Microtonal Music Crash Course

Microtonal music (also called xenharmony) is music made using notes that lie in between the ones on a standard piano! Lots of non-western musical traditions (and even some western ones like barbershop quartet singing) can be considered microtonal – but the label and all its lingo emerged from modern creators that use these notes to push musical boundaries.

Some of these microtonal notes sound even more "in tune" than the ones western ears are familiar with, others can sound beautifully alien, and... well... some of them just sound janky.

Aside from showcasing some microtonal music and scales, this course should hopefully give you the basic foundations needed to understand resources such as the Xenharmonic wiki (https://en.xen.wiki/w/Main_Page) and synths like Scale Workshop (https://sevish.com/scaleworkshop/) if you want to dig deeper.

Note: This session does not require a background in music! Although some familiarity with music theory would be helpful, most of the session will be about listening and experimenting – which should be accessible to anyone.

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sQartQPJ-Z8Ke-TcfdXPo6CxhJ1DcH5mMZ3WIvNoiMg/