Re: Microtonal Helmholtz-Ellis notation in Lilypond: fine-tuning

[Hans Aberg]

On 10 Sep 2009, at 11:45, Torsten Anders wrote:

> I understand you point about only 2 step sizes and your interested  
> to extend the number of steps available. I assume this approach is  
> particularly suitable for music that is primarily melodic (which is  
> the case for Persian and Turkish), and if you disregard ornamental  
> pitch inflections.
>
> For music based on harmony, however, your point is not true. There  
> are already more than two step sizes (e.g., 9:8 vs 10:9), even in  
> conventional Western music (except for keyboards etc.). One  
> application of Helmholtz-Ellis and Sagittal notation is to  
> accurately notate the pitch inflections that occur in conventional  
> Western music.

Just add as many neutrals as you want. Each one can typically cover  
another partial, and generates 4 intermediate pitch accidentals.

So for Just notation, one needs to add (in Pythagorean tuning) one  
neutral which is one syntonic comma below M. One description of  
Persian music is adding a double syntonic comma over m. In the first  
case, one will also add a symbol for the dual neutral, which is a  
syntonic comma over m.

So the notation for Persian music, tied to this description in this  
particular tuning, can be described by a double accidental in the Just  
notation. The reason one does not do that is that it has different  
musical function - in fact Persian music is not tied to a specific  
tuning, just as Western music notation isn't.

  Hans