The Creation of Musical Scales, part I

from a mathematics and acoustic point of view,

by Thomas Vczy Hightower.
The focus will be on the acoustic laws behind the musical scales and how numbers
and mathematics play a part in creating the intervals in the octave. Which factors have
significance for creating a musical scale? Why is the division of the octave so
basically common in different musical traditions, and what make them differ? Why is
the ancient Greek Pythagorean scale basically identical with the old Chinese scale?
What causes the modern Western musical scale, the Equal Temperament, to be
disharmonious compared to the Eastern scales?
Music has often played an important part in shaping a culture. Some say that music is
the hidden power in a culture. In ancient societies it was considered a serious public
matter, a foundation for the culture. The musical scale itself and the right tuning of
intervals can make all the difference as to how chaos or order. It also ensures that
humans are in accord with earthly as well as celestial influence.
The more metaphysical aspects of music and sound and its influence at the level of
consciousness and healing can be studied in my second part, The Musical Octave
II, where I will mix different levels and categories into a larger picture.
In this thesis I will perform an analysis of four different musical traditions and their
basic scales:
the ancient Chinese
the Indian musical tradition
the old Greek music
the following European musical scales.
By looking at the many tuning systems worldwide, one common factor is outstanding,
the octave. The word derives from Latin and means eighth. It is the 8th step in the
diatonic scale consisting of 7 tones, containing 5 full tones and 2 semitones. The
eighth tone in the diatonic scale, which is the most common in the world, completes
the octave on a pitch that in frequency is the double of the fundamental tone.
This universal unit, that divides the realm of sound by the factor 2, can be subdivided
in three basic ways:
1) By a geometric progression, with any number of equal intervals, such as the
common Western mode, the Equal Temperament with 12 semitones, and other
numbers.
A geometric progression is a sequence in which each term (after the first) is
determined by multiplying the preceding term by a constant. This constant is called
the common ratio of the arithmetic progression. The octave sequence is a geometric
progression; so is the golden section.
2) By proportions with low number ratios, e.g. Just Intonation with its triads of major
Thirds, or by other harmonic relations to the tonic (Modal music), e.g. Pentatonic or
Septonic (e.g. Indian music).
Systems of proportions are used in Modal music, e.g. the harmonic mean and the
arithmetical mean in the division of an octave.
3) By generating Fifths, e.g. Pythagorean Tuning or The Chinese Scale.
There are hybrids too, such as the Mean Tone Temperaments.
The habits of hearing
The reason there are so many different ways to divide the octave and display such a
range of scales can be found in the fact that there are no formula that can fit the octave
perfectly. The different ratios expressed in numbers are prime inter-related, so a
common divisor is not possible in an octave - unless some notes or keys are sound
disharmonious.
Different musical traditions embrace this schism depending on what they consider
best fit for their musical expression. The culture in which the musical scale has
emerged is a profound reflection of that particular culture.
The Eastern music tradition considers the fine-tuned intervals of much more
importance than the Western, which prefers first harmonious chords in any key.
Consequently there are intervals which are perceived as consonant in the West, but
considered dissonant in the East.
What it comes down to is habits. A musical scale is deeply ingrained. It shapes the
way one hears tones in succession in a fixed pattern. There have to be at least three
elements in defining a mode, just as three notes are needed to define a chord.
In the modulating cyclic systems, where every sound is mobile, it is necessary to
repeat the body of harmony (tonic, fifth or fourth and octave) in order to establish
the meaning or mood of the note, but in the modal system one note alone, by changing
its place, can produce the effect of a chord.
The modal frame, being fixed and firmly established in the memory of the listener,
has no need to constantly repeat chords as in harmonic music, in order to express the
numerical relationship.
That shape of ingrained intervals goes more or less out of tune, when changes of key
or transposition moves the frequencies up or down. It is the way enharmonic notes
arise. Increasing pitch by a half tone is not the same as decreasing by a half tone. They
are two different notes.
Expressed graphically, the frequencies ratios behave exponentially - in a non-linear
curve - (which is displayed e.g. by the logarithmic spacing of the frets on the neck of
the guitar), so a discrepancy is produced by moving the set frame up or down. This
discrepancy is expressed in the different commas, such as the Pythagorean comma
or the smaller Syntonic comma (the comma of Didymos).
The notion of harmony is different too. In the West the perception of harmony is
vertical - meaning as chords played at once. The Eastern tradition of harmony is
horizontal. Each tone is carefully played, and by attention over time adds up in the
memory to harmonious chords.
Laws of acoustic
Before we deal with the creations of musical scales, we have to dwell on the
underlying foundation of scales, namely the physical laws of sounds.
Acoustics is a branch of physic that is complicated and extensive, so I have only
chosen - in a brief form - those parts we need to look at in order to understand the
invention of musical scales.
Sound is vibrations, but three conditions have to be in place, if a sound is to be heard:
1) The vibrating source for the sound an oscillator.
2) A medium in which the sound can travel, such as air, water or soil.
3) A receiver for the sound, such as a functional ear or a microphone.
The sound wave is a chain reaction where the molecules of the medium, by elastic
beats, push the other molecules in a longitudinal direction - quite like a long train
getting a push from a locomotive.
It is a longitudinal displacement of pressure and depressor in a molecular medium
such as air or water. Any sound is initiated by an oscillator, which can be a huge range
of devices and instruments, each one having its own definite characteristic sound.
The sound waves should not be imagined as waves in water caused by e.g. a stone in a
pond, though the picture appears to be alike.
Sound waves are longitudinal: pressure waves - back and forth.
Water waves are transverse: the main movements are up and down in a circular
motion.
Please note that longitudinal pressure waves will reappear in the description below of
logarithmic, standing pressure waves.
Moving string
Plucked strings exhibit transverse waves in a back and forth movement, locally
producing a pulse along the direction in which the wave itself travels, with a speed
depending on the mass of the string and its material but usually lower than
airwaves. (A good explanation is given by The University of New South
Wales, Australia.)
The frequency of the string itself is the same as the frequency of the air waves. The
wavelength is different due to the dissimilarity in speed.
The length of the vibrating part of the string is in inverse proportion to the
frequencies. The period of oscillation = 1 / frequency. This is an important acoustic
law that applies to any conversion of period into frequencies. If, for example, you
divide an octave string by 2/3, the ratio of the sound will be 3/2 of an octave, a fifth.
Oscillators
To produce sounds, a vibrating body, an oscillator, is needed.
An oscillator can be any kind of a vibrating body from an atom to
an astronomical object, but since we are here working with
musical sounds, we are referring to oscillators such as musical
instruments or the human voice box, that produce standing waves
or periodic waves in a system of resonators that enhances and
amplifies the tone and generates harmonics.

The heart and aorta form a special resonant system when breathing is ceased. Then the
heartbeat seems to wait until the echo returns from the bifurcation (where the aorta
forks out in the lower abdomen). Then the next heart beat sets in. In this synchronous
way a resonant, standing wave of blood is established with a frequency of about seven
times a second. This harmonious mode requires for its sustenance a minimum amount
of energy, which is an intelligent response from the body. In deep meditation a similar
mode is established. It is interesting to notice that this mode of 7 Hz is close to the
Schumann resonance.
Standing waves
Standing waves are a kind of echo that moves back and forth, since the waves are
reflected between two solid points, basically, a or fixed string. For wind instruments
with an open end, the impedance (the resisters from the air) works in a similar
manner. There are also closed pipes that
resonate a bit differently.
When a fixed string is plucked, the potential
energy is released in a transverse wave, that
in a split second begins to initiate a division
of the string into different moving parts,
where some points are not moving. These
stationary points are called nodes. How
many nodes the string is divided into when it
vibrates depends on the material, the tension,
and especially how and where it is plucked
or bowed, etc. But here we try to get a
general picture of the nature of standing
waves in a plucked string.
When the potential energy is stopped at the fixed ends, the kinetic energy is at its
maximum and continues in a 180 phase shift the opposite way. We thus have two
waves with the same frequency and amplitude traveling in opposite directions. Where
the two waves add together or superpose, movement is canceled out and we have
stationary nodes that occur a half wavelength apart and constitute the standing waves.
The repeating shifts between potential and kinetic energy in a moving string draws
ones attention to a similar pattern we can observe in a pendulum and its simple
harmonic motion.
The numbers of nodes, the non-moving points in a standing wave, is equal to the
number of harmonics or partials created in the standing wave.
The same pattern can be observed with fine sand on a metal plate set in vibration by a
bow. The standing waves automatically divide the length and width of the plate into
an integral number of half wave-lengths. It is only then that a standing wave can be
sustained. That pattern is the most energy-effective form nature can provide. (A
similar pattern is the rhythm entrainment, where random oscillations after a while
begin to oscillate in unison).
Standing waves cannot exist unless they divide their medium into an integral number
of half waves with their nodes. A standing wave having a fractional wavelength
cannot be sustained.
The same standing waves pattern can be formed in a three-dimensional box. This
pattern will look just like a highly enlarged crystal, if we assume that the aggregated
particles or grains in the box fluid are analogous to the atoms in a crystal.
The key word in standing waves is order. In short, by using sound we have introduced
order where previously there was none.
Harmonics
Any vibrating body that is set in a standing, resonant motion, produces harmonics. For
musical sounds the harmonic series is usually expressed as an arithmetical proportion:
1,1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6...1:n.
The first and second harmonics are separated by an octave, frequency ratio 2:1, the
2nd and 3rd by a perfect fifth (3:2), the 3rd and 4th by a perfect fourth (4:3), and 4th
and 5th by a major third (5:4), and the 5th and the 6th by a minor third (6:5), and so
on.
A composed (periodic) tone contains a multiple of various frequencies in whole
numbers, (integers 2,3,4,5,625) of the fundamental frequency.
They are named harmonics. Each voice or musical instrument produces its own
characteristic set of harmonics, also called formats, that enable the ear to identify the
sound because the ear and the brain perform a Fourier analysis of the sound. (Some
wind instruments, for example, produce only odd harmonics).
In order to understand the composed tone, one has to turn to a French mathematician
from the 19th Century, Jean-Baptiste Fourier, who in 1822 proved that any complex
periodic curve in this case any tone is composed of a set of sine curves that
contain the fundamental sine frequency + another sine curve with double the
frequency + a sine curve with triple the frequency, and so on.
A simple Harmonic motionis typified by the motion of a pendulum, which is
sinusoidal in time and demonstrates a single resonant frequency.
The formula for The Harmonic Series is the sum, 1/n = 1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/5
+1/6 +diverges to infinity, when n goes from 1 to infinity. Another common way to
express the harmonics is, the fundamental f, then 2f, 3f, 4f, 5f....nf harmonic.
To have an idear of the harmonics in the string you have to imagine an idealized
stretched string with fixed ends vibrating the first 4 modes of the standing waves. This
can be expressed as the relationship between wavelength, speed and frequency, a
basic formula where the wavelength is inversely proportional to the frequency when
speed is a constant (k) since it is the same string:
Let's work out the relationships among the frequencies of these modes. For a wave,
the frequency is the ratio of the speed of the wave to the length of the wave: f =
k/wavelength. Compared to the string length L, you can see that these waves have
lengths 2L, L, 2L/3, L/2. We could write this as 2L/n, where n is the number of the
harmonic.
The fundamental or first mode has frequency f
1
= k/wavelength = k/2L,
The second harmonic has frequency f
2
= k/wavelength = 2k/2L = 2f
1

