Preface

Why Retune?

 

Chapter One

Music: Universal Language or Local Dialect?

 

Chapter Two

A Crash Course in Music Theory

 

Chapter Three

Frequencies: The Speed of Vibration

 

Chapter Four

Mapping Out Notes

 

Chapter Five

The Harmonic Series: How One Note Contains a Chord

 

Chapter Six

Beats and Cents: Quantifying Being Out of Tune

 

Chapter Seven

The Octave: How Different Notes are the Same Note

 

Chapter Eight

The Circle of Perfect Fifths: Why They Aren’t Perfect and Aren’t a Circle

 

Chapter Nine

Major and Minor, Redefined

 

Chapter Ten

Sevens, Elevens, and Higher Partials

 

Chapter Eleven

Converting Frequencies to Ratios to Cents to Notes

 

Chapter Twelve

Just Intonation: The Impossible Perfect Tuning

 

Chapter Thirteen

Tempered Tunings: Why We Choose to Play Out of Tune

 

Chapter Fourteen

Obstacle to Retuning

 

Chapter Fifteen

A Smorgasbord of Favorite Tunings