If you take an instrument without predefined notes, such as a trombone or a violin, you can produce an infinite amount of notes between Do and Re for example (applies with out of tunes instruments as well). With that logic, you could have an infinite set of 7 notes that are as evenly « spaced » as our current standard. Im sure im missing something obvious.
In: Physics
the notes are partly historic precedent and partly math.
a musical scale is defined within the range of frequencies between a base frequency ω and its second harmonic harmonic 2ω – doubling the frequency of a note is defined as giving you the same note. this frequency range is then subdivided into 12 in western music. 12 was chosen specifically because it [has many divisors ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_composite_number)that ratio neatly with each other, but that’s also historical precedent. [different musical theories ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QN_DG-OJ_4)have different systems for subdividing the octave.
Latest Answers