The Story of Harmony

A history of human understanding and use of harmony from ancient China and Greece, through the classical period, and up to the present day. This book is the culmination of many years of research into the history of musical harmony and, in particular, the quest for Just Intonation. A particularly valuable and unique treatise on the subject. Authors : Rex Weyler and Bill Gannon.

PDF Format

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Chapters:

Showdown in Jena

It was on a bright autumn day in 1706 that a great tuning showdown took place in the German town of Jena ...

The first musical scale

:The story includes the oldest evidence of human music instrumentation dating from 82,000 to 43,000 years ago.

Pythagoras: music & numbers

Harmonists east and west

The stream divides

A just distonic major scale

The Arabian contribution

Keyboards and polyphony in Europe

As sharp as the ear will endure

The art and science of sound

The age of pianos

A paradigm entrenched

The new Harmonists

Justonic

Perfect tuning: so what?

Appendix A: Harmonic overtone series

Appendix B: Derivation and use of just musical scales