The third harmonic has frequency f
3
= k/wavelength = 3k/2L = 3f
1
,
The fourth harmonic has frequency f
4
= v/wavelength = 4k/2L = 4f
1
, and, to
generalize, The n
th
harmonic has frequency fn = k/wavelength = nk/2L = nf
1
.
All waves in a string travel with the same speed, so these waves with different
wavelengths have different frequencies as shown. The mode with the lowest
frequency (f1) is called the fundamental.
Note that the n'th mode has frequency n times that of the fundamental. All of the
modes (and the sounds they produce) are called the harmonics of the string. The
frequencies f, 2f, 3f, 4f etc are called the harmonic series.
The diagram displays the harmonics in a span of 5 octaves, where the fundamental is
C with the frequency of 32 Hz. As the octaves progress the numberes
of new harmonics increase with the factor of 2.


How Nature performed such a mathematical division, an arithmetic progression, is beyond my
apprehension, but it is surely a mighty prominent and well-proven law. Intuitively I feel that the
number 2, or its inversion , is the mega number. Remember the integer numbers of waves
(nodes) in the standing wave.
The harmonic series is special because any combination of its vibrations produces a periodic or
repeated vibration at the fundamental frequency.
The Harmonic Scale
Since the harmonic series plays such an important part in music, it should be obvious
to use the harmonic series as the notes in a scale. This is also valid since the harmonic
series contains all the possible intervals used in music, although the order in which
those intervals appear does not properly constitute a musical scale. The main
difficulty is that all its intervals differ from one another and become smaller as the
scale rises.
The problem with modulation is obvious since each interval is not alike. Further, the
need for a fixed structure to establish a musical scale, a body of harmony established
by the three prime intervals, cannot be fulfilled by using the harmonic series as a
musical scale.
Nevertheless, the series of the first sixteen harmonics can be considered to form a
mode that is interesting in comparison with the musical scales used throughout the
history of music.
If we take C as a starting point, we first notice the appearance of the octave, C', 2/1,
then the fifth, G, 3/2, then the third, E, 5/4, then the harmonic Bb 7/4 lower than the
usual Bb, and forming with upper C', the maximum tone 8/7.
After this appears the major second, D, 9/8, which forms with E a minor second, 10/9.
Then come the harmonics F#, 11/8, A-, 13/8, and finally, the seventh, B, 15/8.

The remaining eight of the first sixteen harmonics add no new notes, as they are at
exact octave intervals from earlier harmonics in the series.
We have to understand the way the harmonic series display itself in a chain of
octaves, where each new octave contains twice as many harmonics as the last octave.
By looking at the ratios, the denominator indicates the octave, the numerator states the
number of harmonics in that octave. Considering only the first sixteen harmonics, we
thus obtain a scale of eight tones formed of the following intervals:
Notes C D E F# G A- Bb B C'
Ratios 1/1 9/8 5/4 11/8 3/2 13/8 7/4 15/8 2/1
Savarts 51 46 41 38 35 32 30 28
Notice that each interval gets smaller as the pitch rises.
Calculations of sound ratios
Another feature in the realm of sound is the exponential factor, because sound, like
many other physical events, behaves exponentially - not in straight lines. Harmonics
are not linear either.
There are two ways to calculate ratios of frequencies:
1) One can work with the ratios as they are, often pretty long numbers, and the
calculation is a bit twisted, since in adding two sound ratios one has to multiply; to
subtract you have to divide; and to divide a sound ratio you have to take the square
root.
A common example is the Equal Temperament, where the octave has to be divided
into 12 equal parts.
One semitone is the 12th root of 2, (2
1/12
) . If you want to divide the whole tone, 9/8,
you have to take the square root of 9/8, or (9/8)

= 3/2*2

.
2) The other way, which makes the calculation more straightforward, is to convert the
ratios into logarithmic unities such as cents or savarts. Logarithmic calculations make
it easier to operate with pitch intervals or frequency ratios, since the size of a pitch
interval is proportional not to the frequency ratio, but to the logarithm of the
frequency ratio. This makes the calculation of ratios simpler, by a plain process of
adding, subtracting or dividing.
Savarts, named after a French physicist, and cents are both logarithmic systems
developed to make it easy to compare intervals on a linear scale instead of using
fractals or frequency ratios (f2/f1).
A Savart is calculated as the logarithm (base 10) of the frequency ratio and, for
convenience, multiplied by 1000. We then have an interval expressed in terms of a
savart unit.
The interval of an octave in savarts is the logarithm of 2, which is 0.3010... expressed
as 301 savarts.
Savarts have an advantage over the widely used American system, cents, since savarts
is designed to fit any frequencies ratios (f2/f1), while cent by definition is based on
one scale, the 12 semitones in the Equal Temperament.
Cent is also a logarithmic unit, which by definition is based on the tempered scale of
1200 cents/octave. A semitone is therefore 100 cents. This definition is a bit more
complicated than the plain savart, since the exact relationship of frequencies to cents
is expressed by this formula: 1200 * (f2/f1) / log
2
= 3986 * log
10
(f2/f1).
E.g. the interval of the perfect fifth calculated in cents is: the log
10
3/2 = 0.1761.. The
fifth in cents is 3986 * 0.1761 = 702 cent.
The Octave
This interval is the very most outstanding division of sound and music and is
recognized in all musical traditions through time on the globe. The division of the
octave has been made differently depending on musical tradition, but alr the world in
all times the octave has been recognized as the basic unit that constitutes a beginning
and an end.
Octave derives from Latin and means the eighth. It is the 8th step in the diatonic
scale consisting of 7 tones, 5 full tones and 2 semitones. The eighth tone in the
diatonic scale, which is the most common in the world, completes the octave on a
pitch that in frequency is the double of the fundamental tone.
Graphically, one could say that an octave expresses or represents a circle. Several
octaves shape a spiral, where the same fundamental is above or below. The obvious
mystery about octaves is that tones an octave apart sound similar, though the
frequency is the double or the half.
They pertain, so to speak, to the same family; from the same root, unfolding in the
spectrum of frequencies. They have the same Chroma. They always double up the
frequencies in the ascending mode or halve them in the descending mode.
Again we see the basic, universal division of one into two, as we first mentioned in
the paragraph about the standing waves. Just remember the awesome sight of the
pregnant egg-cell dividing itself. The law of octaves belongs not only to the realm of
sound, but can be observed as manifesting itself throughout Nature around, and in
astronomy above.
The Fourth
The very harmonious Fourth is a kind of a puzzle, with its prime interval in the ratio
of 4 : 3. It is not represented in the first 16 harmonics in the series, though the 3rd and
4th harmonics are separated by a Fourth. It has taken me some time to figure it out.
In order to understand the importance of the Fourth, we have to look at the previous
prime interval, the Fifth, with the ratio of 3 : 2. The 2nd and 3rd harmonics are
separated by a Fifth. These two intervals together constitute an octave. They are
complementary intervals.
Furthermore, by going down by a Fourth into the octave below, one reaches the Fifth
in the sub-octave, which has half the frequency. In other words: a descending Fifth,
2:3, divided by , equals 4:3, a Fourth.
In the musical language the Fifth is called the Dominant and the Fourth the Sub-
dominant, which plays a very dominant role in music all over the world.
In all the musical scales that are obtained by the generating interval 3:2, the opposite
movement lowering by 4:3 makes it possible to fit the generated intervals into one
octave.
Music and mathematics
Music and Numbers are often said to be as brother and sister, different but related. In
addition, we have to take into consideration numerical representation, which plays an
important role in Eastern music but is ignored in the Western tradition.
Composite sound
A musical sound or tone is a composite sound containing a multiple of overtones or
harmonics. In musical practice the tone is not only dependent on its pitch and
amplitude (loudness), but also on its specific numbers of harmonics (formats), which
color the tones so that each instrument or voice has its characteristic sound.
This has nothing to do with musical compositions aiming to paint colors, or the blue
notes in jazz music. Overtone originates from the German Obertone, which refers to
the various numbers of partials or harmonics that are produced by the strongest and
lowest fundamental note, and fused into a compound or complex tone.
In his book On the Sensation of Tone from 1877, Herman von Helmholtz formulated
the theory about the consonant and dissonant intervals based on the numbers of beats
generated when two tones or a chord are played.
It was first about 100 years later that Promp was able to prove a more consistent
theory, the Consonant Theory, which now is generally accepted.
Beats
When two tones (or chords) are played simultaneously, another important acoustic
phenomenon takes place, called beats. When the frequencies of two tones are close
to each other, a periodical beat can clearly be heard, caused by the interference of the
different waves, which alter the amplitude so an intensified rhythmic beating, floating
tone is heard as a third tone.
There are other interference patterns besides beat frequencies, but this will do in this
instance.
Some intervals or chords produce more
beats in the higher harmonics than
others, and those are picked up by the
ear as unclean, muddy or unpleasant,
and are labeled dissonant.
The intervals which make fewest beats
are called consonant, such as an octave,
the perfect fifth, the perfect fourth the
three prime intervals, or The body of
Harmony as described by Aristotle; the
basis for the musical scale.
A general rule about sound ratios is that
the simpler the ratios between sounds
are, the more their relations are
harmonious, while the more
complicated the ratios are, the more
dissonant are the sounds.
Pythagoras was the first in the West to formulate the law of musical pitches
depending on numerical proportions. From this he based his underlying principle of
harmonia as a numerical system bound together by interlocking ratios of small
numbers. This discovery probably led him to the idea of the Harmony of the Spheres.
His vision of The Music of the Spheres aroused deep emotions in me. It alludes to
the seven planets known at that time, and has puzzled generations since it was
declared. Johannes Kepler dedicated most of his life to attempting to solve that notion.
The auditory system
The receiving part, the human ear, is equally important. The recent discoveries (The
Consonant Theory) of the function of the basal membrane in Cochlea as a Fourier
analyzer, and the role the critical band plays in the perception of rough or smooth
sound, dissonance and consonance, gives a consistent theory for some of the hearing
functions.
When the frequency ratios are narrowed down to such
small intervals that our auditory system is not capable
of differentiating, the harmonics become fused
because of the critical band, a relatively new
discovery, (around 1970-80 by Plomp a.o.) which
refers to the overlapping amplitude envelopes on the
basilar membrane in the Organ of Corti in the
Cochlea.
Trained ears are able to detect the harmonics up to the
6th or 7th harmonics.
Schematic graph of the Cochlea
When the interval between two tones decreases, their amplitude envelopes overlap to
an increasing extent. A rough, harsh tone will be heard, which anyone can hear when
two notes with less than minor 3rd separation are played simultaneously. This is very
shortly the key to understand the theory of dissonance and consonants, which is the
foundation in the origin of scales.
There are a lot of more acoustic laws and theories of fusion of pure tone components
and other acoustic phenomena such as masking, except to state that the inner ear
performs a partial frequency analysis of a complex musical tone, a Fourier analysis,
sending to the brain a distinct signal recording the presence of each of the first seven
or eight harmonic components; in addition the brain receives signals from the part of
the basilar membrane activated by the unresolved upper harmonics.
Several experiments by different scientists suggest that the brain determines the pitch
of a complex tone by searching for a harmonic pattern among the components
separately resolved in the inner ear. If the deviation from a true harmonic series is too
large, the brain gives up the attempt to find a single matching set of harmonics. Then
the components are heard separately, rather than as a fused tone.
This explains the missing fundamentals in the harmonic spectrum of a bassoon playing E3,
because the ear does not hear the fundamental tone, but the harmonic.
Breakthrough in the science of hearing
Helmholtz beat theories was commonly accepted for about 100 years, before the
Noble Prize winning Hungarian scientist Bksy in 1960 made a new breakthrough by
his discovery of the role the basilar membrane plays in the hearing of pitch.
He derived by anatomical studies a relationship between distance along the basilar
membrane and frequency of maximum response. A high frequency pure tone
generates a wave that travels only a short distance along the basilar membrane before
reaching its peak amplitude; the hair cells at the position of the peak are fired, and the
brain receives signals from the corresponding nerve fibers. These fibers evoke a high
frequency sensation.

