Additionally, switch tunings at random. This would be extremely difficult, but I’d imagine the disorientation caused would be related to how difficult it is. Switch from 12-ET to Pythagorean to Arabic to some obscure Baroque tuning, and base them all on different pitch centres.
When what you’re listening to is purely melodic (like humming) I think such differences would either be unnoticeable or indistinguishable from just humming out of tune, to all but the most expert listeners.
A whole Pythagorean comma—i.e., all the out-of-tune-ness you can get from Pythagorean tuning, crammed into a single interval—is only about a quarter of a semitone. A quarter-comma meantone “wolf fifth” is actually even worse than this, but it’s still only about 1⁄3 of a semitone.
If you have a computer with Python on it, you could grab the code from my discussion elsewhere in the thread with thescoundrel and experiment; I think you’ll find that the sort of tuning-switching you describe would be altogether too subtle to be very effective as psychological warfare. [EDITED to add: in particular, I found that to my ears a quarter-tone error is quite often obtrusively unpleasant but a quarter-semitone is generally no worse than “a bit out of tune”.]
Hmm. You’re probably right. I’ve experimented with different tunings but I didn’t play anything purely melodic. The effect is probably a lot more apparent when you’re dealing with intervals rather than just pitches.
That said, changing the central pitch that the temperament is based around makes the differences bigger again; but that’s not too useful as a tool for actually creating this melody. I think it’d be noticeable for the arabic tuning system too; that’s extremely different to Western temperaments.
Additionally, switch tunings at random. This would be extremely difficult, but I’d imagine the disorientation caused would be related to how difficult it is. Switch from 12-ET to Pythagorean to Arabic to some obscure Baroque tuning, and base them all on different pitch centres.
When what you’re listening to is purely melodic (like humming) I think such differences would either be unnoticeable or indistinguishable from just humming out of tune, to all but the most expert listeners.
A whole Pythagorean comma—i.e., all the out-of-tune-ness you can get from Pythagorean tuning, crammed into a single interval—is only about a quarter of a semitone. A quarter-comma meantone “wolf fifth” is actually even worse than this, but it’s still only about 1⁄3 of a semitone.
If you have a computer with Python on it, you could grab the code from my discussion elsewhere in the thread with thescoundrel and experiment; I think you’ll find that the sort of tuning-switching you describe would be altogether too subtle to be very effective as psychological warfare. [EDITED to add: in particular, I found that to my ears a quarter-tone error is quite often obtrusively unpleasant but a quarter-semitone is generally no worse than “a bit out of tune”.]
Hmm. You’re probably right. I’ve experimented with different tunings but I didn’t play anything purely melodic. The effect is probably a lot more apparent when you’re dealing with intervals rather than just pitches.
That said, changing the central pitch that the temperament is based around makes the differences bigger again; but that’s not too useful as a tool for actually creating this melody. I think it’d be noticeable for the arabic tuning system too; that’s extremely different to Western temperaments.