PITCH, MUSICA FICTA AND TUNING SYSTEMS

For the majority of pieces that you will hear on this album we have found the
printed pitch to work well for our vocal ranges. The ideal scoring for many
pieces would be three or four voices of equal range transposed down no more
than a tone. The international pitch standard of A = 440 cycles per second is
just that: a 20th century attempt to arrive at a consensus. Before this consen-
sus was reached there were many pitch standards around Europe and even
within any one city such as London in the late 17th century there were as
many as three pitches: church, court and theatre each had their own. The
range between them was nearly a minor third. Moreover a group of singers
always has the freedom to choose a pitch that works for them for a particular
piece: for all medieval, Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire the score is
a blueprint from which to work both in terms of pitch and tempo. The Hilliard
Ensemble exercises this freedom as a matter of course. Common sense is
essential so as not to affect the character of the piece: transposing down a
little adds warmth to the texture but more than a little will lead to muddiness.

MUSICA FICTA

The notation of music until the 17th century was predominantly “white” in
that accidentals (sharps and flats) were only introduced to avoid melodic and
harmonic tritones. The commonest tritone B to F invariably demanded the
flattening of the B to Bb. The first key signatures, usually one flat (Bb), did not
necessarily apply to all the voice parts. Modern editions often disguise a
“white” key as the editor has transposed the music to fit vocal ranges at
modern pitch. We regard augmented sixth chords as appropriate in this album,
for example G-B b-E rather than G-B b-E b or G-B-E cadencing on F-C-F. The
classic “double leading note” cadential figure G-B-E cadencing to F-C-F does
not seem appropriate in Pérotin since it has strong associations with Pythago-
rean tuning and Pérotin just does not work in Pythagorean tuning.

TUNING

What of tuning systems? The mere mention of the subject of tuning systems
can be a stimulant, a fright, or a turn-off according to your personal tempera-
ment or inclination whether you are a performer or a listener. I will do my best
to give you a very gentle introduction to a very practical subject.

Western music is based upon the division of the universal fundamental musical
interval, the octave, into seven intervals consisting of five tones, and two
semitones. Sub-division of tones into semitones is integral to our systems but
for simplicity I confine my discourse to the white notes of the keyboard, using
the familiar octave between C and C.

The character of a pitched note is determined by the spectrum of harmonics

(overtones) heard in association with the fundamental pitch of the note. The
relative strengths of the constituent pitches of the Harmonic (Overtone) Series
allow the ear to identify the sound from the memory of our individual experi-
ence of voice and instruments. The rate of vibration of each constituent mem-
ber of the Series is an exact multiple of the vibration rate of the fundamental
pitch.

The basis of good intonation is that the constituent notes of chords match the
tuning of constituent pitches of the Harmonic Series. I will now introduce a
simple notation to define these pitches. We call the fundamental pitch “1”.
This is the note on the musical page. If it is an “A” such as A on the treble clef
the sound source is vibrating 440 times a second. The first harmonic is the
octave above and we actually call it “2” because it is a vibration of 440 x 2 =
880 cycles a second. The next harmonic is “3” at 440 x 3 = 1320 c.p.s. Its
pitch is an octave and a fifth (twelfth) above the note on the page. Every
harmonic beyond is an exact multiple of the fundamental 440. The ear identi-
fies these pitches from the pattern of vibrations that reaches it. To summarise
the harmonics that are involved in tuning Western harmony, here is the Series
up to the sixteenth harmonic:

1 (the fundamental pitch): 2 (an octave above 1): 3 (a perfect fifth above 2): 4
(a perfect fourth above 3 and 2 octaves above 1): 5 (a pure, Just major third
above 4): 6 (a pure, Just minor third above 5 and an octave above 3): 7 (the
small “septimal” minor third above 6 which is the top note of a modern domi-
nant seventh chord): 8 (3 octaves above 1): 9 (a whole, Pythagorean, Just,
“major tone” above 8): 10 (an octave above 5 and the small, Just, “minor
tone” above 9): 11 (a strange unworldly pitch used by Benjamin Britten in the
horn solo of his Serenade): 12 (an octave above 6): 13 (not recognisable in any
Western music): 14 (an octave above 7): 15 (a Just major third above 12 and
the pure leading note to 16): 16 (4 octaves above 1).

Most writings describe the ratio of an interval as the upper note’s relationship
to the lower note. Thus 2:1 is an octave, 3:2 is a perfect fifth, and so on.
Here is a condensed version of the series with the commonest intervals, those
that we use all the time, underlined:
2:1 3:2 4:3 5:4 6:5 7:6 8:7 9:8 10:9 (11:10 12:11 13:12 14:13 15:14)
16:15 and so on up to 25:24.

