REPLAY: Temperament, the Harmonic Series, and You: Introductory Session plus Tuning Exercises

Description

Why do people talk about all those different temperaments? Why can’t everyone just play “in tune”? What does it even mean to play “in tune”? Musicians and theorists have grappled with these questions for centuries. It sounds like an esoteric topic, but all of these questions come back to something we call the Harmonic Series. It’s a fundamental part of how sound works and how musical instruments work, and understanding it better really can help you improve your own playing!

In the introductory session, we’ll take a look at the harmonic series and its implications for musicians, and demystify why all those different historical temperaments exist, without getting lost in the mathematical weeds!

We’ll also go over a few exercises that can help you hear intonation better and control your own tuning.

In the Tuning Exercises session, we’ll put these concepts into practice and go over a series of exercises to help you hear your own intonation and get better at improving it in the context of a piece of music. These exercises are most tailored toward recorder players, but are useful for any instrument where the pitch isn’t fixed (as on a keyboard or fretted stringed instrument) and you have to control your intonation as you play.