Non-Western Tone Systems
Not every musical culture divides the octave into twelve equal steps, and several of the most widely practised ones never did. Because everything here is synthesized rather than sampled from a piano, the notes between the keys actually sound on this page.
- varies notes
- not twelve equal steps
- the notes between the keys
which styles use it
- Non-western traditions
- Film music
- Contemporary classical
How it is built
Equal temperament splits the octave into twelve identical steps, which is a compromise that makes every key usable and every interval slightly out of tune. Other systems make different compromises. Arabic maqam practice uses intervals that sit between the western keys. Indonesian gamelan tunings are not fixed to a universal standard at all, and two orchestras can be tuned differently on purpose.
Strange at first if you grew up on a piano, and then not strange at all. The intervals are not mistakes or approximations of western ones. They are a different set of choices.
Where to use it
This page is here so the rest of the site does not quietly claim that twelve equal steps are what music is. It is context rather than a scale to practise.
The chords that go with it
Harmonising these systems with western chords usually flattens what makes them work. Where this page has audio, it plays melodic material over a drone rather than chords.
What it gets confused with
With exotic scales that use only the twelve western notes. Those are western scales with an unusual shape, which is a different thing entirely.