7:6 and 8:7 are used melodically and harmonically in Baroque and Romantic
repertoire but cause tuning problems in earlier repertoire. 25:24 is the chro-
matic semitone: the interval that distinguishes a Just major from a Just minor
third (for example E down to Eb in Just tuning). “Just” and “pure” are synony-
mous terms so I will now avoid using them together.

The ear hears a chord as in tune if the constituent notes are in the simplest
ratio of small whole numbers. Thus a close-position major triad such as C-E-
G is composed of three notes whose fundamental pitches are vibrating in the
ratio 4:5:6 - three consecutive notes of the Harmonic Series. This triad sounded
on an instrument tuned to modern Equal Temperament has a ratio of 4: 5.04:
5.99. Any trained musician hears the roughness of this tempered chord if
given the chance to compare it with the Just-tuned version. Even an untrained
ear can spot the difference.

The division of the octave into five equal tones and two equal semitones
derives from the teachings of Pythagoras. The Pythagorean division or tuning
of the scale dictates five Just Major Tones (major seconds) with the ratio 9:8
and two impure semitones (minor seconds) which are not tuneable, ratio
256:243. This scale throws up a big problem for performers in that the major
third (Pythagorean “ditone”) is not tuneable, for example: ascending the scale
through two pure 9:8 tones from C gives us an E that is wildly sharp. It has a
ratio 81:64 but that ratio is too complex for the ear. Modern string players
learn spatially the position of the finger on the fingerboard to achieve consist-
ent tempered (but not Pythagorean) thirds in order to achieve a consensus
tuning with other instruments in an orchestral environment, but a singer, with-
out the support of instruments, will always tend towards a Just third, ratio
5:4. A significant feature of “period” orchestral sound is that players have
retrained their ears to play in a temperament that is much closer to Just tuning
than that used in Romantic and modern repertoire. Consequently, singing
Baroque arias with a period orchestra is a more comfortable experience!

Medieval and early Renaissance composition exploited vertical (harmonic) in-

tervals of octaves, fifths and fourths. The Pythagorean philosophy was so
pervasive until the fifteenth century that most surviving compositions avoid
the major third as a harmonic interval since it was by definition a dissonance
and untuneable. There was a profound revolution during the Renaissance in
that composers started to recognise the sensuous possibilities of the third as
it must have been clear from performance that there was a sweeter tuning.
Singers then as now knew precisely how to tune the third in spite of the efforts
of musicians such as Marchetto of Padua to train his singers to produce un-
natural, Pythagorean pitches. The secret lies in the Syntonic Comma, the tiny
interval, approximately a quarter of a modern Equal Temperament semitone,
with a ratio of 81:80. To tie in with the Harmonic Series again: this Comma
is the interval between the 80th and the 81st Harmonic. To keep a practical
perspective the smallest melodic interval that most Western ears can cope
with is the chromatic semitone (25:24). The Pythagorean major third be-
comes the Just third if it is narrowed by a Syntonic Comma. It follows that
the Just minor third is a Comma wider than the Pythagorean minor third. It
also follows that the untuneable Pythagorean minor second (256:243) be-
comes the tuneable Just minor second (16:15) if it is widened by a Comma.
The Syntonic Comma may be regarded as the fundamental particle among the
atoms of larger intervals that can achieve the alchemy of converting Pythago-
rean dissonances into Renaissance consonances.

KEYBOARD TUNING AND BLACKWOOOD’S NOTATION

It has been deduced from surviving early keyboard repertoire that the erosion of
the Pythagorean scale went through intermediate stages before the develop-
ment of Mean Tone intonation in the mid-fifteenth century. We can only specu-
late about trends in vocal intonation.

To explain the changes and to illustrate the movement away from Pythagoras
I now introduce a notation which I encountered in the writings of Professor
Easley Blackwood of Chicago University. The Pythagorean scale of C is notated
as follows: Co Do Eo Fo Go Ao (Bbo) Bo Co

The o subscript indicates that each note is in its Pythagorean “slot”, which is
to say all major seconds, fourths and fifths are both Pythagorean and Just
(ratios 9:8 4:3 & 3:2), whereas the minor seconds, thirds, sixths and sev-
enths are dissonant. The earliest keyed instruments (organs) were tuned to
the Pythagorean scale with Bbo as the first black note on the keyboard.

For simplicity I will now restrict discussion to the white notes of the scale
although there is evidence for fully chromatic keyboards by the early 14th
century.

