Blue Temperament

Copyright©2010
by John O’Sullivan
I wanted a 12 key per octave just symmetric tuning system.
“Symmetric” meaning that 1/1 and 2/1 could be used as tonics with
equal strength. It seems that it is impossible to have a 12 key per octave
tuning system where 1/1 and 2/1 can be used as tonics with equal
strength unless you use sqrt(2) as the tritone which goes with very few
other notes. In other words you have to choose which note (1/1 or
2/1) is the tonic.
I chose the lower note (1/1) as the tonic because most music
ascends from and then descends to the lower tonic and not vice versa.
By chance I came across a tuning system where the notes going up
from 1/1 were the mirror image of the notes going down from 3/2. In
other words, for music that goes up and back from the tonic, 1/1
should be used as the tonic. Conversely, for music that goes down and
back from the tonic, 3/2 should be used as the tonic. Both tonics (1/1
and 3/2 have equal strength (this is the symmetry I was looking for).
The just system I worked out is called Blue Just Tuning and it
looks like this...

1/1, 15/14, 9/8, 6/5, 5/4, 4/3, 7/5, 3/2, 8/5, 5/3, 9/5, 15/8, 2/1

There are very few notes that go with 15/14, 9/8, 7/5, 9/5 and
15/8 which severely limits the number of chords available in these keys.
To remedy this I tempered the scale above, raising or lowering
most of the notes by not more than 6.775877 cents (256/255) to yield
the maximum number of good intervals, not perfectly in tune but close
enough to sound acceptable. I call this system Blue Temperament.
Here’s what I got in cents...

0.0c, 121.6c, 200.7c, 313.5c, 388.4c, 501.2c, 580.4c,

702.0c, 816.9c, 889.4c, 1012.5c, 1085.1c and 1200c.

In frequencies...

1.0, 1.072740, 1.122938, 1.198533, 1.25153, 1.335782,

1.398289, 1.5, 1.602938, 1.671566, 1.794724, 1.871563 and 2.0.

If you have a midi keyboard and tuning software here are the
adjustments to be made to the frequencies of the notes so as to
implement Blue Temperament...

1st note 0.0 cents

2nd note +21.6 cents
3rd note +0.7 cents
4th note +13.5 cents
5th note -11.6 cents
6th note +1.2 cents
7th note -19.6 cents
8th note +2.0 cents
9th note +16.9 cents
10th note -10.6 cents
11th note +12.5 cents
12th note -14.9 cents

A right handed guitar fretboard (tuned E, A, D, G, B, E where E

is 1/1) that implements Blue Just tuning (not the tempered version)
looks like this...

A right handed guitar fretboard that implements Blue

Temperament looks like this...

Using my Interval Calculator program I worked out all the

possible good intervals that are two octaves or less wide. Then I worked
out all the possible good intervals (two octaves or less wide) that occur in
Blue Temperament over 12 keys.
Here’s what I got. This list is only accurate if 1/1 corresponds to
the ‘E’ key. The ratio in the middle is a good interval within 6.775877
cents accuracy. The notes on the right correspond to my Blue tuning
nomenclature (e.g. E1 = J1, F1 = J2, F#1 = J3, G1 = J4 etc).
E1 F#1 9/8 J1 J3
E1 G1 6/5 J1 J4
E1 G#1 5/4 J1 J5
E1 A1 4/3 J1 J6
E1 A#1 7/5 J1 J7
E1 B1 3/2 J1 J8
E1 C1 8/5 J1 J9
E1 C#1 5/3 J1 J10
E1 D1 9/5 J1 J11
E1 E2 2/1 J1 K1
E1 F#2 9/4 J1 K3
E1 G2 12/5 J1 K4
E1 G#2 5/2 J1 K5
E1 A2 8/3 J1 K6
E1 A#2 14/5 J1 K7
E1 B2 3/1 J1 K8
E1 C2 16/5 J1 K9
E1 C#2 10/3 J1 K10
E1 D2 18/5 J1 K11
E1 D#2 15/4 J1 K12
E1 E3 4/1 J1 L1

F1 G#1 7/6 J2 J5
F1 A1 5/4 J2 J6
F1 B1 7/5 J2 J8
F1 C1 3/2 J2 J9
F1 D1 5/3 J2 J11
F1 D#1 7/4 J2 J12
F1 E2 13/7 J2 K1
F1 F2 2/1 J2 K2
F1 G#2 7/3 J2 K5
F1 A2 5/2 J2 K6
F1 A#2 13/5 J2 K7
F1 B2 14/5 J2 K8
F1 C2 3/1 J2 K9
F1 D2 10/3 J2 K11
F1 D#2 7/2 J2 K12
F1 F3 4/1 J2 L2

F#1 A#1 5/4 J3 J7

F#1 B1 4/3 J3 J8
F#1 C1 10/7 J3 J9
F#1 D1 8/5 J3 J11
F#1 D#1 5/3 J3 J12
F#1 F#2 2/1 J3 K3
F#1 A#2 5/2 J3 K7
F#1 B2 8/3 J3 K8
F#1 D2 16/5 J3 K11
F#1 D#2 10/3 J3 K12
F#1 F3 23/6 J3 L2
F#1 F#3 4/1 J3 L3
G1 A#1 7/6 J4 J7
G1 B1 5/4 J4 J8
G1 C1 4/3 J4 J9
G1 C#1 7/5 J4 J10
G1 D1 3/2 J4 J11
G1 E2 5/3 J4 K1
G1 G2 2/1 J4 K4
G1 A#2 7/3 J4 K7
G1 B2 5/2 J4 K8
G1 C2 8/3 J4 K9
G1 C#2 14/5 J4 K10
G1 D2 3/1 J4 K11
G1 E3 10/3 J4 L1
G1 F#3 15/4 J4 L3
G1 G3 4/1 J4 L4

