Quarter tone

Quarter tone on C

A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (orally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, and have 24 different pitches.

Quarter tones have their roots in the music of the Middle East and more specifically in Persian traditional music.^[1] However, the first evidenced proposal of the equally-tempered quarter tone scale, or 24 equal temperament, was made by 19th-century music theorists Heinrich Richter in 1823^[2] and Mikhail Mishaqa about 1840.^[3] Composers who have written music using this scale include: Pierre Boulez, Julián Carrillo, Mildred Couper, George Enescu, Alberto Ginastera, Gérard Grisey, Alois Hába, Ljubica Marić, Charles Ives, Tristan Murail, Krzysztof Penderecki, Giacinto Scelsi, Ammar El Sherei, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tui St. George Tucker, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Iannis Xenakis, and Seppe Gebruers (See List of quarter tone pieces.)

^ Hormoz Farhat (2004). The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54206-5
^ Julian Rushton, "Quarter-Tone", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).
^ Touma, Habib Hassan (1996). The Music of the Arabs, p. 16. Translator: Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-88-8.

[1] Hormoz Farhat (2004). The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54206-5

[JR-2] Julian Rushton, "Quarter-Tone", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).

[3] Touma, Habib Hassan (1996). The Music of the Arabs, p. 16. Translator: Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-88-8.

[1]

[2]

[3]