The first modification was the lowering of E and B by a Syntonic Comma to

introduce Just triads on C and G, Just minor seconds: E-F and B-C, and a
handful of Just sixths and sevenths. I am indebted to the scholar and harpist
Andrew Lawrence-King for this evidence: Co Do E-1 Fo Go Ao B-1 Co . The -1
subscript indicates a flattening by a Syntonic Comma.

It has so far eluded scholars as to how this revolution was led but I believe that
the school of English composers best represented by Dunstable, Bedyngham
and Frye realised that singers could sing sweet thirds and instruments in fixed
tuning, such as the organ needed to adapt their tuning to allow acceptable
transcription of vocal pieces. Was tuning an essential element of “The English
Countenance”? There is now a consensus that triadic harmony was indeed an
element. The major third became a new consonance along with the octave,
fifth, fourth and major second. One only needs to examine the harmonic
idioms of Machaut and Dufay to spot the influence of the English school upon
Dufay. It seems that in terms of keyboard tuning the urge to achieve Just
thirds was so strong that musicians were prepared to see the erosion of the
purity of other intervals in order to achieve this end. They realised that since
black notes needed to be tied into the system, Just-tuning the scale of C was
not an option. For reference the Just scale flattens Ao to A-1 with E and B
similarly lowered as above. BUT this introduces the sour “Wolf” fifth Do A-1.

To complete the picture the Mean Tone scale introduces the concept of tem-
perament in which many notes have to be tempered, that is, artificially sharp-
ened or flattened in order to maintain pure octaves and achieve no less than
eight pure major thirds. In spite of the impurities this system held sway from
the late fifteenth through to the late seventeenth centuries. The division of the
Just major third into two equal narrow tones (the mean between a major and
a minor tone) produced a scale in which the thirds above C, D, E, F, G and A
and the thirds below D and G were Just. The method of tuning was to temper
the fifths so that they were a quarter of a Comma narrower than Just. Some
makers of keyboards even went to to the length of providing split black notes,
with the corresponding extra strings or pipes, to allow one or two more pure
thirds (particularly G#/Ab). Only towards the end of the seventeenth century did
new temperaments emerge which endeavoured to redress the compromises.
A powerful argument for the evolution of new temperaments was the evolution
of harmony which demanded notes such as D# and Ab, and later on Db, Gb and
A# . G# to C is not a third! The white notes of the Mean Tone scale are as
follows: Co D-½ E-1 F+¼ G-¼ A-¾ B-1¼ Co where the fractions are fractions of a
Syntonic Comma which are traditionally tuned by counting “beats” or more
easily nowadays by the use of electronic tuning machines.

For a singer working with instruments in fixed tuning the problem interval is
the wide fourth C to F+¼. Apart from this problem singers are more comfort-
able with Mean Tone tuning in 16th and 17th century repertoire than with more
recent temperaments. Although it may seem a digression to speak of Lassus
(look at his Prophetae Sybillarum), a knowledge of Mean Tone tuning, specifi-
cally the wide fourth, is desirable to maintain pitch through the course of an
extended piece. It is often the clue to pitch stability in much earlier repertoire.
The Baroque and post-Baroque tuning of the dominant seventh is incompatible
with both the Pythagorean and the Mean Tone version. In a C major context the
note F has at least three possible Just tunings. A note with such an ambiguity
has to be very carefully handled as a chance misplacement in pitching will
lead to a loss of pitch (flattening). If there is a problem in sustaining pitch I
encourage colleagues to “think high” on the local sub-dominant (the fourth
above the keynote or local tonic, or Fa above Ut in the Hexachord). If the
tuning of the fourth is a sensitive issue then the tuning of the supertonic is
likewise. It is always better to aim for a Just major second, 9:8. The Mean
Tone second is NOT an interval for singers to aim at! (It is half a Comma
smaller than Just).

It is time to return to Pérotin. The music of this period is adventurous, almost

improvised minimalism and it appears to break the Pythagorean mould.
“Viderunt” and “Sederunt” are full of implied modern key centres so that
although vertical triads are mainly fleeting passing harmonies melodic interac-
tion between the parts creates very strong major and minor tonalities which
are not encountered again until the Dunstable school. It is this major/minor
tonality that makes our (Hilliard Ensemble) tuning tend towards a system that
mixes Pythagorean and Just intonation. Many musicologists, not being sing-
ers, would try to promote Pythagorean intonation in this repertoire. In perform-
ance however this is totally impractical and even if it were achievable it would
sound unhappy. My analysis of what goes on is that according to context we
employ all of the following pitches in order to satisfy the ear in achieving
smooth tuning:

