Natural Septime
The natural septime stands for the frequency ratio 7: 4 in harmony, corresponding to 968.8 cents . It is the interval between the 4th and 7th tone of the natural tone series . The musical meaning and usability of this interval is essentially limited to
- certain wind instruments , e.g. B. the natural horn
- Organ register
- Jazz singing
- Music that explicitly uses pure moods with an additional natural seventh, for example the “well tuned piano” by Lamonte Young
- Blues , especially in the first half of the 20th century
Outside the musical context, the natural seventh is perceived as weakly consonant .
In harmony with purely intoned intervals, which result as a combination of simple multiples of 2, 3 and 5, natural septimals within pieces that can roughly be assigned to European art music would, in the opinion of some, appear incorrectly intonated (see audio sample). Others, including the music theorist Martin Vogel , believe that the natural septime also has its place in European art music and that its correct use would help avoid intonation problems that would otherwise be insoluble.
The natural seventh deviates from the diatonic minor seventh (combination of two pure fourths, vibration ratio 16: 9) by 27.3 cents downwards. This deviation is sometimes referred to as the Leipzig comma . Compared to the musically widespread equal mood , the deviation is 31.2 cents.
Paul Hindemith uses the following series of overtones as an example to explain the natural sevenths: It begins with C (64 vibrations), then the c (128 vibrations, one octave higher), the g (192 vibrations, one fifth higher), the c ' (256 vibrations, a fourth higher), the e '(320 vibrations, a major third higher), the g' (384 vibrations, a minor third higher) and finally the b '(448 vibrations, an even minor third higher). The first interval has a string length ratio of 1: 2 (octave), the second a ratio of 2: 3 (fifth), the third 3: 4 (fourth), the fourth 4: 5 (major third), the fifth 5: 6 (minor third) and the last interval a string length ratio of 6: 7 ("minor third"). Multiplying all ratios gives the following result: (2: 1) * (3: 2) * (4: 3) * (5: 4) * (6: 5) * (7: 6) = (7: 1). In order to get the 4 in the denominator, two octaves are subtracted from it: (7: 1): [(2: 1) * (2: 1)] = (7: 1) * [(1: 2) * (1 : 2)] = (7: 1) * (1: 4) = (7: 4).
literature
- Martin Vogel : The Natural Septime. Its history and its application (= Orpheus series of publications on fundamental questions in music 61). Publishing house for systematic musicology, Bonn, ISBN 3-922626-61-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paul Hindemith: Instruction in composition, page 55
See also
Audio samples
Web links
- The natural seventh in the dominant seventh chord
- The natural septime in comparison with other pure intervals, interactive