just intonation

noun

Music.

1. a system of tuning based on the pure perfect fifth and major third.

just intonation

noun

1. a form of tuning employing the pitch intervals of the untempered natural scale, sometimes employed in the playing of the violin, cello, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of just intonation¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

She soon met the pioneering minimalist composer La Monte Young and immersed herself in his world of drone music and “just intonation,” an alternative to the standard tuning system of Western music.

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A number of YouTube videos provide comparisons that you can listen to, for example comparisons of just intonation and equal temperament, or comparisons of various temperaments.

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Just intonation makes two accommodations to allow its pure intervals.

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In constructing a just-intonation tuning, it matters which steps of the scale are major whole tones and which are minor whole tones, so an instrument tuned exactly to play with just intonation in the key of C major will have to retune to play in C sharp major or D major.

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Just intonation uses both the 9:8 whole tone, which is called a major whole tone and the 10:9 whole tone, which is called a minor whole tone, in order to construct both pure thirds and pure fifths.

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