Fo(always), G-1(in “D minor” sections), Go(usually), A-1(always), Bbo(usually),

Bb+1(maybe), B-1(when no B flats around), Co(always), D-1(in a D minor triad),
Do (in a Go minor triad, with luck!), Ebo (yes: just once in “Sederunt”), and E-
1
(always).
We take our F from an A tuning fork pitched at 440 cps. In these Pérotin
Organa our A is A-1 (a Just third above F) this makes our Fo distinctly higher
than F on the piano and even higher than a Pythagorean F below A. Some
listeners may have the perception that we are operating at a higher pitch
standard, corresponding to an A of 443.5 cps, since our F is 352 and not the
349.2 that a piano would give us, were we to take such a note as our starting
pitch. We prefer to follow the late-twentieth century trend in relating all tuning
temperaments to a standard A. Many musicians carry C tuning forks pitched
an Equal Temperament third above A 440, at 523.3cps. This pitch for C is not
helpful in performing early repertoire, since a Just minor third above A is a C of
528 cps.

Note the pure triads: Fo A-1 Co , A-1 Co E-1 , Co E-1 Go and D-1 Fo A-1. The triad G-
Bb-D has three possible tunings: the dull Pythagorean minor third between Go
and Bbo does not offend the ear so that Go Bbo Do works. The ear seems to
discount the dissonant upper third (Bb-D). The danger here is failing to feel the
D above Go as Do and not the D-1 that forms the D-1 Fo A-1 triad. A possible pure
tuning would be –G-1 Bbo D-1. However this is more dangerous because the
descent from D-1 to Co and from G-1 to Fo (both small minor tones) is easily
overshot with a resultant destabilising of the F tonality. The clean 9:8 whole
tone between Fo and Go is essential to the tonality and it is dangerous to allow
two versions of the local supertonic of the clear F major feel of both “Viderunt”
and the second section (from “Adiuva”) of “Sederunt”. The third possibility
and perhaps the best tuning is Go Bb+1 Do. This is a pure tuning and a bright Bb+1
prevents the Go and the Do from slipping. This problem is precisely the one
encountered in the Pes of “Sumer is icumen in”, where the fifth Fo Co alter-
nates with the minor third Go Bb+1.

Many musicologists would sniff in disdain at the reference to F major/D minor

but I make no apology for this as it is what our modern ears hear. For us to
achieve the quality of tuning that satisfies us, we take on board the principles
of Pythagorean but tend towards Just tuning. The instinct of a small vocal
ensemble is a tendency towards Just intonation at all times and it is essential
to a pleasing sound. However, all the pieces on this album require a mix of the
two systems. In performance only one piece, “Veni creator”, demands pre-
dominantly Pythagorean tuning. Despite the analysis that I have thrown at
you, tuning is a question of “feel” and the right solution generally emerges as
we become more familiar with the piece.

If I have not yet lost you then I hope that this tract will provide a basis for
future notes about the tuning of what is to come in our Hilliard Live project.

Rogers Covey-Crump
TUNING OCKEGHEM

In order to develop my thoughts on tuning I have now to assume that you have
absorbed or that you will soon absorb the essentials of my essay which ac-
companied hilliard LIVE 1. Singers left to their best instincts will tend towards
Just (synonymous with Pure) tuning particularly in a solo voice ensemble like
The Hilliard Ensemble, since the relationship between the pitches sung simul-
taneously by two or more voices will only feel and sound comfortable when
the tuning between them is Just, as opposed to tempered. Tempering is only
possible for instruments in fixed tuning, of which organs, harpsichords and
pianos are the most obvious examples. An ensemble of voices working with
a tempered instrument will never more than approximate their tuning to that of
the keyboard. At best they will agree upon the root of the chord or the tonic of
the ambient key centre, be it a modern major or minor or a medieval mode. An
experienced vocal group will produce a convincing result by virtue of their
internal tuning as the contrast in timbre between instrument and voices will
generally disguise discrepancies.

By the death of Ockeghem in 1497 the best documented tuning system in

Europe was the fully chromatic keyboard system of Mean Tone. This system
had largely but probably not wholly superceded the older Pythagorean system.
The 15th century saw the increasing enrichment of harmony by thirds and
sixths used as consonances and this change was clearly concomitant with the
plain fact that the prime employment and work environment of a composer
was as a singer or as a director of singers. The philosophy of Boethius (deriv-
ing from Pythagoras) was in the heads of composers but compositional style
was becoming free of the old constraint of regarding the major third as a
dissonance: harmony that excluded thirds and sixths as consonances.

