12 Tone Equal Temperament
The mind has a certain transforming power to see or hear the perfective through the defective. This last fact is certainly strikingly illustrated in the case of the tempered scale of Western music.
Dr. Walford Davies (Musical Times, December, 1913, "Word play in music")
In my humble judgment there is no greater proof as to the necessity for inquiry and action than the almost incredible fact that so many persons possessing distinguished musical abilities are passively content to accept inaccuracy, and to deny that there is any reform to be accomplished.
E. P. Lennox Atkins, "Ear-Training and the Standardisation of Equal Temperament," Proceedings of the Musical Association, 41st Sess. (1914-1915), pp. 91-111
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I have come to realize that every minute at the Juilliard School was spent pledging allegiance to the 12 notes of the piano.
Ethnomusicology is the appreciation of all the pitch diversity in world music.
Rick Tagawa
Balinese gamelan instruments are built in pairs that are tuned slightly apart to produce interference beats, ideally at a consistent speed for all pairs of notes in all registers. This concept is referred to as "ombak," translating to "wave," communicating the idea of cyclical undulation.