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Why are there 12 notes?
Metadata
- title
- Why are there 12 notes?
- description
- Love music more! Let's talk about the origins of pop music, and why the fifth is considered so "perfect."
- status
- complete
- date
- 2021-04-29
- kind
- solo
- guestSlugs
- —
- listenUrl
- https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/Why-are-there-12-notes-evsvk9
- appleUrl
- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-are-there-12-notes/id1567355195?i=1000521554657
- spotifyUrl
- https://open.spotify.com/episode/0PpTYftSkA1T0DrCfjrTQ3
- topicsDiscussed
- Music theory
- Microtonal music
- Classical and orchestral music
- Piano, synth, and keys
- Genre
- Perfect fifth
- Circle of fifths
- Pythagoras
- hostNote
- Why does Western music have 12 notes? I trace it back to **Pythagoras** and his 3:2 ratio, the "perfect fifth": stack that ratio twelve times and you land almost exactly back where you started, which is the whole reason we ended up with 12. I walk through the math with actual notes so it's audible, not abstract, and then get into why the system is mostly arbitrary: it's the tuning that stuck because the culture that used it spread. I also make the case for paying attention to the perfect octave as a more inclusive way into music beyond the standard 12, and set up where the show goes next: how those notes actually work together in harmony.
- selectedMoments
- label
- Pythagoras and Musical Notes
- startSec
- 1
- note
- I discuss why we only have 12 musical notes in western music, emphasizing that it's entirely arbitrary.
- label
- Perfect Fifth Concept
- startSec
- 90
- note
- I explain the mathematical ratio of the perfect fifth and demonstrate it with musical notes.
- label
- Cyclic Nature of Fifths
- startSec
- 227
- note
- I recap how we get those 12 notes by progressing through perfect fifths.
- label
- Exploring Octaves
- startSec
- 183
- note
- I suggest focusing on perfect octaves for a more inclusive view of music beyond the standard 12 notes.
- label
- Cultural Arbitrary Nature of 12 Notes
- startSec
- 455
- note
- I argue that the concept of 12 notes is somewhat arbitrary and shaped by historical context.
- label
- Music Beyond the Twelve
- startSec
- 502
- note
- I preview upcoming episodes about how notes can work together in harmony.
- excerptQuotes
- text
- So yeah, for real, we're actually going to talk about why we only have 12 notes in western music.
- startSec
- 85
- reviewed
- true
- text
- Just naming something perfect definitely gives it a lot of weight. The reason why he was so into it was it was a mathematical ratio of three to two.
- startSec
- 46
- reviewed
- true
- text
- So Pythagoras said three to two ratio. Let's keep that up and start stacking notes.
- startSec
- 89
- reviewed
- true
- text
- We're back at A. We reached the same place that we took off from. And so that's why we end up having 12 notes.
- startSec
- 224
- reviewed
- true
- text
- It's mostly just arbitrary. It's just because that group of people conquered most of the world.
- startSec
- 450
- reviewed
- true
- text
- It's not like we had to. It's not like we go see aliens and they're going to be listening to pop songs with power chords, which is a root and a perfect fifth.
- startSec
- 543
- reviewed
- true
- faq
- question
- Why are there 12 notes in music?
- answer
- The twelve notes in Western music stem from arbitrary historical choices rather than some universal truth. This episode examines the mathematical and cultural origins of this system.
- question
- What is the perfect fifth in music?
- answer
- The perfect fifth is a musical interval defined by a frequency ratio of 3:2, significantly influencing Western music.
- question
- Who was Pythagoras and how did he influence music?
- answer
- Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher whose exploration of the relationship between numbers and musical harmony laid the groundwork for understanding musical intervals.
- transcriptPublished
- false
- draft
- false
Content
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