abb+1kinsyntonicET,andreiteratingtheprocess,DinSyntonicETwouldbe10morelinkstothe
leftofAbbplusonemoresyntoniccomma,givingDenharmonicallyequivalenttoFbbb+2k.Atthe
otherendofthechain,enharmonicBbinsyntonicETwouldbe10linksminusonesyntoniccomma
totherightofE#1k(F),writtenasBb=G###2k.SyntonicETisbaseduponsubstitutionof
enharmonicpairsjustasisequaltemperament.Thetuningofeachnoteisexactlythesameinboth
syntonicandschismaticET.ThenotationandtuningforschismaticandsyntonicETaregivenin
Figure16.ThealgorithmforsyntonicETisasfollows.
1. StartingwithC,move10linkstothelefttoAbb+k.
SubstituteGenharmonicallyforAbb+1k.
2. Reiteratetheaction5moretimes,adding1syntonic
commatothewidthofeach10linkinterval.Renameeachnoteenharmonically.
3. ReturningtoC,move10linkstotherightofCtoE#1k.
SubstituteFenharmonicallyforE#1k.
4. Reiteratetheaction4moretimes,subtracting1
syntoniccommaforeach10linkinterval.Renameeachnote
enharmonically.
Tuning Note SchismaticET
1.000009 Dbb Ck+11sk
1.498295 Abb Gk+10sk
1.22454 Ebb Dk+9sk
1.683681 Bbb Ak+8sk

SyntonicET

1.261336 Fb
1.887739 Cb

Ek+7sk
Bk+6sk

1.414207 Gb

F#k+5sk

1.059459 Db

C#k+4sk

F########5k

1.587396 Ab
1.189205 Eb

G#k+3sk
D#k+2sk

D######4k
B####3k

1.781795 Bb

A#k+1sk

G###2k

1.334839 F
1.0
C

E#k+0sk
C

E#1k

1.498308 G
1.22464 D

Abb+k
Ebb+k1sk

Abb+1k
Fbbb+2k

1.681797 A

Bbb+k2sk

Dbbbbb+3k

1.259925 E
1.887756 B

Fb+k3sk
Cb+k4sk

Bbbbbbbb+4k
Gbbbbbbbb+5k

1.41422 F#

Gb+k5sk

Ebbbbbbbbbb+6k

1.059468 C#

Db+k6sk

1.58741 G#
1.189215 D#

Ab+k7sk
Eb+k8sk

1.781811 A#
1.334851 E#

Bb+k9sk
F+k10sk

1.000009 B#

C+k11sk

Fig.16.SchismaticandSyntonicEqualTemperament
[8.5]WecannowgoastepfurtherandderivethealgorithmthatmapsjustintonationintosyntonicET
fromthealgorithmspreviouslyusedtomapPythagoreantuningintojustintonation.Forexample,E#
inthejustmodeofCmajorisequaltoPythagoreanE#3k.Addingbackthethreesyntoniccommas,
E#1kinschismaticandsyntonicETisenharmonicallyequivalenttoE#+2kinthejustCmajor
mode.ThealgorithmforjustschismaticETparallelsthealgorithmgiveninsection8.3,addingback
toeachintervalthenumberofcommaslistedinFigure11.InsyntonicET,Bbisenharmonically
equivalenttoG###2k.IftheCmodejustscalewereextendedtoG###,thePythagoreantuning
wouldbenarrowedby5syntoniccommas.Replacingthe5commas,G###+3kmapsjustG###into
BbinjustsyntonicET.Wehavenotsetoutthefulljustchromaticscaleforthe121linksnecessaryin
Figure11,butitcanbedonesimplybyadding1syntoniccommaforeveryfourlinkstotheleftand
subtracting1syntoniccommaforeveryfourlinkstotherightasmanytimesasisnecessary.Applying
thesealgorithmsinFigure17givesscalesofjustschismaticandjustsyntonicETfortheCmajor
scale.
Tuning Note JustSchis.ET

JustSynt.ET

1.059459 Db

C#+1k+4sk F########+9k

1.587396 Ab
1.189205 Eb

G#+1k+3sk D######+7k
D#+1k+2sk B####+5k

1.781795 Bb
1.334839 F

A#+1k+1sk G###+3k
E#+2k
E#+2k

1.0
C
1.498308 G

C
Abb2k

Abb2k

1.22464 D

Ebb2k1sk Fbbb3k

1.681797 A
1.259925 E

Bbb1k2sk Dbbbbb5k
Fb1k3sk Bbbbbbbb7k

1.887756 B
1.41422 F#

Cb1k4sk
Gb1k5sk

Gbbbbbbbb9k
Ebbbbbbbbbb10k

Fig.17.Just(CMajormode)SchismaticandSyntonicEqualTemperaments
[8.6]Ofcourse,neithersyntonicnorschismaticETarepreciselyequal.Theydonotmergeall
enharmonicallyequivalentnotes,asshownbytheoutersectionsofFigure16whichcontainsnotes
fromGbtoF#inschismaticET.TheenharmonicvalueforDbisnotexactlyequaltothevalueofC#
asitisinequaltemperamentandCisnotexactlyequaltoDbbandB#.Therefore,thenumberof
possiblenotesisstillendlessanddoesnotcollapsetotwelve.Thedivergencesbetweenthetunings
producedbythetwoequaltemperamentsareofnoaudibleoracousticsignificanceeithertothetuning
ofindividualnotesortotheoverallsoundofthetemperament.Akeyboardinstrumenttunedto
syntonicETwouldnotsounddistinguishablefromonetunedwithunlikelymathematicalperfectionto
traditionalequaltemperament.ThetwelvechromaticlinkstunedtosyntonicETwouldhavetobe
replicatednearly163timesbeforethedivergenceintuningCwouldexceedevenoneschisma.
9.ConcludingThoughts