A low frequency tone generates a wave that travels most of the
way to the helicotrema before rising to its peak amplitude and
dying away. Signals from nerve fibers connected to this region
of the basilar membrane evoke a low-frequency sensation in
the brain.
Other theories than the above place theory have been brought
forward, among them the temporal theories, i.e. emphasizing
the use of the timing information in nerve signals.
Helmholtz dismissed
The modern Consonance Theory of Plomp extended the
discoveries of Bksy with some new important findings, that
gave whole new meanings to the concept of hearing. The beat theory of Helmholtz
was finally dismissed in favor of the well experimented and proven Consonance
Theory, in which the ears Discrimination Frequency and its Critical Bandwidth plays
an important part.
The Critical Band
As the interval between two tones decreases, their amplitude envelopes on the basilar
membrane overlap to an increasing extent. A significant number of hair cells will now
be responding to both signals. When the separation is reduced, e.g. to a tone, the
amplitude envelopes overlap almost completely, implying a strong interaction
between the two sounds, which is heard as a harsh, rough sound: a dissonance.
When two pure tones are so close in frequency that there is a large overlap in their
amplitude envelopes, we say that their frequencies lie within one critical band. This
concept has been of great importance in the development of modern theories of
hearing and, one must add, gives a much better explanation for the ears determination
of consonant or dissonant intervals.
Logarithmic intervals and frequency distributions
This portion is a bit of off the key with the musical scales. However, when (in 2007) I
read about Cislenko's logarithmic intervals in the book Tools of Awareness, I felt
immediately that here is new, first-class research about the basic concept of a scale.
You have to go above the level of sound and reach up to the level of sizes of bodies.
In 1980, the Russian biologist Cislenko published what is probably one of the most
important biological discoveries of the 20th century. The published work was
Structure of Fauna and Flora with Regard to Body Size of Organisms (Lomonosov-
University, Moscow).
His work documents that segments of increased species representation were repeated
on the logarithmic line of body sizes in equal intervals (approx 0.5 units of the
decadal logarithm).
The phenomenon is not explicable from a biological point of view. Why should
mature individuals of amphibians, reptile, fish, bird and mammals of different species
find it similarly advantageous to have a body size in the range of 8 - 12 cm, 33 - 55
cm or 1,5 - 2,4 m?
Cislenko assumed that competition in the plant and animal kingdoms occurs not only
for food, water or other resources, but also for the best body sizes. Each species tries
to occupy the advantageous intervals on the logarithmic scale where mutual pressure
of competition also gave rise to crash zones.
However, Cislenko, was not able to explain, why both the crash zones and the
overpopulated intervals on the logarithmic line are always of the same length and
occur in equal distance from each other. He was unable to figure out why only certain
sizes would be advantageous for the survival of a species, and what these advantages
actually were.
The logarithmic frequency distributions by Dr. Hartmut Mulier
Cislenko's work inspired the German scientist Dr. Hartmut Mller to search for other
scale-invariant distributions in physics. The phenomenon of scaling is well known to
high-energy physics.
Mller found similar frequency distributions along the logarithmic line of sizes,
orbits, masses, and revolution periods of planets, moons and asteroids. Being a
mathematician and physicist he did not fail to recognize the cause for this
phenomenon in the existence of a standing pressure wave in the logarithmic space of
the scales/measures.
Scale is what physics can measure. The result of a physical measurement is always a
number with measuring unit a physical quantity.
Imagine that we have measured 12cm, 33cm and 90cm. Choosing 1 cm as the standard measure
(etalon), we will get the number sequence 12 - 33 - 90 (without measurement unit, or as the
physicist says: with unit 1). The distances between these numbers on the number line are 33 - 12
= 21 and 90 - 33 = 57.
If we were to choose another measuring unit, such as the etalon with 49,5cm, the number
sequence would be 0,24 - 0,67 - 1,82. The distances between the numbers have changed into
0,67 - 0,24 = 0,42 and 1,82 - 0,667 = 1,16.
However, on the logarithmic line, the distance will not change, no matter what
measuring unit we choose. It will always remain constant.
In our example, this distance amounts to one unit of the natural logarithm (with radix e =
2,71828...): ln 33 - ln 12 ln 90 - ln 33 ln 0,67 - ln 0,24 ln 1,82 - ln 0,67 1. Physical values
of measurement, therefore, own the remarkable feature of logarithmic invariance (scaling).
So, in reality, any scale is a logarithm!
Any scale is a logarithm
It is very interesting that natural systems are not evenly distributed along the
logarithmic line of the scales. There are attractive sections which are occupied by a
great number of completely different natural systems; and there are repulsive
sections that most natural systems will avoid.
Growing crystals, organisms or populations that reach the limits of such sections on
the logarithmic line will either grow no more or will begin to disintegrate, or else will
accelerate growth so as to overcome these sections as quickly as possible.
The Institute for Space-Energy-Research I.M. was able to prove the same phenomenon also in
demographics (stochastic of world-wide urban populations), economy (stochastic of national
product, imports and exports world-wide) and business economy (stochastic of sales volume of
large industrial and middle-class enterprises, stochastic of world-wide stock exchange values).

