Equal temperament

Equal temperament is a scheme of musical tuning in which the octave is divided into a series of equal steps (equal frequency ratios). The best known example of such a system is twelve-tone equal temperament, sometimes abbreviated to 12-TET, which is nowadays used in most Western music. Other equal temperaments do exist (some music has been written in 19-TET and 31-TET for example), but they are so rare that when people use the term equal temperament without qualification, it is usually understood that they are talking about the twelve tone variety.

Related Topics:
Musical tuning - Octave - Step - Western music

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The distance between each step and the next is aurally the same for any two adjacent steps; though, because steps form a geometric sequence, the difference in frequency increases from one to the next. A linear sequence of one frequency difference would create ever smaller intervals (ratios), such as the harmonic series. See also logarithmic scale.

Related Topics:
Geometric sequence - Frequency - Linear - Ratio - Harmonic series - Logarithmic scale

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