The Tuning and Temperament Conundrum

In 1832, someone proposed that the difficulties of tuning and temperament were created by “the Deity” in order to “show his inscrutable power.” Indeed, trying to reconcile musical acoustics with the scale of western music has fascinated, aggravated, and puzzled musicians and theorists for centuries. From the basics of the harmonic series, to Pythagorean tuning, Just Intonation, meantone, irregular temperaments, and finally to equal temperament, this presentation tries to make tuning and temperament clear (or at least clearer) to everyone. Ross W. Duffin is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Fynette H. Kulas Professor of Music Emeritus at Case Western Reserve University. He has been writing about historical tuning for nearly forty years, most notably with his book How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and why you should care) (W. W. Norton, 2007).