The borders of attractive and repulsive segments on the logarithmic line of scales
are easy to find because they recur regularly with a distance of 3 natural logarithmic
units. This distance also defines the wavelength of the standing pressure wave: it is 6
units of the natural logarithm.
In fact, the world of scales is nothing else but the logarithmic line of numbers known
to mathematics at least since the time of Napier (1600). What is new, however, is the
fundamental recognition that the number line has a harmonic structure, which is itself
the cause for the standing pressure wave.
Leonard Euler (1748 ) had already shown, that irrational and transcendental numbers
can be uniquely represented as continued fractions in which all elements (numerators
and denominators) will be natural numbers.
Prime numbers
In 1928, Khintchine succeeded in providing the general proof about prime numbers.
In the theory of numbers this means that all numbers can be constructed from natural
numbers; the universal principle of construction being the continued fraction. All
natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... in turn are constructed from prime numbers, these
being natural numbers which cannot be further divided without remainder, such as 1,
2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 19, 23, 29, 31, ... (traditionally 1 is not classed as a prime number
although it fulfills all criteria).
The distribution of prime numbers on the number line is so irregular that so far no
formula has been found that would perfectly describe their distribution.
Dr. Muller found that the distribution of numbers is indeed very irregular - but only
on the linear number line.
On the logarithmic number line, large gaps of prime numbers recur at regular
intervals. Gauss (1795) had already noticed this.
The reason for this phenomenon is the existence of a standing density wave on the
logarithmic number line. The node points of this density wave are acting as number
attractors. This is where prime numbers will 'accumulate' and form composite
numbers, i.e. non-primes, such as the 7 non-primes from 401 to 409.
Hence a prime number gap will occur in this place. Precisely where non-primes (i.e.
prime clusters) arise on the logarithmic number line, there it is that matter
concentrates on the logarithmic line of measures. This is not magic; it is simply a
consequence of the fact that scales are logarithms, i.e. just numbers.
So the logarithmic line of scales is nothing else but the logarithmic number line. And
because the standing pressure wave is a property of the logarithmic number line, it
determines the frequency of distribution of matter on all physically calibrated
logarithmic lines - the line of ratios of size, that of masses, of frequencies, of
temperatures, velocities, etc.
Finding a node point on the logarithmic line is relatively easy, since the wavelength of
the standing density wave on the logarithmic number line is known, and the
calculation of all nodal points is done by a simple formula.
The distance between adjacent node points is 3 units of the natural logarithm.
The frequency ranges around 5 Hz, 101 Hz, 2032 Hz, 40,8 kHz, 820 kHz, 16,5 MHz,
330,6 MHz, etc. are predestined for energy transmission in finite media. This is also
where the carrier frequencies for information transmission in logarithmic space are
located.
Frequencies that occur near a note point are very common in nature, as well as in
technological applications.
I wish to thank Dr. Willy de Maeyer for his help in the subject of this deeper scientific nature of
scales. More similar kinds of mind-puzzling statements in sound and music can be found on my
page The Sound of Silence. The Creation of Musical Scales
from a mathematic and acoustic point of view, Part II,
by Thomas Vczy Hightower

My first search was to look at musical practice in ancient times, not only in Europe
but all over the world. There were several other musical scales besides the diatonic
scale, where the semitones were located in other places than from me-fa and si-do. In
the Gregorian modals, for instance, the different placement of the semitones creates
the specific modes.
Pentatonic Music
In pentatonic folk music semitones do not exist. By practical experience, people have
found out that the five-note scale allowed the possibility of playing in any key without
significant disharmony. Theorists would say that the scale was composed of
ascending and descending fifths, only in two steps in each direction. A pentatonic
scale can be played by only using the black keys on the piano.
EASTERN MUSIC
After a study of ancient main cultural music, mainly Chinese and Indian, I realized
how universal the concept of the octave was in every musical culture.
According to Helmholtz, the Arabic and Persian scales, and the Japanese and the
Pacific scales are also within an octave. However, the division of the octave differs
from culture to culture.
Arab music divides the octave into sixteen unequal intervals. The Persians divided
their octave into 24 steps, so they must have used quarter tones. From excavated
Egyptian flutes, a seven note scale C, D, E, F#, G, A, B, has been discovered, which is
identical with the Syntolydian scale of ancient Greece. Japanese music used mainly a
pentatonic scale.
Chinese music
Music was the cornerstone of the Chinese civilization, the longest living culture in
history. It was considered to embody within its tones elements of the celestial order.
The audible sound, including music, was but one form of manifestation of a much
more fundamental form of Super-physical Sound. The fundamental Primal Sound was
synonymous with that which the Hindus call OM. The Chinese believed that this
Primal Sound, Kung or Huang Chung (directly translated yellow bell) was, though
inaudible, present everywhere as a Divine Vibration.
Furthermore, it was also divided into 12 lesser Sounds or Tones. These twelve Cosmic
Tones were emanations of, and an aspect of, the Primal Sound, but were closer in
vibration to the tangible, physical world. Each of the 12 Tones was associated with
one of the 12 zodiacal regions of the heavens.
Audible sound was conceived as being a physical level manifestation of the 12 tones.
Sound on Earth was a kind of sub-tone of the celestial vibration. It was believed to
contain a little part of the celestial tones' divine power.
As above, so below, as the Egyptian Hermes Thot said. In the Lords Prayer, a
similar wish is spoken.
For the ancient Chinese, the alignment with the divine prime tone was the Emperor's
most important task. The alignment of earth with heaven, and man with the Supreme,
was literally the purpose of life. The entire order and affairs of the State were
dependent upon the right tuning of the fundamental tone, the yellow bell, or Kung.
As an ancient text warns: If the Kung is disturbed, then there is disorganization; the
prince is arrogant.
If the Kung was out of tune, because the celestial realm has changed, disorder and
inharmonious behavior in society became obvious. Every instrument (including
measuring instruments) was tuned and utilized in accordance with the holy tone.
The instrument that could give to man the fundamental tone for a musical scale in
perfect harmony with the universe was the key to earthly paradise, and essential to the
security and evolution of society.
It became the Chinese Holy Grail.
One legend tells of the amazing journey of Ling Lun, a minister of the second
legendary Chinese Emperor, Huang Ti. Ling Lun was sent like an ancient Knight of
King Arthur to search for a special and unique set of bamboo pipes. These pipes were
so perfect that they could render the precise standard pitches to which all other
instruments throughout the land could be tuned.
That sacred tone, which relates to the Western modern pitch of F, was considered as
the fundamental cosmic tone. The Chinese were aware of the slow changing cosmic
influence, and consequently the Kung has to change accordingly. The Emperor had
the task of tuning the Kung so it was in alignment with the cosmic tone.
Tuning the Sacret Kung
Cousto has in his book The Cosmic Octave an interesting observation on this matter.
He relates the Kung to the frequency of the Platonic Year. The duration of the
Platonic Year, (The Pythagorean Great Year) is about 25,920 years and represents the
amount of time the axis of the Earth takes to complete a full rotation.
The vernal equinox is the point at which the equator (of Earth) intersects the ecliptic
(or zodiac), which is the position of the sun at the beginning of spring - March 21st.
The vernal equinox takes an average of 2,160 years to travel through one sign of the
zodiac. This period of time is known as an age. It is not possible to state exactly when
one age is ending and a new beginning, because the signs overlap to a certain degree.
The journey of the vernal equinox through each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac equals
one great year of approximately 25,920 years. (Presently we are on the cusp of
Aquarius as the age of Pisces is ending).
This number of years is close to the high number of generating fifths when we come
into a cycle of 25,524 notes.
Cousto calculates the note of the Platonic year to be F in the Western Equal
Temperament pitch, which is found in the 48th octave with a frequency of 344.12
Hz., or in the 47th octave to be 172.06 Hz. Note that the corresponding a' has a
frequency of 433.564 Hz. (Modern Western concert pitch is 440 Hz.)
Calculation: 31 556 925.97(the tropical year in seconds) * 25,920 (Platonic year).
Since the length (of a vibrating string, or the period of time) is in reverse
proportionality to the frequency, the length of the Platonic year in seconds shall be the
denominator. The frequency is very low, so we will raise the frequency to the range of
hearing by multiplying with the necessary amount of octaves, e.g. 48 octaves so we
arrive to 344,12 Hz. (47 octaves will be the half, 172,06 Hz.)
If we want to reach the spectrum of light, we multiply with 89 octaves which leads us
to a frequency of 1/31 556 925.97 * 1/25 920 * 2 89 = 7,56 * 10 14 Hz. corresponding
to a wavelength of 0.396 micrometer, which we perceive as violet near the ultra
violet. This is the color of the Platonic Year. The complementary color to violet is
yellow. Their fundamental tone was called the yellow bell.
It is a wonder for me how the ancient Chinese could be aware of their sacred
fundamental tone, Kung, being in accordance with the Platonic Year, and choose the
great rhythm of the Earth.
Creation of a scale
It might be a surprise that the diatonic scale was the foundation for the ancient
Chinese and the Indian music, though the musical theory and practices differ from the
Western.
For the old Chinese, their musical scale was developed by the circle of perfect fifths
up to 60 degrees or keys, the 60 L, though they usually only used the first 5 fifths in
their pentatonic music, because they knew that these represent the limit of consonance
in modal music. In addition, the ancient Chinese saw a symbolic representation in the
pentatonic scale, rooted in their belief in music as being the representation of the
relationship between heaven and earth (the five elements).
The Chinese were well aware centuries ago of the existence of our modern Equal
Temperament. They dismissed such a tempered scale not only for its badly false
notes, but mainly because the tuning was not in alignment with the cosmic tone.
According to the book by David Taime, The Secret Power of Music, 3 was the
symbolic numeral of heaven and 2 that of the earth; sounds in the ratio of 3:2 will
harmonize heaven and earth. As a way to apply that important concept, the Chinese
took the foundation note, Huang Chung, and from it produced a second note in the
ratio of 3:2.
A more in-depth explanation made by Alain Danilou in his Music and the Power of
Sound:
Music, being the representation of the relationship between heaven and earth, must
quite naturally have this confirmation of a center or tonic (gong) surrounded by four
notes assimilated to the four directions of space, the four perceptible elements, the
four seasons, and so on. "
The pentatonic scale thus presents a structure that allows it to be an adequate
representation of the static influence of heaven on earth. But a static representation of
a world in motion could not be an instrument of action upon that world. It is necessary
to evolve from the motionless to the moving, from the angular to the circular, from the
square to the circle. To express the movements of the universe, the sounds will have
to submit to the cyclic laws that, in their own field, are represented by the cycle of
fifths.
The spiral of fifths
As we have already seen, the fifth is the
third sound of the series of harmonics, the
first being the fundamental and the second
its octave. According to the formula of the
Tao-te ching, One has produced two, two
has produced three, three has produced all
the numbers, we can understand why the
third sound, the fifth, must necessarily
produce all the other sounds by its cyclic repetitions.
Observe the feminine & masculine notes respectively pink & blue.
The first to be produced will be the four principal sounds, which form comparatively
simple ratios with the tonic.
For the sake of convenience we will use Western notes: See Chinese & Western
Music.
I, C
II, G = 3/2
III, D = 9/8 = (3/2)
2
* (lower an octave)
IV, A+ ( a comma sharp) = 27/16 = (3/2)
3
* (lower an octave)
V, E+ (a comma sharp) = 81/64 = (3/2)
4
* (lower 2 octaves).
These five primart sounds represent the elementary structure of the perceptible world,
the pentatonic scale. These sounds are used in music, as you can play the five black
keys on the piano. Howevwer, the next two fifths have to be added as two auxiliry
sounds:
VI, B+, (a comma sharp) = 243/128 = (3/2)
5
* (lower 2 octaves)
VII, L+F? (sharpen a major half tone) = 729/512 = (3/2)
6
* 1/8 (lower 3 octaves).
The seven-notes Chinese scale
C D E+ (F)L+F#1/1 G A+ B+ C'
1/1 9/8 81/64 4/3 (729/512) 3/2 27/16 243/128 02/01/13
Let us note here that the most striking difference between the system of fifths and
that of harmonic relations to a tonic, resides in the perfect fourth, which is an essential
interval in the scale of proportions, but in the scale of fifths it is an augmented fourth
as its sixth fifth, (3/2)

6.
.

