Quote:
Originally Posted by Štulic
What I always used to ask myself when I was little and with no internet, is what's the reason almost everything surrounding music has something to do with the number 8 as for there being only eight different sound pitches in an octave, which is basically as I know now "the miracle of music".
Some would argue that there could be a different method of standardising tones from the one we humans know and use, but since we know that all sound is sinusoidal the wavelength of a note or any sound when measured shows exactly that there are only 7 possible different steps in a harmonic series of a string, with the eight being the same tone as the first step but in the next octave.
I know there is a whole science behind it and I have no idea about it but I think there's definitely something physically going on with the number 8 and the sound that is magical and mysterious. The octave, the octet, the octatonic scale... I don't know...
I also think human music as we know it today regardless of what genre, has developed upon a basic law and principle of rhythm and beat based on our cardiac cycle or pulse, the rhythm of everything we feel and the essence of our existance.
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Wow...I think that is a great post. You have a bit of a 'Pythagorean' view of things. Pythagoras believed that numbers were the ruling principal in the universe and that basic mathematical law could be expressed in musical harmonies.
I may have to reply a few times because you covered a lot ground.
So, here is the first...
What I always used to ask myself when I was little and with no internet, is what's the reason almost everything surrounding music has something to do with the number 8 as for there being only eight different sound pitches in an octave, which is basically as I know now "the miracle of music".
The Dimished scale actually does have 8 notes per octave.
You are not alone. I pondered that as well, but instead thought of the number 7, representing each of the whole tones. Assuming that it is the Western
Scale that we are talking about as you posted, if you count 8, you would be counting the same tone you start with. So using A, the beginning would be 1 or A, and the end would be 7 or G.
But if you were going to define Western
Tuning, then you say that it divides an octave into 12 equally spaced pitches with each note one half step away from one another. An equal difference in frequency from one note to the next, theoretically. It's also called Equal Temperament, but the physics of sound would show you that the pitches are not always in tune with each other.
Check this out, though....
Several years ago I went to the concert called 'Microstock'. A guy named Neil Haverstick organized it, and that night I heard music played on instruments that had 19, 21, 31, 34, and 36 tones per octave. It was 'out there' for me then when I knew much less about theory if you will, and even now with a little bit clearer understanding it still makes my head hurt. I'm talking notes that are 'quarter sharped' here.
Here is a picture of some of the guitars that he used.