December 29, 2006
Understanding the Western Tempered Scale, Tuning, Hertz and all that--Part 1 of 15: INTRODUCTION

While being in tune is important for western music, being in tune is also important for African music - but it means something altogether different. There are hundreds of African tunings, but they are not in tune with our scale.

Hugh Tracey went around Africa and documented hundreds of different kalimba tunings, but these records are in units of Hz (i.e., Hertz, vibrations per second). Most of us know that 440 Hz is an A. Some of us know that 880 Hz is an A an octave higher, or that 220 Hz is an A an octave lower. But, QUICK! What is 473.5 Hz? For the answer to this, stay tuned!

I am putting this out in bite-sized chunks and, in the end, anyone who did alright in high school algebra should understand a great deal about the western scale, tuning, Hz, and all that! It is not really the Physics of the Kalimba, but more like the Mathematics of Music. But we'll pull it back to the kalimba in the end when we look at some of the tunings Hugh Tracey documented in Hz, and translate that to what it means in terms of the western notes.

In other words, this is going to be a moderately technical trip that will expand your mind and take you to a pretty cool place in the end! Are you up for the ride?