The two auxiliary sounds 243/128 and 739/512 should not be used
as fundamentals, though they are needed for transpositions, because they belong to the
scale of invisible worlds, and therefore we can neither perceive their accuracy nor
build systems upon them without going out of tune.
Instead of starting from C, we could have begun one fifth below, that is to say, from
F, and we would have obtained this essential note without changing anything in our
scale, except that, since we begin with a masculine interval instead of
a feminine interval, the character of the whole system is modified.
The five successive fifths, whether in an ascending or a descending series, represent
the limit of consonance in modal music too. Beyond this limit, no interval can appear
harmonious, nor can it be accurately recognized. A rule originating from the same
principle was also known in medieval Europe, where the tritone was prohibited as
diabolical, that is, as connected with forces that are supernatural and therefore
uncontrollable.
Folk music in its pentatonic form had understood this too by only using the span of
two fifths up and down.
After these seven notes, the next five notes generated by the series of fifths are:
VIII, bDb lowered a minor half tone, IX, bAb lowered a minor half tone, X, bEb a
minor half tone lower, XI, bBb a minor half tone lower, XII, F+ a comma sharp.
We now have twelve sounds, which divide the octave chromatically into twelve half
tones.
The twelfth fifth (note 13) in a 7 octave span brings us back to the fundamental, but
with a slight difference.
It is higher than the fundamental by one comma, the Pythagorean comma (312 / 219 =
531,441/524,288, (5.88 savarts or 23.5 cents). It is, therefore, in our notation, C+, one
comma sharp.
In this way, successive series of twelve fifths will be placed one above the other at
one-comma intervals, up to the 52nd fifth (note 53) which fill the octave.
The Chinese continued the cycle of fifths up to 25,524 notes, with a basic interval of
0.0021174 savarts. This cycle is very near to that of the precession of the
equinoxes, or the Pythagorean Great Year, which is of 25,920 solar years. Why the
Chinese continued so many octaves in the cycle of fifths could have something to do
with their reference tone, Kung.
In practice, for reasons that are symbolic as well as musical, after the 52nd fifth (53rd
note) the Chinese follow the series only for the next seven degrees, which place
themselves above those of the initial seven-note scale, and they stop the series at the
60th note. The reason given is that 12 (the number of each cycle) * 5 (the number of
the elements) = 60.
The scale of 60 L
The Chinese scale, being invariable, constitutes in effect a single mode. Every change
in expression will therefore depend upon modulation, a change of tonic.
Firstly, the choice of gender: fifths whose numbers in the series are even are feminine.
The odd numbered fifths are masculine.
The choice of tonic is dependent on complicated rules and rituals, whose main
purpose is to be in accordance with celestial as well as earthly influx or
circumstances. Accordingly, the Chinese have to choose the right key for the hour of
the day and the month, even during a performance.
It is an extensive scheme, but to get an idea we can say that it corresponds to political
matters, seasons, hour of the day, elements, color, geographic direction, planets and
moon.
This scale of fifths, perfect for transposition because of its extreme accuracy, also
allows the study of astrological correspondences and of terrestrial influx in their Tone
Zodiac.
We notice that the Chinese scale is very similar to the Pythagorean tuning, which was
also produced by generating a perfect fifth (3: 2). When the Chinese derived their
scale goes back to 3000 BC, when European stone-age man was still beating wooden
logs. The prevalent opinion in the West about our music superiority should hereby be
moderated.
The Indian music system
The ancient Indians had a less formalized approach to their music than the Chinese.
Generally speaking they emphasized the personal inner contemplation more than the
outward organized rituals. One can say that they sought inner alignment with the
divine supreme by means of the sounds AUM or OM, which were (are) the earthly
sound of the prime creator, Brahman.
For the Hindus, as the Chinese, the spoken or chanted words were the carrier of some
of the creative energy, and composed by the prime Creator. Pronounced correctly, it
was believed that special words were able to alter humans thoughts and feelings and
literally change and form physical matter.
Raga is the basic form in classical Indian music. There is a whole system of Ragas,
which differ respectively between North and South India. Originally there were only 7
Ragas. These may have been the remnant of an ancient reference to the seven Cosmic
Tones: the seven principal notes, or savaras, connected with the seven main planets,
and two secondary notes corresponding to the nodes of the moon. This brings the total
number of notes in the scale to nine principal notes, which is related to the nine
groups of consonants of the Sanskrit alphabet.
The Raga system grants musicians freedom of expression within the limitations of a
certain inviolable mode. Since music was so important a force in altering phenomena
upon Earth, they considered it would be unwise, dangerous, and perhaps even suicidal
in the long run to allow musicians to perform whatever they wished.
The Indian solution was then to apply a system of rules which, while effectively
determining what type of music was performed and even its spiritual atmosphere and
the period of the day, did not indicate the notes themselves. This was a convincingly
successful solution to the problem that the music of ancient civilizations always came
up against.
The Chinese had a more rigid system. They created variations by use of instruments,
and especially in the expression of the single note. The dimensions of tone color, or
timbre, were highly developed in the East. The ear had to learn to distinguish subtle
nuances. The same note, produced on a different string, has a different timbre. The
same string, when pulled by different fingers, has a different timbre, etc. Furthermore,
and very important, the whole spiritual being of the musician himself was
crucial. That applies also to Indian music.
As in the Western diatonic scale, the Indian scale was based on 7 main notes: SA, RE,
GA, MA, PA, DHA and NI. If we go back to the most ancient texts on music, the
scales were divided intotwo tetrachords, similar to the ancient Greeks, and later put
together with a whole tone (9/8) between, Ma Pa, so a full octave was completed.
The Indian notes relate broadly to the Western ratios, though the tuning is very
harmonious and creates a world of difference. We have to emphasize that the use of
harmony as we know it was, but is no longer, musically practised.
Here is a crucial point. The Indian music is modal. There is a strong relationship to
the tonic. When a third is played it always relates to the third degree; whereas in
Western harmonious tradition the third has a relative position, because it can be the
root, the fifth or third of a chord.
Eastern listeners often make remarks such as: Beethoven symphonies are interesting,
but why have all those chords been introduced, spoiling the charm of the melodies?
The modal music of India is 'horizontal' as the Western is 'vertical'. The vertical,
harmonious system, in which the group of related sounds is given simultaneously,
might be more direct though also less clear. The accurate discrimination of the
different elements that constitute a chord is not usually possible.
The modal, horizontal system, on the other hand, allows the exact perception and
immediate classification of every note, and therefore permits a much more accurate,
powerful and detailed outlining of what the music expresses.
One can say that the attention span in the Eastern musical language has to be much
longer since, in time, the different and distinct sounds adding up in the listeners mind
create the chords or the whole musical idea. Only then, by remembering with attention
all the elements that constitute the musical image, can the full meaning finally be
understood.
The Indian musical system operates with a combination of fixed and mutable pitch, so
the key can be recognized along with variable notes. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th
notes are variable, but the 1st (Sa or Do) and the perfect 5th (Pa or Sol) are immutable
and of a fixed pitch. The drone is accordingly often Do-Sol (Sa-Pa), which becomes
the ultimate open chord containing all other notes within it as a series of subtle
harmonics.
This drone (a constant note or tonic), whether actually played on an instrument like
the tampura or simply heard within oneself as the Om sound, is the constant reference
without which no Indian musician would play.
One must not be confused by the vast use of micro intervals, sliding or bending the
notes, prominent in Indian music. The musicians can freely use these microtones as
private points, often moving freely between two notes as a kind of infinitely
exploitable space, eventually returning home to the tonic of the Raga. The musician
has a freedom to play tones as his inspiration demands so long as he obeys the sacred
rules of types and its mood.
The 22 Shrutis (degrees)
Musical intervals can be defined in two ways, either by numbers (string lengths,
frequencies) or by their psychological correspondences, such as feelings and images
they necessarily evoke in our minds. There is no sound without a meaning, so the
Indians consider the emotions that different intervals evoke as exact as sound ratios.
The feeling of the shrutis depends exclusively on their position in relation to the tonic,
and indicates the key for the ragas.
The 22 different keys or degrees encompass what the Indians consider the most
common feelings and reflections of the human mind. They were aware of the division
of the octave into 53 equal parts, the Pythagorean Comma, and its harmonic
equivalent, the comma diesis, (the syntonic comma, the difference between the major
and the minor tones).
However, they chose the 22nd division of the octave for reasons based on the limit of
human ability to differentiate the keys, as well as for psychological and metaphysical
reasons. The symbolic correspondences of the numbers 22 and 7, (7 strings and main
notes), could also play a part since the relationship between the circle and the