The Mean Tone ideal made the purity of the major third its central tenet: it is
arguable that singers are more interested in tuning thirds than fifths since the
beats of an out-of-tune third are more obvious! Mean Tone has to reduce the
perfect fifth by a quarter of a Syntonic Coma. I remind you that the comma is
a tiny interval of 21.5 cents - around one quarter of an Equal Temperament
semitone - and defined by the interval ratio 81:80. One quarter of a comma is
5.4 cents. Reducing each fifth by 5.4 cents gives us the eight Just major
thirds that are the raison d’être of the system. For comparison the fifth in Equal
Temperament is narrow by one twelfth of a Pythagorean Comma or 1.96
cents. If the major third is Just then the minor third is a quarter of a comma
narrow. I remind you that Mean Tone as a fixed tuning comes closest to
accommodating the best instincts of singers with the important exception of
the perfect fourth which is a quarter of a comma wider than Just and in the
context of a melodic fourth above the tonic of a major key is perceived as
distinctly sharp. The ear does not readily identify the fifth as narrow but sing-
ers can make the adjustments necessary to produce Just fifths and fourths as
well as thirds.

You may now be curious as to how Mean Tone tuning deviates from Pythago-
rean tuning. As outlined in my hilliard LIVE 1 essay I have adopted the notation
employed by Easley Blackwood in “The Structure of Recognizable Diatonic
Tunings” (Princeton University Press). It centres around the third F0-A-1 for
reasons that will be clear soon:
C-¼ C# -2 D-¾ Eb+½ E-1¼ F0 F#-1¾G-½ G#-2¼ A-1 Bb+¼ B-1½

So, back to an attempt to define the systems that may define Just tuning in
a cappella singing. Here is the Just white-note scale starting on C, as com-
monly given in textbooks:
C0 D0 E-1 F0 G0 A-1 B-1 (note that D0-A-1 is unacceptable).

The harpist, Andrew Lawrence-King, has given A0 as preferable to A-1 in tuning

a medieval harp. D-1 is an important variant to D0 as we shall see. If we keep
F (and C) fixed then the Dorian mode comes out as follows:
(C0) D-1 E-1 F0G-1 A-1 B-1 C0 and the modern relative minor to C major, A minor, is
pitched as follows: A-1 B-1 C0 D-1 E-1 F0 (F#-2 or F#-1) G0 (G#-2).

If D-1 needs to shift back to D0, A-1 to A0 or G-1 to G0, then awareness of these
inflections is crucial in maintaining pitch through the course of a transposition.
Experienced singers cope with such a problem unconsciously as the instinct to
maintain pitch is strong given one or two singers in a group who possess
something close to Perfect (Absolute) Pitch!

You may wonder at my reasoning for “fixing” F. It is tied up with the central
cornerstone of the Just third F0-A-1 which I see as fundamental to Just tuning
in Renaissance music, and which seems to be a vital element of Hilliard tun-
ing. Most musicians nowadays, ourselves included, take A=440 Hz/cps as a
pitch standard, so for the sake of this discussion A-1 is A 440. Were we to
take A0 as A 440 then C and G would stand in the wrong relationship to F (they
would each be a comma sharp: F+1 and G+1 ). We Hilliards generally relate to
A 440 as a standard tuning fork C 523.3 is an Equal Temperament minor third
away from A 440. The distinction between a Just C at 528 Hz and an Equal
Temperament C at 523.3 Hz is discernible.

In the context of “white-note” music, i.e. when there is no accidental in the

key signature, passing accidentals or ficta notes will be tuned as F#-1 above D0
or F#-2 above D-1 and Bb+1 above G0 or Bb0 above G-1.

If you are wondering about wholesale transposition by a tone or a third in order

to better accommodate our vocal ranges then the relationship between the
notes of the scale in the new key remains exactly as outlined.

This discussion can be no more than a speculative analysis of the processes

involved in tuning Renaissance vocal music and I will conclude this chapter by
highlighting two common dilemmas of tuning:

The minor triad D-F-A has three distinct pitchings.

(1) is the unsatisfactory Pythagorean D0-F0-A0. (2) is the Just D0-F+1-A0
and (3) is its transposed version D-1-F0-A-1. (2) and (3) will sound identical in
themselves but (3) is a comma lower in pitch. Unwary singers descending
from (3) to a C major tonality (C0-E-1-G0) can easily end up with a C tonality
that is flat. Mean Tone effectively evens out this dilemma by tuning F as F+¼
and D as D-½.