G#1 B1 6/5 J5 J8
G#1 C1 9/7 J5 J9
G#1 C#1 4/3 J5 J10
G#1 D1 10/7 J5 J11
G#1 D#1 3/2 J5 J12
G#1 E2 8/5 J5 K1
G#1 F2 12/7 J5 K2
G#1 F#2 9/5 J5 K3
G#1 G#2 2/1 J5 K5
G#1 B2 12/5 J5 K8
G#1 C#2 8/3 J5 K10
G#1 D#2 3/1 J5 K12
G#1 E3 16/5 J5 L1
G#1 F#3 18/5 J5 L3
G#1 G3 23/6 J5 L4
G#1 G#3 4/1 J5 L5

A1 B1 9/8 J6 J8
A1 C1 6/5 J6 J9
A1 C#1 5/4 J6 J10
A1 D#1 7/5 J6 J12
A1 E2 3/2 J6 K1
A1 F2 8/5 J6 K2
A1 G2 9/5 J6 K4
A1 A2 2/1 J6 K6
A1 B2 9/4 J6 K8
A1 C2 12/5 J6 K9
A1 C#2 5/2 J6 K10
A1 D#2 14/5 J6 K12
A1 E3 3/1 J6 L1
A1 F3 16/5 J6 L2
A1 G3 18/5 J6 L4
A1 G#3 15/4 J6 L5
A1 A3 4/1 J6 L6
A#1 C1 8/7 J7 J9
A#1 C#1 6/5 J7 J10
A#1 D1 9/7 J7 J11
A#1 D#1 4/3 J7 J12
A#1 E2 10/7 J7 K1
A#1 F#2 8/5 J7 K3
A#1 G2 12/7 J7 K4
A#1 A#2 2/1 J7 K7
A#1 C2 16/7 J7 K9
A#1 C#2 12/5 J7 K10
A#1 D#2 8/3 J7 K12
A#1 F#3 16/5 J7 L3
A#1 A3 23/6 J7 L6
A#1 A#3 4/1 J7 L7

B1 D1 6/5 J8 J11
B1 D#1 5/4 J8 J12
B1 E2 4/3 J8 K1
B1 F2 10/7 J8 K2
B1 F#2 3/2 J8 K3
B1 G2 8/5 J8 K4
B1 G#2 5/3 J8 K5
B1 A#2 13/7 J8 K7
B1 B2 2/1 J8 K8
B1 D2 12/5 J8 K11
B1 D#2 5/2 J8 K12
B1 E3 8/3 J8 L1
B1 F#3 3/1 J8 L3
B1 G3 16/5 J8 L4
B1 G#3 10/3 J8 L5
B1 B3 4/1 J8 L8

C1 D#1 7/6 J9 J12

C1 E2 5/4 J9 K1
C1 F2 4/3 J9 K2
C1 F#2 7/5 J9 K3
C1 G2 3/2 J9 K4
C1 A2 5/3 J9 K6
C1 A#2 7/4 J9 K7
C1 C2 2/1 J9 K9
C1 D#2 7/3 J9 K12
C1 E3 5/2 J9 L1
C1 F3 8/3 J9 L2
C1 F#3 14/5 J9 L3
C1 G3 3/1 J9 L4
C1 A3 10/3 J9 L6
C1 A#3 7/2 J9 L7
C1 B3 15/4 J9 L8
C1 C3 4/1 J9 L9
C#1 E2 6/5 J10 K1
C#1 F2 9/7 J10 K2
C#1 G2 10/7 J10 K4
C#1 G#2 3/2 J10 K5
C#1 A2 8/5 J10 K6
C#1 A#2 5/3 J10 K7
C#1 B2 9/5 J10 K8
C#1 C#2 2/1 J10 K10
C#1 E3 12/5 J10 L1
C#1 G#3 3/1 J10 L5
C#1 A3 16/5 J10 L6
C#1 A#3 10/3 J10 L7
C#1 B3 18/5 J10 L8
C#1 C3 23/6 J10 L9
C#1 C#3 4/1 J10 L10

D1 F2 6/5 J11 K2
D1 F#2 5/4 J11 K3
D1 G2 4/3 J11 K4
D1 G#2 7/5 J11 K5
D1 B2 5/3 J11 K8
D1 C#2 13/7 J11 K10
D1 D2 2/1 J11 K11
D1 F3 12/5 J11 L2
D1 F#3 5/2 J11 L3
D1 G3 8/3 J11 L4
D1 G#3 14/5 J11 L5
D1 B3 10/3 J11 L8
D1 D3 4/1 J11 L11

D#1 F2 8/7 J12 K2

D#1 F#2 6/5 J12 K3
D#1 G2 9/7 J12 K4
D#1 G#2 4/3 J12 K5
D#1 A2 10/7 J12 K6
D#1 A#2 3/2 J12 K7
D#1 B2 8/5 J12 K8
D#1 C2 12/7 J12 K9
D#1 D#2 2/1 J12 K12
D#1 F3 16/7 J12 L2
D#1 F#3 12/5 J12 L3
D#1 G#3 8/3 J12 L5
D#1 A#3 3/1 J12 L7
D#1 B3 16/5 J12 L8
D#1 D3 23/6 J12 L11
D#1 D#3 4/1 J12 L12

188 good intervals out of a possible 288, a hit rate of 65%. If every
possible pair of notes in a chord (not more than two octaves wide)
occur in the list above then the chord should be good with no bum
notes. Note that a chord often sounds stronger or sweeter if one or
more notes are omitted.

For details on how I worked out my tuning systems see my book:

The Mathematics of Music which should be available on Amazon before
the end of September, 2010.

John O’Sullivan
8th September, 2010.