diameter is expressed as the approximate value of Pi, 22/7.
The modal or Harmonic division of the octave
Indian music is essentially modal, which means that the intervals on which the
musical structure is built are calculated in relation to a permanent tonic. That does not
mean that the relations between notes other than the tonic are not considered, but that
each note will be established first according to its relation to the fixed tonic and not,
as in the case of cycle of fifths, by any permutations of the basic note.
The modal structure can therefore be compared to the proportional division of the
string (straight line) rather than to the periodic movement of the spiral of fifths.
All the notes obtained in the harmonic system are distinct from those of the cyclic
system, which is based on different data. Though the notes are theoretically distinct
and their sequence follows completely different rules, in practice they lead to a similar
division of the octave into fifty-three intervals.
The scale of proportions is made of a succession of syntonic commas, 81/80, which
divide the octave into 53 intervals. Among those, 22 notes were chosen for their
specific emotional expressions:
Note degree Interval Value in cents Interval Name Expressive qualities
1 1/1 0 unison marvelous, heroic, furious
2 256/243 90.22504 Pythagorean limma comic
3 16/15 111.7313 minor diatonic semitone love
4 10/9 182.4038 minor whole tone comic, love
5 9/8 203.9100 major whole tone compassion
6 32/27 294.1351 Pythagorean minor third comic, love
7 6/5 315.6414 minor third love
8 5/4 386.3139 major third marvelous, heroic, furious
9 81/64 407.8201 Pythagorean major third comic
10 4/3 498.0452 perfect fourth marvelous, heroic, furious
11 27/20 519.5515 acute fourth comic
12 45/32 590.2239 tritone love
13 729/512 611.7302 Pythagorean tritone comic, love
14 3/2 701.9553 perfect fifth love
15 128/81 792.1803 Pythagorean minor sixth comic, love
16 8/5 813.6866 minor sixth comic
17 5/3 884.3591 major sixth compassion
18 27/16 905.8654 Pythagorean major sixth compassion
19 16/9 996.0905 Pythagorean minor seventh comic
20 9/5 1017.596 just minor seventh comic, love
21 15/8 1088.269 classic major seventh marvelous, heroic, furious
22 243/128 1109.775 Pythagorean major seventh comic, love
The Ancient Egyptians
The ancient Egyptians had similar beliefs to the Chinese and Hindus. In their Book of
the Dead and other sources, it is stated that God, or his lesser servant gods, created
everything, by combining visualization with utterance. First the god would visualize
the thing that was to be formed; then he would pronounce its name: and it would be.
From as late as the reign of Alexander II, a text dating from about 310 BC still has the
God of Creation, Ra, declaring: Numerous are the forms from that which proceeded
from my mouth. The god Ra was also called Amen-Ra, with the prefix Amen. The
Egyptian priesthood understood well the word Amen, or AMN, and it was equated
with the Hindu OM.
Egyptian music, as does Greek, most probably had its roots in Indian music, or at least
in that universal system of modal music whose tradition has been fully kept only by
the Indians.
The pyramid can easily be a symbolic representation of Earth with its four perceptible
elements, and all its characteristics that are regulated by the number four the four
seasons, four directions of space, etc.; especially the projection of the single into the
multiple.
WESTERN MUSIC
Pythagoras
The Greek philosopher Pythagoras (570 - 490 BC) spent 22 years in Egypt, mainly
with the high priest in Memphis, where he became initiated into their secret
knowledge of Gods. When the Persians conquered Egypt, he was kept in captivity in
Babylon for sixteen years before he could return to Greece and begin his teaching.
I began to study the theory of the Pythagoreans and their esoteric schools. Very little
is known of them. Pythagoras demanded silence about the esoteric work. This historic
school was founded in the Greek colony Kroton, in southern Italy, about 2,500 years
ago.
I realized after reading dozens of books about the matter what an outstanding role that
school played in the establishment of western civilization. He created an entirely new
concept. Any person - man or woman - who had a sincere wish for knowledge could
enter the school stepwise, with a number of initiations. The tradition of a priesthoods
monopoly of knowledge of God was broken.
Pythagoras' study of the moving string and his discovery of the harmonic progression
of simple whole numbers was the first real scientific work and creation of modern
science. But his vision went far beyond present science in his deep understanding of
the integration of the triad: A science, B work on being, C love and study of
God. Something modern science could learn from!
Nicomachus of Gerasa
Nicomachus the Pythagorean (second century B.C.) was the first who wrote about
Pythagoras legendary encounter with the harmonious blacksmith and the weights of
the 4 different hammers being 12, 9, 8 and 6, that determined the variation in the
pitches Pythagoras heard.
This story illustrates how the numerical proportions of the notes were discovered. His
methodical measuring of the hammers and how the sound was produced and related
(collecting data), then making experiments with strings, their tension and lengths
(repeating the findings and, with mathematics, formulating them into a law), was the
first example of the scientific method.
We will not dwell on the question of the force of the impact or the tension of the
strings, which later was discovered as the square root of the force, but just stick to the
proportion of weights and the pitches he heard, which led him to his discovery.
Pythagoras' experiments led to the combination of two tetrachords, (two fourths),
separated with a whole tone, 9/8, which constitute an octave. He changed the
traditional unit in Greek music, the tetrachord, into the octave by an octachord.
In the time of Pythagoras the tradition was strongly based on the seven strings of the
lyre, the heptachord. The Greeks considered the number 7 sacred and given by the
god Hermes, who handed down the art of lyre playing to Orpheus. The seven-string
lyre was also related to the seven planets, amongst other things the ancients
venerated.
The lyre often, but not always, consisted of seven strings comprising two tetrachords,
each one spanning the most elementary concord, the fourth, both joined together on
the note mese.
According to legend, a son of Apollo, Linos, invented the four-stringed lyre with three
intervals, a semitone, whole tone and a whole tone comprising a fourth; the fourth,
the first and most elementary consonance as Nicomathus calls it, and from which all
the musical scales of ancient Greek music eventually developed.
Trepander of Antissa on Lesbos, born about 710 B.C., assumed a mythological status
for his musical genius. His most lasting contribution was perhaps his transformation
of the four-stringed lyre to the instrument which became institutionalized by tradition
to the heptachord.
Trepander did before Pythagoras extend the heptachord from its minor seventh limits
to a full octave, but without having to add the forbidden eighth string.
He removed the Bb string, the trite of the conjunct tetrachord, and added the octave
string, E1, yielding a scale of E F G A C D E1.
This arrangement left a gap of a minor third between A and C, and seemed to have
enhanced the Dorian character of Trepander's composition.
Harmonia
Only Pythagoras escaped censure for adding an eighth string to the ancient and
venerated lyre because of his position as a great master and religious prophet. His
purpose was to teach man the unifying principle and immutable laws of harmonia by
appealing to his highest powers - the rational intellect and not to his untrustworthy
and corruptible senses. Pythagoras altered the heptachord solely to engage man's
intellect in proper fitting together - harmonia - of the mathematical proportions.
Plutarch (44-120 B.C.) states that for Pythagoras and his disciples, the word harmonia
meant octave in the sense of an attunement which manifests within its limits both
the proper fitting together of the concordant intervals, fourth and fifth, and the
difference between them, the whole tone.
Moreover, Pythagoras proved that whatever can be said of one octave can be said of
all octaves. For every octave, no matter what pitch range it encompasses, repeats itself
without variation throughout the entire pitch range in music. For that reason,
Pythagoras considered it sufficient to limit the study of music to the octave.
This means that within the framework of any octave, no matter what its particular
pitch range, there is a mathematically ordained place for the fourth, the fifth, and for
the whole tone. It is a mathematical matter to show that all of the ratios involved in
the structure of the octave are comprehended by the single construct: 12-9-8-6.
For the Pythagoreans, this construct came to constitute the essential paradigm - of
unity from multiplicity.
The arithmetic and harmonic mean
We see that 12:6 expresses the octave, 2:1; 9 is the arithmetic mean, which is equal to
the half of the sum of the extremes, (12 + 6)/2 = 9.
Further, 8 is the harmonic mean of 12:6, being superior and inferior to the extremes
by the same fraction.
Expressing this operation algebraically, the harmonic mean is 2ac/a+c, or in this
series, 2*12*6/12+6 = 8.
Among the peculiar properties of the harmonic proportion is the fact that the ratio of
the greatest term to the middle is greater than the middle to the smallest term: 12:8
>8:6. It is this property that
made the harmonic proportion
appear contrary to the arithmetic
proportion.
In terms of musical theory, these
two proportions are basic for
division of the octave since the fifth, 3/2, is the arithmetic mean of an octave and the
fourth, 4/3, is the harmonic mean of an octave.
The principle of dividing the string by an arithmetical proportion is done by the
formula: a:b is divided by 2a:(a+b) and (a+b):2b.
The ancient Greeks presumably did such division in their studies of the singing string
of the monochord.
The semitone
We have already seen that in the diatonic genus each tetrachord was divided into two
full tones and one semitone. A full tone derives from a fifth minus a fourth, 3/2 - 4/3 =
9/8. The semitone will be 4/3 - (9/8 + 9/8), or 4/3 - 81/64 = 256/243.
This semitone is called leimma, and is somewhat smaller than the half tone computed
by dividing (for musical ratios dividing means the square root) the whole tone in half:
(9/8)