The note F in the context of C as a key centre has three distinct tuning slots.
The highest in pitch is F+1 above D0. A comma flatter is F0 a perfect Just fourth
above C0 and a Just minor third above D-1. The dangerous F is that which
makes, in modern parlance, a dominant seventh above G0. This F is a Septimal
Comma flatter than F0 so that a melodic descent from this F to E-1, very
common in Baroque or later music, has to be a small interval step in order to
arrive back at a C0 (and not a C-1!) via D0 or D-1. The Septimal Comma flattens
a Pythagorean F0 by 27.3 cents so that a dominant seventh, a “septimal” F,
above a G is defined as the interval between the fourth and the seventh har-
monics of the harmonic series generated by a G0 or, if you prefer, the twelfth
and the twenty-first harmonic of a C0. I make no apology for mentioning later
repertoire since it is impossible for our 20th century ears not to feel implied
dominant seventh harmony even in 15th century repertoire. 15th century sing-
ers could not have been unaware of the tuning that we now call dominant
seventh harmony although theorists would not have acknowledged its exist-
ence. How else could such a harmony have arrived a century later?

If this essay seems to make fleeting reference to the actual repertoire on this
album then it is the limitation of space. I would need to devote a chapter of a
book to each composition to provide an adequate tuning analysis. Also there is
no singer on the planet who could claim to tune every note according to the
principles that I have presented—only the fixed pitches of a keyboard instru-
ment come anywhere near adherence to a given system.

Music would die without the expressive possibilities of Just tuning or the
excitement of tuning deviations that are the result of adrenalin coursing through
performers’ veins!

Rogers Covey-Crump
TUNING BRUMEL

The essays which accompanied hilliard LIVE 1 and 2 gave a general outline of
the subject of tuning and attempted to describe the way in which Just or Pure
tuning deviates from the Pythagorean origins of Western Art music. In order to
understand this third instalment I urge you to return to them to refresh your
memory about the fundamental particle in tuning: the Syntonic Comma.

The Syntonic Comma is that vital ingredient of good tuning which is the gap
between perfect, sweet tuning and sour out-of-tuneness.

You will recall that the Just major third is a comma narrower than the Pythagorean
third (Ditone) and in consequence the Just minor third that a capella singers tend
towards, in tuning a triad, is a comma wider than Pythagorean. The Just diatonic
semitone (Minor Second) is a comma wider than the Pythagorean minor second
(technically called the Limma) and the Chromatic semitone is a whole two commas
narrower than the Pythagorean chromatic semitone (Apotome). I have not de-
fined the latter interval in this way before. It is sufficient to remember that the
chromatic semitone is much smaller than the diatonic. The concept of two
sizes of semitone is crucial to the tuning of a chromatic scale.

Before proceeding to discuss Brumel and Italian Laude perhaps I should remind
you of Professor Blackwood’s tuning notation. He defines a simple Pythagorean
scale C-C thus: C0D0E0F0G0A0B0C0

In this scale all perfect fifths, fourths and major seconds are both Pythagorean and
Just by definition. The ratios of these intervals are respectively 3:2, 4:3 and 9:8.
These figures coincide with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th and 9th members of the Har-
monic Series, where 1 is the fundamental frequency of vibration. All other inter-
vals are impure to our ears but only fractionally more so than in the modern Equal
Temperament of pianos, most church organs and electric keyboards.

Blackwood introduces the suffix -1 to signify the flattening of a note by one Syn-
tonic Comma (and +1 for sharpening). The Just tuning of C major is notated thus:
C0D0E-1F0G0A-1B-1C0

By definition major triads on C, F and G, and minor triads on E and A are Just (with
pure thirds), The minor seconds E-F and B-C are wide and Just.

An examination of the tuning of the Dorian mode shows that two notes in this
simple white-note scale require retuning. The first is the flattening of D0 to
D-1 the final or key note of the mode. F0 and A-1 are then respectively a pure minor
third and perfect fifth above it. The second retuning is G0 to G-1 to make a perfect
fourth above D-1and a pure triad G-1 Bb0 D-1. The first structural accidental to
appear historically is Bb0. Modulation usually and subconsciously involves comma
shifts of this order.
Brumel’s Missa Victimae paschali is printed in one flat in the Dorian mode
centred on G-1. The scale towards which an a capella performance will tend
approximates to: (F0) G-1 A-1 Bb0 C-1 D-1 (Eb0) E-1 F0

Occasionally G0 or C0 will be required but this basic scale is a good fit. If you
chance to check our pitch standard you will find that this performance is trans-
posed down a tone, giving a key signature of three flats.

