| > It's inextricable from cultural bias, though the physics obviously plays some role. Of course, as you say, our cultural biases/values play a role in how we create music and what music we appreciate with how much consonance/dissonance. But the fact that certain musical intervals sound more harmonious or more dissonant seems to be a result of the human ear's response to the physical nature of the frequency of the sound waves, and thus a response that is shared across cultures. > The ratios for a tritone, major 7th, etc. are more complex Yeah, I guess that's true that the ratios between those 12 frequencies aren't the 12 simplest, but they can be derived by following the simplest non-octave ratio - 3:2 or a perfect fifth - starting from a root note and moving up one perfect fifth 12 times. Thus if you start from C: C - G - D - A - E - B - F# - C# - G# - D# - A#/Bb - F and that's all 12 notes. I guess I thought that because of that pattern those were the twelve simplest ratios. Thanks for the heads up. And yes this principle applies to the Just tempered Scale not the even-tempered scale. |