= 3/2*2

.
The square root of 2 was for the Pythagoreans a shocking fact, because their concept
of rational numbers was shattered. (For me it represents the beauty of real science,
because it revealed the flaws in the Pythagorean paradigm of numbers). Their own
mathematic proved with the Pythagoreans doctrine of the right-angle triangle (the
sum of the squares of the two smaller sides of a right-angled triangle is equal to the
square of the hypotenuse) that in music, as in geometry, there are fractions, m/n, that
are incommensurables such as the square root of 2, which cannot be expressed with
whole numbers or fractions, the body of rational numbers, but with irrational numbers
not yet developed.
This discovery was held as a secret among the Pythagoreans and led to the separation
of algebra and geometry for centuries, until Descartes in the 17th century united them
again.
For music it meant that there was no center of an octave, no halving of the whole tone,
no perfect union of opposites, no rationality to the cosmos.
The semitone could be the door to other dimensions!
My task here is to give some clues to the meta-physical functions of semitones, which
seem to involve the potential to shift to a different world or enter another dimension.
The key to attaining a different spiritual world exists in the search for the exact right
tone that resonates with that particular door to other dimensions and worlds. The
human being contains more dimensions than just three spatial dimensions.
Philolaus
We have to bear in mind that Pythagoras himself left no written record of his work; it
was and is against esoteric principles. Neither did those few students who survived the
pogrom of Pythagoras. It is one in the next generation of Pythagoreans, Philolaus
(ca.480- ? B.C.), who broke the precept of writing down the masters teaching.
However, Philolaus' records are lost, so it is Nicomachus fragments of his writing, in
his Manual of Harmonics, that is actually the only source posterity has.
According to Nicomachus / Philolaus, the whole tone, 9/8, was divided differently
from the Pythagoreans method, by representing the whole tone with 27, the cube of 3,
a number highly esteemed by the Pythagoreans. Philolaus divided the whole tone in
two parts, calling the lesser part of 13 units a diesis, and the greater part of 14 units,
apotome. Philolaus had, in effect, anticipated Plato's calculations in the Timaeus!
Timaeus by Plato
Plato (427-347 B.C.) gave in his work Timaeus a new meaning to the Pythagorean
harmonic universe by in a purely mathematical method enclosing it within the
mathematically fixed limits of four octaves and a major sixth. It was determined by
the numbers forming two geometrical progressions, of which the last term is the
twenty-seventh multiple of the first term:
27 = 1+2+3+4+8+9
The two geometric progressions in which the ratios between the terms is 2:1 and 3:1
are, respectively:
1-2-4-8 and 1-3-9-27.
Combining these two progressions, Plato produced the seven-termed series: 1-2-3-4-
8-9-27. The numbers in this series contain the octave, the octave and a fifth, the
double octave, the triple octave, the fifth, the fourth and the whole tone. The entire
compass from one to twenty-seventh multiple comprises, therefore, four octaves and a
major sixth. In numerical terms it contains four octaves, 16:1 * 3:2 (a fifth) * 9:8 (a
whole-tone) equals 27:1.
Plato then proceeded first to locate in each of the octaves the harmonic mean, the
fourth, then the arithmetic mean, the fifth. By inserting the harmonic and the
arithmetic means respectively between each of the terms in the two geometric
progressions, Plato formulated mathematically everything Pythagoras had formulated
by collecting acoustic data.
Plato did, however, independently of the Pythagoreans, compute the semitone in the
fourth, which consists of two whole tones plus something, which is less than the half
of a whole tone, namely 256:243, the leimma.
According to Flora Levin in her commentary on Nicromachus' The Manual of
Harmonics, Plato went further than Pythagoras by completing all the degrees in a
diatonic scale:
1 9/8 81/64 4/3 3/2 27/16 243/128 2
E F# G# A B C# D# E'
Plato's calculations led to the inescapable fact of no center to the octave, no halving of
the whole tone with rational numbers, no rationality of the cosmos.
Nicomachus did his part in covering up the secret by misrepresenting Plato and
putting off some of the shattering discoveries of irrational numbers to some future
time.
The semitones in the different modes
Pythagoras had practiced music long before he transformed the heptachord into an
octachord that led him to discover the mathematical laws determining the basic
structure of an octave. He had fully understood the therapeutic value of music in
healing the body and soul. Most of all, he knew the set of conditions for melody. He
recognized strongly that every tetrachord on which melody was based embodies the
natural or physical musical progression of whole tone-whole tone-semitone.
He maintained the fundamental structure of both tetrachords in his scale, and for
musical reasons he understood that this distribution of intervals had to be maintained
for all melodic purposes with their configurations and inversions.
This was the foundation of the ancient Greek music, which further developed into The
Greater Perfect System.
The confusion of systems
The Greek music has an inherent confusion of musical systems: a mix of the cyclic
system of perfect fifths (Pythagorean tuning), and the modal system (tetrachords). We
can only get a very faint idea of what ancient Greek music really was about because
European theorists through time have made errors and misunderstandings.
In reality, the Arabs and the Turks happened to receive directly the inheritance of
Greece. In many cases the works of Greek philosophers and mathematicians reached
Europe through the Arabs. Most serious studies on Greek music were written by Arab
scholars such as al-Frbi in the tenth century and Avicenna a little later, while
Westerners - Boethius in particular - had already made the most terrible mistakes.
It is the Arabs who maintained a musical practice in conformity with the ancient
theory, so to get an idea of ancient Greek music, we should turn to Arab music.
The Pythagorean Tuning
The musical scale, said to be created by Pythagoras, was a diatonic musical scale with
the frequency rate as:
1 9:8 81:64 4:3 3:2 27:16 243:128 2.
This scale is identical to the Chinese cyclic scale of fifths, if we take F as the tonic.
It has 5 major tones (9/8) and 2 semitones, leimma (256/243), in the mi-fa and si-do
interval.
The third, 81/64, is a syntonic comma sharper than the harmonic third, 5/4.
Here is the seven-notes Chinese scale:
C D E+ (F)L+F#1/1 G A+ B+ C'
1/1 9/8 81/64 4/3 (729/512) 3/2 27/16 243/128 2/1
Let us note here that the most striking difference between the system of fifths and
that of harmonic relations to a tonic resides in the perfect fourth, which is an essential
interval in the scale of proportions.
The scale of fifths has an augmented fourth as its sixth fifth, (3/2).
The Pythagorean scale was based on the three prime intervals: the octave, the perfect
5th and the perfect 4th. Everything obeys a secret music of which the Tetractys is
the numerical symbol (Lebaisquais).
By generating 12 perfect fifths in the span of 7 octaves, 12 tones were produced. In
order to place the tones within one octave, the descending perfect 4th (the
subdominant) was used, and a 12-note chromatic scale was made.
He discovered what later was called the Pythagorean comma,
the discrepancy between 12 fifths and 7 octaves gives (3:2)
12
> (2:1)
7.
Calculated
through, it is: 129.74634 : 128 = 1.014. Or in cents: 23.5. Do not mistake Pythagoras'
Comma for the syntonic comma, equal to 22 cents, which is derived from the
difference between the major tone and the minor tone in the Just Diatonic Scale, or
discrepancy between the Pythagorean third and the third in the harmonic series which
is 5:4.
As far back as 2,500 years ago the Pythagorean figured out that it was impossible to
derive a scale in which the intervals could fit precisely into an octave. The ancient
Greeks explained this imperfection the comma as an example of the condition of
mortal humans in an imperfect world.
This fundamental problem with the 3 prime ratios: 2:1, 3:2, 4:3 which can be
formulated in mathematical terms as interrelated prime numbers having
no common divisor except unity has been compromised in a number of different
temperaments of the diatonic scale up to our time.
In ancient Greek music several other modes were used based on the tetrachords with a
span of the perfect fourth. Later, two tetrachords were put together with a full tone in
between so an octave was established. A number of different modes were used in
practical music performance. The different placement of the two half tones made the
different modes.
An account of ancient Greek contributions to musical tuning would not be complete
without mentioning the later Greek scientist Ptolemy (2nd C. A.D.). He proposed an
alternative musical tuning system, which included the interval of the major third based
on that between the 4th and 5th harmonics, 5 / 4. This system of tuning was ignored
during the entire Medieval period and only re-surfaced with the development of
polyphonic harmony.
Gregorian church music
From those ancient Greek modes the Christian Gregorian church derived its music,
though their names were a complete mix-up of the original Greek names for their
modes. What is important in this context is the placement of the two semitones in the
octave. They were placed differently in order to create different modes that produced
a special tonality or mood. The interaction between tones and semitones made each
characteristic mode.
The Gregorian church music from the late Middle Ages developed an amazing beauty
and spirituality. We owe the monks and Hildegard von Bingen - a debt of gratitude
for their part singing to worship the refinement of the soul and Divinity.
A side effect was the healing power in the strong proportion of higher harmonics,
which invigorating effect Alfred Tomatis has described in my page The Power of
Harmonics.
As long as musical practice was mainly monophonic, the number of scales could be
many. When the wish for harmonious polyphonic singing was appearing, the
elimination of scales began because only the scales that were in agreement with the
harmonics could be used.
Polyphonic music
The development in musical practice from monophonic to polyphonic, and after the
Renaissance (the end of 15th century) to harmony, made it necessary to have
especially the third harmonized. The Pythagorean third (81:64) is a syntonic comma
larger than the harmonic third (5:4). The need for harmonizing the third in the part-
songs became imperative as the polyphonic music became predominant.
Just Intonation - a scale of proportion
Since the major triad became the foundation of harmony in Western music, the
Pythagorean scale has largely been discarded in favor of the Just Diatonic Scale, or
the scale of Zarlino (1540-94).
The frequencies of the notes in a root position major triad are given by the fourth, fifth
and sixth harmonics in the harmonic series, i.e. the frequencies should be in the ratio
4: 5: 6. (1-5:4-3:2).
The Major Triad as a generator
If we look at this triad as C, E, and G, the tonic triad, and associate it with its
dominant G, B, D and the tonics sub-dominant F, A, C, each of which has one tone in
common with the triad of the tonic, we obtain the complete series of tones for the
major scale of C:
1 9:8 5:4 4:3 3:2 5:3 15:8 2.
This scale consists of three different intervals: major tone 9/8, minor tone 10/9, and
major half tone 16/15. Therefore, when the tonic is changed, we shall obtain sharps
and flats of different nature in order to keep the frame of the scale, and the very notes
of the original scale will in some cases have to be raised or lowered by one comma
(the difference between the major and the minor tone).
Those who are familiar with Rodney Collin's The Theory of Celestial Influence will
notice that the Just Intonation is the scale he applies to his great work on octaves by
multiplying by 24.
The scale of Zarlino (Just Intonation) is basically a mix of notes generated by fifths,
which allows right transpositions and notes which make correct harmonic intervals; so
in practice, two different systems are used conjointly, which results in awkward
transpositions.
The Mean Tone
In musical practice, especially when playing with key-instruments or the simple
modulation of keys, the Just Intonation causes many difficulties, mainly due to the
fact of the major and minor tones. The two different intervals of a tone in this scale
was for that reason modified during the 17th century into a mean or average of the
major and minor tone. Since these two tones together equal a major third, the mean
tone is equal to half of the major third, or 193 cents.
This temperament is not surprisingly called Mean Tone temperament, or 1:4 comma
mean tone (the fifths are all equal, but have been tempered by 5.5 cents, a quarter of a
syntonic comma) and was the most used temperament in Baroque music.
There were some problems with the enharmonic notes. The two diatonic semitones do
not add up to give a (full) tone. The Mean Tone semitones are 117.5 cents. So if one
wishes to play in more than six major and three minor keys, there is trouble. This is
because en-harmonically equivalent notes will not have the same frequency.
Additionally, this temperament has some real false notes, called wolf notes, due to
the 3.5 cents short fifth, so the circle will fall short of closure by 12 x 3.5 cents = 42
cents.
Equal Temperament
The ultimate compromise appears in Equal Temperament, which is
a circular temperament. The Pythagorean comma (as approximately 24 cents) made
the circle too large. If the 12 perfect fifths 702 cents are equally distributed but
contracted with 2 cents each, the circle of
fifths will be complete into a circle.
In the late 17th and 18th centuries a number
of circular temperaments were employed
making use of this device. It is often said that
J.S. Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues were
written to demonstrate the effectiveness of
Equal Temperament. However, recent
research (Barnes 1979) has shown that he
probably wrote them for a circular
temperament similar to one devised by
Werckmeister (known as Werckmeister III),
where the distribution of fifths was unequal;
some were 6 cents smaller, some were
perfect.
The Equal Temperament as we know it is completely equally distributed, slightly
diminished fifths (700 cents), that at one blow eliminates the question about different
frequencies of the enharmonic notes and modulation limitations.
The octave is equally divided into 12 semitones of 100 cents. The frequency ratio for
each of the semitones is the twelfth root of an octave: (2/1) 1/12 = 1.059463094.../1.
This temperament has two scales, a major and a minor. The difference lies in the
third, sixth and seventh, which are a half tone lower in the minor scale. Note that the
same intervals are present in the minor scale as in the major scale, although the order
is different.
We will not deal with the harmonic minor scale or the melodic minor scale.
Let us make a comparison in cents of the above mentioned scales with the Just
Diatonic Scale (Just Intonation) as base:
Scale C D E F G A B C'
Just Diatonic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pythagorean 0 0 +22 0 0 +22 +22 0
Mean Tone 0 -11 0 +5.5 -5.5 +5.5 -5.5 0
Equal Temperament 0 -4 +14 +2 -2 +16 +12 0

