It's Just Intonation

I went into the summer of 2007 pretty much entranced with harmonics. I knew the beauty of guitar harmonics and used them in my guitar instruction but i had never up to that point done what I began to do over the summer months.

I think it began while visiting Debbie's parents Henry and Mary Hanna in Quesnell British Columbia. BC always opens up creative paths in me. The beauty sweeps me off my feet.

I had dropped my D as I so often have done but instead of going into DADGAD I just tuned the A to the ACTUAL harmonic creating a "just" 5th. then tuned the D to the octave. then something happened that literally changed my life. I tuned the G down to the Major 3rd (F#) BUT! tuned to the ACTUAL harmonic on the low D sting. (This harmonic can be found on the 4th and 9th fret, you have to work a little harder but it's there.

This is possibliy the first time that I heard (coming from my own instrument) A "Just 3rd". why Just? because is was tuned to the very ratio that God and Nature provided. The sound is so rich and full and alive with possibilities that the 'ol '57 stayed tuned that way for months.

Sooo... this sent me off on a search to discover what this "just intonation" is all about, and the truth about Equal Temperment tuning (which has become the standard in western music).

During my training in the Grant MacEwan Jazz program I do remember just intonation being mentioned but never demonstrated. It was just a thing of antiquity and ET (equally tempered) was hailed as an improvement. I do however also remember Bobby Cairns stating very clearly that once you've adjusted your guitar to "standard tuning" it is still and always will be out of tune!

What I've discovered is that real music, is intrinsically connected to simple mathematical ratios.
1/1 , 2/1 , 3/2 etc. this can easily be verified with a single stringed instrument called a "mono chord". (I'll post some pictures of mine when I'm at home). The ratios (intervals) can be located either by ear, or with a measuring device. no modern decimal points no fudging the ratios "slighty here and slightly there" just exactly how it ACTUALLY is.

Well I wonder how "falling into one" (as I would like to call it) could have actual effect on the human body and soul. the trick of course is getting REAL music past our modern ears. When I hear sounds that really resonate of a deeper reality it affects all of me.

OK so in one corner we have ONE and in the other corner we have MANY, ahh let's call one : MONO and many POLY...Pauly? If you seriously explore what tones and intervals result from the NATURAL HARMONICS and RATIOS you will experience the "HARMONIC OVERTONE SERIES" What you will discover is that natural just music does not fit nicely into the World of ET. JI (just intonation) has things like the "pythagorean comma". Disheartning news to me recently is that there is no "circle of 5ths" found in the natural world. YIKES! There is however a "SPIRAL OF 5ths". What this means is that everything from BACH to MOZART and on has been an ABSTRACTION. Yay even COLTRANE TO THE BEATLES. Do I still love PAULYPHONIC music? Of course, I can't escape myself. What I DO have as a result of hearing actual music is an awareness of the difference, along with a desire to experience and experiment with this new world of sound.

More next time and the facinating life of Harry Partch