If you are a musicologist, and versed in medieval musical theory, and have strayed
into this essay then you should note that l take a wholly pragmatic view of trying
to describe what actually happens in performances of both Medieval and Renais-
sance music. Pythagorean tuning had become an historical anachronism by the
time of Brumel. Consonant thirds saturate musical textures by his time. Indeed it is
debatable whether a capella voices ever consistently aimed for or achieved Py-
thagorean tuning except in monody and very limited corners of 14th century Con-
tinental repertory. The early 14th century Marchetto of Padua, aside from his
remarkable theoretical ideas on tuning, encouraged his singers to sing high leading
notes, as dictated by the Pythagorean scale. Marchetto’s taste is understandable
since organs were then tuned in Pythagorean tuning. Correspondingly, in our
time, choral directors trained as organists usually encourage wide thirds and
high leading notes because that is the sound of an organ in Equal Tempera-
ment. Choirs working with organs must generally try to tune with the organ
and the major third is the most sensitive interval in this context. Be that as it
may, one of the great achievements of the early music revival of the past
twenty years has been the rediscovery by singers and instrumentalists of real,
whole grain Just tuning. The reinstatement of Mean Tone, the dominant key-
board tuning from the mid 15th until the late 17th centuries complements this
trend and has indeed become a binding force in mixing players and singers in
consort. Mean Tone has the essential qualities of good thirds and two distinct
sizes of semitone, so coming closer to musicians’ instincts.

Tuning monody
Medieval plainchant seems to demand a Pythagorean approach for a number of
technical reasons. Its simplicity is that there are only two small intervals: the
whole, pure tone (9:8) and the very small minor second. It works well for music
with a minor mode feel but in later monody with its increasingly major mode feel
and implied modern key centres a more Just approach with two sizes of whole
tone becomes desirable. Either way works for an unaccompanied voice but expe-
rience shows that alternating between Just / Mean Tone Renaissance polyphony
and Pythagorean chant can be an oil and water experience when working within
the fine tuning tolerances to which The Hilliard Ensemble has become accus-
tomed.

On this album the Laude come closer to a relaxed, Just tuning. Thereby we avoid
the discomfort at which I’ve hinted and the matching with the Brumel is more
natural.

Rogers Covey-Crump
TUNING DUFAY

If you have succeeded in absorbing my essays which accompanied the first

three Hilliard Live issues then much of this final chapter re-covers old ground.
If you have not read the first three chapters or you remain baffled then once
more I will try to elucidate.

Western art music uses a scale of pitches that derives directly from the teach-
ings of Pythagoras. The so-called Pythagorean scale is composed of twelve
notes that produce perfectly in tune (Just) octaves, fifths, fourths and major
seconds and these intervals are composed of vibration frequencies that have
simple whole number ratios. The octave is defined by the ratio 2:1, fifth 3:2,
fourth 4:3 and second 9:8. In this scale all other intervals are impure (out of
tune) and defined by complex ratios of vibration frequencies. The interval be-
tween two pitches is only perceived by a trained ear as “in tune” when the
constituent pitches match adjacent or closely related members of the Overtone
(Harmonic) series. These pitches all occur within the first 16 overtones of a
fundamental note save the 19:16 minor third and the chromatic semitone
which is the interval between the 24th and the 25th overtone (25:24). Note
that the generally accepted Just minor third is the wider 6:5 interval.

The history of fixed (keyboard) Western tuning systems is the movement away
from Pythagoras towards systems that produced more intervals that were
closer to pure, in particular the major third, and then, ironically, back towards
a system that ultimately became the international standard point of reference,
i.e. Equal Temperament, in which the only absolutely in-tune, pure interval is
the octave. The only advantage of Equal Temperament is that all keys are
equally out of tune.

Practical experience and analysis of a capella singing has convinced me that

experienced amateur and professional singers tend towards Just (Pure) Intona-
tion, particularly as the size of the ensemble approaches one voice to a part
and this is the medium that I am concerned with in this discussion.

Three notes of the diatonic Just scale depart from Pythagoras by the same tiny
interval known as the Syntonic Comma (ratio 81:80). For newcomers or as a
refresher here is the scale; the pitches with a zero subscript are in their
Pythagorean “slot” and the pitches with a minus-one subscript are lower than
their Pythagorean slot by one syntonic comma in order to achieve Just major
thirds C-E, F-A, G-B and minor thirds E-G and A-C. Note that D-F remains a
narrow minor third:

C0 D0 E-1 F0 G0 A-1 B-1 C0

This diatonic (white-note) scale has the advantage of perfectly tuned triads on
C, E, F, G and A. To expand the available triads using black-notes we can
introduce varieties of F#, C#, G#, Bb and Eb. If F# is a comma flat and C# and
G# two commas flat on Pythagorean and the two flats, Bb and Eb, are a comma
higher, the complete Just scale could look like this:
C0 C#-2 D0 Eb+1 E-1 F0 F#-1 G0 G#-2 A-1 Bb+1 B-1 (C0)

This increases the number of good triads but it does not solve the problem of
the imperfect fifth above D. To achieve an A a perfect fifth above D we would
need another version of A, an A0. And so on...

