How Barbershop Should REALLY sound? - "Last Night Was The End Of The World" Tag

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  • čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
  • This is the tag for "Last Night Was The End Of The World" in True Intonation aka Pythagorean tuning with A tuned to 432 Hz.
    Normally Barbershop harmony has flexible and changing tuning of the notes, having a sort of relative sense of pitch and intonation, but leans usually towards 7 limit just intonation tuning to induce a ringing effect. However, in this piece (and many others), tuning the chords in 7 limit presents problems where melodic intervals must be made to be out of tune (even according to the 7 limit system) to prevent the entire piece from drifting by a comma.
    I tried to plot a course for this piece in 7 limit but found the best compromise was the lead singing a G- up to a C natural at the end of the second full measure. That interval is an acute fourth 40/27 interval and it is not the most pleasing especially when exposed as it is in this tag, but there is really no better option I could find and get the barbershop harmonic seventh chords. Most quartets abandon pure harmony to avoid drift by defaulting to an 12 tet lead. But true intonation is very possible throughout WITHOUT compromise, simply by singing the notes as written on the page in Pythagorean just intonation, aka 3 limit tuning, aka True Intonation.
    This version is in true intonation, the tuning that I think is best suited for music in general, even in barbershop, defying the normal tradition and aesthetic goal of the genre, what you lose is not compared to what is gained by singing in tune.
    I was going to tune a 7 limit version to show the compromise errors in the melody, and also include a 12 tet version, and a respelled Pythagorean version that attempts to mimic the 7 limit sound of certain chords so others can hear the difference, but the Lord said only to upload this one, in the true intonation. It is strange because listening to this it is almost like a different song in a way. The harsh motorized buzzing of the version normally performed is gone, yet it is now balanced with clear melodic lines moving together in beautiful harmony and harmonic relationship.

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