In the western culture Equal Temperament is now so established and its tonality so
tuned in our ears, that it sounds just right, though the third and the sixth ought to give
problems because they are pretty much sharper than the much purer and expressive
Just Intonation.
The artificial Equal Temperament
The great German scientist from the 19th Century, Hermann von Helmholtz, who was
also a capable musician, made a strong stand for the Just Intonation scale. He claimed
in his On the Sensations of Tone that... continual bold modulational leaps threaten
entirely to destroy the feeling for tonality. Further he states: The music based on the
tempered scale must be considered as an imperfect music... If we suppose it or even
find it beautiful, it means that our ear has been systematically spoiled since
childhood.
Professor Helmholtz brought many examples of beautiful use of Just Intonation in
singing by use of the English system Tonic Sol Fa-ists, which overcame the
difficulties of modulation by using a different musical notation system. Strings and
wind instruments could also perform this; so can modern keyboards.
The discussions about Equal Temperament versus Just Intonation have continued up
to present time. Daniel White has on his web page Tuning & Music Scales
Theory made an in-depth analysis of this matter, concluding that ET sounds sweeter
than JT.
Compared with the other scales we have gone over, the Equal Temperament has no
definite relations between the sounds since it has lost its relationship with simple
ratios. The more complicated the ratios are, the more dissonant are the chords. We
have been used to the muddy sounds, but people in the East who are trained in modal
memory and clear harmonic relations cannot conceive the meaning of Western music.
The Equal Temperament has, in spite of its obvious weakness, made it possible for
great composers to create beautiful music with extraordinary numbers of new chords
and modulations.
In the twentieth Century the tendency to move away from simple ratios between notes
to sound ratios even far away from Equal Temperament became manifest in atonal
music.
Modern Dodecaphonic music
In modern times a number of atonal scales has been developed to serve the new
dodecaphonic music (Schnberg, Berg, Webern), where the classical notion of
harmony and rhythm is dissolved. Basically, the ancient diatonic scale with its five
whole tones and two semitones has been replaced with a pure chromatic scale, which
is a main factor in the change from melodic tonal music to atonal dodecaphonic
music.
Though I am very fond of non-figurative art, the modern atonal music is still difficult
for me to enjoy spontaneously. Educated people assure me of the new beauty in
contemporary music, which I can hear with my head, but not with my heart.
I have, however, observed a certain indifference in the mainstream of classical music,
and find myself attracted to the early European music and folk (World) music.
My main objection to the atonal dodecaphonic music lies in its detachment from the
physical world. The scale belongs to the invisible realm because it is created by ratios
far away from the small numbers, which are related to the perceptible world and basic
emotions.
In the ancient musical systems we have seen how closely the musical scale had to be
related to the perceptible world represented mainly as small numbered ratios (low
number of generating fifths in the cyclic system or simple harmonic ratios in the
modal system).
Cyclic and modal numbers
In this world of five elements in which we live, no prime number higher than five can
enter into a system of sounds representing melodic or harmonic relations. The Chinese
system of cyclic fifths even refuses to get beyond this number five; all its intervals are
expressed in terms of powers of two or three. The number for cyclic systems is three.
Some modern theorists are using the terms 3 limit scaleand 5 limit scale.
The introduction of the factor of five brings us to the harmonic modal scale, of which
the characteristic intervals are the harmonic major sixth, 5/3, the harmonic major
third, 5/4, the minor third, 6/5, the major half tone, 16/15 (24 /3*5), the minor half
tone, 25/24, (52 /3*23 ) the syntonic comma, 81/80, (34 / 24 * 5), and so forth.
Compared with the Equal Temperament, the tempered half tone is something like
1,059,463,094 / 1,000,000,000 against the major harmonic half tone 16/15.
The number five humanizes the music. It makes the music an instrument of
expression of tangible reality. The introductions of higher prime numbers, such as
seven, would take us beyond this reality into regions that are not within the scope of
our normal perceptions and understanding.
Seven is considered the number of heavenly as well as infernal regions. We have
actually no means of knowing to which side it may lead us!
In my opinion you can only touch humans deeply if you play harmonious or tonal
music, because these tones belong to the real world and the man who walks the Earth.
The scale has to be more or less in accordance with the lower harmonics in the series.
The way we hear and analyze sound is actually much the same as the standing wave
in a string. The basilar membrane in the inner ear behaves like a string, and the
software in the brain is designed to look for the harmonic series. It is the most
agreeable - and most basic. What it all comes down to is that the only measure for all
phenomena is the human.
Reference tone
Before a concert begins, a reference tone, the concert pitch, is played so the
instruments can tune their middle a'. In modern times the pitch was set to 440 Hz. by
the second International Standard Pitch Conference in London 1938. It is a high pitch
compared to the older concert pitch of 435 Hz., which was introduced by the French
government in 1859 in cooperation with musicians such as Hector Berlioz, Meyerbeer
and Rossini.
The concert pitch has varied in earlier times, depending on country and time. In the
book On the Sensation of Tone by Helmholtz, a record of concert pitch in Europe
covers many pages. The characteristic for Western music is that concert pitch
is arbitrary. It has no relation to forces above man. There is no reference to earthly or
celestial influx, but only to an artificial standard.
For the old Chinese the tuning of their fundamental tone, Kung, was a matter of
utmost importance for their civilization; it had to be in alignment with the Cosmic
tone so the celestial influence could be channeled into society by music.
We earlier mentioned Cousto's calculations (in his book The Cosmic Octave). He
relates the Kung to the frequency of the Platonic Year. The note of the Platonic year is
found to be F in Western Equal Temperament pitch, which is in the 48th octave with a
frequency of 344.12 Hz.
The Indians method had the character of meditation, since the musician not only has
to tune his instrument to the keynote in the prelude, he also attunes himself to it, and
gives the audience the opportunity to do so too. This long introduction is essential
since the musicians have to tune in to the sadja, the everlasting, never-ceasing tone.
According to Indian tradition it stands for primordial vibration, which is called nada
and expresses the universal OM.
The OM sound, according to Cousto, corresponds approximately to the C sharp in the
small octave of the present day tuning system (136 Hz), and to the 32nd octave tone
of the Earth year. It means that in lowering 136 Hz tone by 32 octaves, the resulting
frequency will be as slow as the amount of time it takes the Earth to circle the sun.
It is interesting to note that the Indians arrived at this tone, which we can calculate
mathematically, simply through intuition and meditation.
(The calculation is: A day consists of 86,400 seconds. A tropical year has 365,242
days = 31,556,925,9747 seconds. The reciprocal value multiplied by 232 = 136,10221
Hz.)
Concert pitch in western music, which is 440 Hz for the middle A, ought to be 435,92
Hz based on the note corresponding to the average solar day, according to Cousto.

It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing
Those who are familiar with the jazz (swing) musician, Duke Ellington, will hear
Ella Fitzgerald sing this song. The reason I will end on that note is to make clear that
music is more than scales and right tuning. Music contains of four major elements:
Melody, Rhythm, Harmony and Interpretation or Intention.
Having this in mind I will continue with The Sound of Silence, where I will extend
the law of octaves into realms other than scales and tuning by an elaboration on the
metaphysical properties of sound and music.
Thomas Vczy Hightower 2002-9.
Send me a comment: mail@vaczy.dk
Index page
References and literature.

http://vaczy.dk/htm/scales2.htm
http://vaczy.dk/htm/scales.htm