equal temperament

American  

noun

Music.

1. the division of an octave into 12 equal semitones, as in the tuning of a piano.

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Example Sentences

In equal temperament, the only pure interval is the octave.

From Literature

Here, “well-tempered” refers to Bach’s enthusiastic — and then quite edgy — pursuit of an “equal temperament,” a tuning that would allow all of the keys to be played.

From Washington Post

In its simplest terms, just intonation means that the ratios between notes are whole numbers, rather than the irrational ratios that divide the octave in the familiar framework of equal temperament.

From New York Times

But it also loses in the process a richness, making me wonder what might have happened were it played in a more acoustically natural equal temperament.

From Los Angeles Times

He had tuned his harpsichord not to the relatively smooth, equal temperament of modern times, he explained, but to a “severe” mean-tone temperament used in the early 17th century.

From New York Times