During the fifteenth century, by the end of which keyboards were fully chro-
matic, a system was developed that produced eight Just (perfectly tuned)
major thirds and eight slightly narrow minor thirds. The cost of this was the
impurity involved in narrowing the fifths by a quarter of a comma. This was
the Quarter-comma Mean Tone system. As a fixed tuning it matches Just
tuning more closely than any other system and is without doubt the sound that
composers lived with from the 145Os until the late 17th century.

Unaccompanied voices have probably always tended towards Just tuning since
pitch is not fixed for a singer and a chord is only perceived as “in tune” if it is
without the roughness of impurity. In theory a singer has the chance to tune
every chord perfectly but in practice this will only happen if each note of the
scale has a stability of pitch within a given context such as a movement from
a Mass setting. My previous articles refer to notes having different “slots”
according to context. One common and generally unconscious dilemma is the
tuning of A above D or D below A. Context will normally make one pitch
dominant so that the other voice tunes to the dominant pitch. Thus A can be A0
above (or below) D0, or A-1 above (or below) D-1. Clearly a flat A can push the
D0 down towards D-1. Lack of awareness in this situation can destabilise the
ambient pitch. A fifth where the subscripts are mismatched is out of tune. A
major third must be a comma narrower than a match and a minor third a
comma wider. Matching of subscripts indicates a Pythagorean interval and
only octaves, fifths, fourths and 9:8 major seconds are both Pythagorean and
Just, whereas sixths, thirds and minor seconds need the comma adjustment.
Sevenths are another problem.

To take a musical context the third Agnus of the Missa Se la face ay pale will
do just fine since it fits the simple Just “white note” scale with just one
accidental, the B b (B b+1). However there is a problem harmony where the
notes D, F, and B occur simultaneously in the vertical (harmonic) sense. F to B
is in isolation always a dissonance and D0 to F0 is the narrow Pythagorean
minor third but much easier on the ear than the wide Pythagorean major third
(Ditone) since it is very close to a naturally occurring minor third between the
l9th and 16th overtones. The fundamental frequency of a D and an F in this
relationship is a D and the interval is also very close to a modern Equal Tem-
perament minor third. Another factor in favour or the F0 above D0 rather than
F+1 is that F0 accommodates readily in our ears to a seventh above G0. The
Just tuning of a dominant seventh (such as G-B-D-F) demands an F more than
a comma lower than F0 and this version of F is only truly consonant with a B-1.
This harmony becomes progressively more significant through the 15th and
16th centuries and essential in Barbershop singing. Dufay only uses a harmony
on the fifth D-A at one point in this movement, viz. the last crotchet of bar 16
and the first minim’s worth of bar 17 in the printed example. So although D, B
and F combine in bars 2, 4, and 12, only the A at the point just referred to, in
the Tenor 2 (third stave down), has to be treated as an A0 rather than the
ambient A-1.

Much of the beauty of this Mass resides in the intense major key feel that in
turn derives from the ballade melody’s strong C-E-G triad. Since we always
perform this Mass a whole tone lower to fit our voice ranges the alert listener
will spot that we are in Bb major.

Dufay, born a century after Machaut, is already light-years ahead of the medi-
eval master in his frequent use of the major mode and much English music
from the mid-fifteenth century fits a trend away from the minor modes. It has
been suggested that the Contenance Angloise noted by the Continentals was
characterised by the full triads and the possibility of Just tuning that the har-
monic framework increasingly adopted by English composers allowed. An en-
semble’s tendency towards Just tuning in a capella performance enhances the
sonority of the texture because experienced singers are confident of the right
placing of a pitch: no accommodation to the compromise of a tempered key-
board is necessary as the range of both major and minor triads is all within the
white-note scale. The development of harmony after the fifteenth century natu-
rally complicated matters but as a unifying system Mean Tone tuning could
accommodate almost all the chromatic excesses even of a bold experimenter
such as Gesualdo. For a time harmonic structure minimised the D-A problem
or its transposed equivalent by avoiding triads on D and Dufay tends to do so
here. It can be shown that English music recognised the consonant possibility
of the major third a generation or two before continental composers and Dufay
was perhaps the first notable European composer to take up some of the
stylistic innovations of an English composer, in the shape of John Dunstable,
and the latter’s disciples Frye and Plummer.

Rogers Covey-Crump