[9.1]Thisarticlehasexploredtherelationsbetweenkeyboardtuningsbaseduponthechainoffifths.
Webeganbyacceptingthehistoricaldefinitionofadiatonicscaleembeddedina12notechromatic
keyboard.Wedemonstratedthatthetermsusedtonamediatonicandchromaticintervalscanbe
rationallyorderedaccordingtothenumberoflinksbetweentheintervalsonthechainoffifths.We
thenderivedalgorithmsthatmapPythagoreantuningintojustintonationandequaltemperamentand
mapjustintonationintoequaltemperament.Pythagoreantuningandjustintonationhavetraditionally
beenclassifiedasdistincttuningstrategies,whilePythagoreantuningandequaltemperamenthave
beenrelatedonlybythePythagoreancomma.Thisarticlehasshownthatthethreetuningscanbe
relatedusingalgorithmsthatutilizecombinationsofpurefifthsandsyntoniccommas.
AppendixI
HistoricalScalesofJustIntonationListedbyBarbour

ThenumbersinthelefthandmargincorrespondtothenumberusedbyBarbour.Thetableliststhe
authorofthetemperament,thedateofitspublication,thechromaticcompassofthetuningonthe
chainoffifths,andthenumberofintervalswhicharepureorarealteredbyoneormorecommas,
startingattheleftendofthechain.
81.Ramis,1482.AbF#AbG,8=0,4=1k.
82.Erlangen,15c.Ebb,Bbb,GbB,2=+1k,8=0,2=1.
83.Erlangenrevised,EbG#,7=0,3=1k.
84.Fogliano1529EbG#,1=+1k,4=0,4=1k,3=2k.
85.Fogliano1529EbG#,2=+1k,4=0,3=1k,3=2k.
86.Fogliano1529EbG#,1=+1k,1=+1/2k,3=0,1=1/2k,
3=1k,3=2k.
88.Agricola1539.BbD#,8=0,4=1k
89.DeCaus17c.BbD#,4=0,4=1k,4=2k
90.Kepler1619EbG#,2=+2,5=0,5=1
91.Kepler17c.AbC#,3=+1,5=0,4=1
92.Mersenne1637GbB,4=+1,4=0,4=1

93.Mersenne1637BbD#,4=0,4=1,4=2
94.Mersenne1637GbB,5=+1,3=0,4=1
95.Mersenne1637GbB,5=+1,4=0,3=1
96.Marpurg1776EbG#,2=+1,4=0,4=1,2=2
97.Marpurg1776EbG#,1=+1,6=0,2=1,2=2
98.Marpurg1776EbG#,2=+1,3=0,4=1,3=2
99.Malcolm1721DbF#,3=+1,5=0,4=1
100.Rousseau1768AbC#,3=+1,4=0,3=1,2=2
101.Euler1739FA#,4=0,3=1,5=2
102.Montvallon1742EbG#,1=+1,5=0,6=1
103.Romieu1758EbG#,1=+1,5=0,4=1,2=2

AppendixII.
Ellis'sTableofIntervalsnotExceedinganOctave

ThischartliststheintervalsidentifiedbyEllisasbeingformedfrompurefifthsandmajorthirds.It
providestheinvertedproportionsusedbyEllisandhisnamefortheintervalalongwiththe
PythagoreanequivalentoftheintervalfromFigure11.F#1kwasnotpartofFigure11becauseitis
notincludedinascaleinwhichC=0.G#1kisawelltemperedintervalfromFigure14.The
remainderoftheintervalsarefromFigure11.

24:25SmallsemitoneC#2k
128:135LargerlimmaC#1k
15:16DiatonicorjustsemitoneDb+1k
25:27GreatlimmaDb+2k
9:10TheminortoneofjustintonationD1k
125:144AcutediminishedthirdEbb+3k
108:125GraveaugmentedtoneD#3k
64:75AugmentedtoneD#2k
5:6JustminorthirdEb+1k
4:5JustmajorthirdE1k
25:32DiminishedfourthFb+2k
96:125SuperfluousfourthE#3k
243:320Gravefourth(F1k)
20:27AcutefourthF+1k
18:25SuperfluousfourthF#2k
32:45Tritone,augmentedfourthF#1k
45:64DiminishedfifthGb+1k
25:36AcutediminishedfifthGb+2k
27:40GravefifthG1k
16:25GravesuperfluousfifthG#2k
256:405Extremesharpfifth(G#1k)
5:8JustminorsixthAb+1k
3:5JustmajorsixthA1k
75:128JustdiminishedseventhBbb+2k
125:216AcutediminishedseventhBbb+3k
72:125JustsuperfluoussixthA#3k
128:225ExtremesharpsixthA#1k
5:9AcuteminorseventhBb+1k
27:50GravemajorseventhB2k
8:15JustmajorseventhB1k
25:48DiminishedoctaveCb+2k
64:125SuperfluousseventhB#3k

KennethP.Scholtz
2821AnchorAve.
LosAngeles,CA900644605

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