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Notes & Letters column: A wonderworld of quarter-tones
https://www.fmq.fi/ ^ | Jan 1985 | Sampo Haapamäki

Posted on 08/10/2026 4:12:53 PM PDT by kawhill

"In diving into the world of microtones, I tried to make musicality my priority"

(Excerpt) Read more at fmq.fi ...


TOPICS: History; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: harrypartch; musictruth; pitch; quartertones; sets
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1 posted on 08/10/2026 4:12:53 PM PDT by kawhill
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To: kawhill
Many composers nowadays are interested in microintervals. So, naturally, more instruments capable of producing them are being developed.

I've invented a trombone capable of hitting quarter-tone intervals. Next, I'm working on a violin that can do it.

2 posted on 08/10/2026 4:29:20 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (If the Islamic Republic government is in power in Iran when the war is over, we will have lost.)
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To: kawhill
Just my opinion.
We never recovered from the desecration of music during the last century.
You can expound on music theory but what I heard at the link is noise.
As I said, just my opinion.
3 posted on 08/10/2026 4:49:21 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: kawhill

It sounds like what we used to call “White Noise”, or aural atmospheric sounds. Kind of a mix between sounds of my refrigerator in my first apartment

OR that Suspended Tension of a movie sequence, where you are looking for someone, you walk up into a quiet darkened attic, calling their name, the moment you fully enter their room, a bloody corpse on a braided hemp rope is somehow dropped from the rafters, and now swings to and fro in front of you, like a pendulum meant to hypnotize, the contorted face stares at you, unblinking eyes now glassed and bulging.


4 posted on 08/10/2026 5:34:11 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: kawhill

Quarter-tones are great. You just have to use 2 at a time.


5 posted on 08/10/2026 5:37:06 PM PDT by AloneInMass (You'd think there would be more similarity between "chain letter" and "chain mail".)
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Its like Bach died for nothing. just say no to quarter tones.


6 posted on 08/10/2026 6:09:23 PM PDT by proust (All posts made under this handle are, for the intents and purposes of the author, considered satire.)
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To: kawhill

Quite a lot of vids on YouTube featuring Harry Partch, who came up with a 43 note to the octave scale, making his own instruments to play it.

Here’s an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFvBPQwGpqY&list=PLCbGhhG1EZ21wUBhxa6tyFl7NaPZfRVM8


7 posted on 08/10/2026 6:13:06 PM PDT by decal (They won't stop, so they'll have to be stopped)
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To: kawhill

sounds like socialism....


8 posted on 08/10/2026 6:26:51 PM PDT by 4Liberty (One person’s Socialism is another’s neighborliness. -Tim Walz)
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To: KarlInOhio

I never could understand the whole quarter tone scale thing. When I was a music student at DePaul University in the 70s, my music theory professor was promoting it with an electronic organ developed for him by Motorola, the Scalatron. I’m not criticizing it, it just don’t see the point of it, I guess.

https://microtonal.miraheze.org/wiki/Motorola_Scalatron


9 posted on 08/10/2026 6:58:53 PM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
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To: kawhill

Probably shouldn’t even mention it here, but…

All the cool kids over on youtube are going nuts over a duo called Angine de Poitrine that made a viral video of their music act on KEXP. They’re headlining the summer music festivals this year and their act must be seen to be believed.

Folks are comparing them to King Crimson and Primus. And microtones, odd time signatures, and that out-of-tune sound are their bread and butter. The kiss of death? I like ‘em!

They’re funny and it’s fun music. (And a few folks think it’s all a big gimmick.) I hope they stick around for a while. We’ll see!


10 posted on 08/10/2026 8:46:27 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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