Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
What’s the difference between just intonation and equal temperament? They differ in terms of how they sound, the number of notes, and their user friendliness. Keep reading to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each.
This article uses technical musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission from purchases made through the links. I’ll only recommend products I use, use in lessons, or ones my students or colleagues have recommended.
The Difference Between Just Intonation and Equal Temperament: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Equal Temperament
What’s the difference between just intonation (JI) and equal temperament (ET)?
Let’s look at ET first:
- You’ll find ET easier to use because it divides the octave into 12 equal half-steps.
- This means that a semitone’s size between any two adjacent keys on the keyboard will be the same.
- Also, having fewer notes makes ET less complex to understand than JI.
According to Owen Jorgensen, scientifically accurate ET had been widely adopted in Western music in the early 20th century. Why?
- It (like the well temperaments) allowed musicians to play in any key without having to retune their instruments.
- Which musicians had to do with JI and meantone temperament.
- However, ET’s strength comes with a cost.
One disadvantage of ET revolves around the fact that it has fewer notes than JI.
- In JI, the notes have been tuned so that it creates better sounding harmonies.
- This means that JI can, in theory, have an infinite number of notes.
- Each note has a distinct frequency that resonates with the other chord tones to create a strikingly rich sound.
In contrast, ET has only 12 notes, which sound barely in tune when played together with each other.
- ET’s harmonies don’t resonate as well as they do in JI, because ET has sonically compromised major thirds.
- As a result, the chords will have beating and weak tone color, which can diminish your audience’s listening pleasure.
ET Tuned Major Chord:
JI Tuned Major Chord:
The Difference Between Just Intonation and Equal Temperament: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Just Intonation
Now to the flipside of the coin, the main difference between just intonation and equal temperament is that JI’s harmonies sound in tune.
- The harmonic intervals in JI create a rich, lush sound. Why?
- Because JI has been tuned to the harmonic series – a set of frequencies that naturally occur within vibrating strings.
- Thus, tuning JI’s notes to the harmonic series allows the chord tone’s partials to resonate with each other.
However, JI sounds melodically out of tune because the major thirds’ tuning sounds too low when used in melodies.
- In addition, each note gets locked into the tuning of the song’s key.
- That can make it more difficult for musicians to play as they may have to adjust the tuning to match each new key.
- Either that or they’ll have to play on modified or purpose-built instruments.
In addition, several other factors make JI more challenging to use:
- The number of notes in the tuning system
- The types of instruments that can play it
- The theory behind how it works
- How it’s notated
The dominant figure in Just Intonation is Hary Partch. Here are some of his sheet music selections.
Concluding Thoughts to “What’s the Difference Between Just Intonation and Equal Temperament?”
The difference between just intonation and equal temperament lies in the focus of each tuning system:
- ET is easier to use and has been widely adopted. However, its harmonies don’t sound as good as JI’s.
- JI sounds harmonically in tune but can be melodically flat.
- JI has more notes than ET, making it more challenging to use.
- Also, JI has complex notation systems and requires a good understanding of tuning theory.
- That makes it difficult for casual musicians to learn and perform JI, especially those who don’t want to invest a ton of time.
Both tuning systems have their strengths and weaknesses, and the choice of which one to use depends on your musical goals.
For a compromise solution between JI and ET read these Supplemented Equal Temperament posts:
- How to Micro Tune the Keyboard to make the Chords Sound Awesome
- How to Use an Extremely Accurate Guitar Strobe Tuner: to Make Your Guitar Sound Awesome
Related Content
- Is Just Intonation Impractical?
- Choosing the Right Sound to Play with Just Intonation
- Intonation and Supplemented Equal Temperament
© 2023 Geoffrey Keith
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