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Ross W. Duffin

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How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and Why You Should Care) First Edition

by Ross W. Duffin (Author)

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A captivating look at how musical temperament evolved, and how we could (and perhaps should) be tuning differently today.

Ross W. Duffin presents an engaging and elegantly reasoned exposé of musical temperament and its impact on the way in which we experience music. A historical narrative, a music theory lesson, and, above all, an impassioned letter to musicians and listeners everywhere, How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony possesses the power to redefine the very nature of our interactions with music today.

For nearly a century, equal temperament―the practice of dividing an octave into twelve equally proportioned half-steps―has held a virtual monopoly on the way in which instruments are tuned and played. In his new book, Duffin explains how we came to rely exclusively on equal temperament by charting the fascinating evolution of tuning through the ages. Along the way, he challenges the widely held belief that equal temperament is a perfect, “naturally selected” musical system, and proposes a radical reevaluation of how we play and hear music.

ISBN-10

0393062279
ISBN-13

978-0393062274
Edition

First Edition
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

November 17, 2006
Language

English
Dimensions

5.8 x 0.8 x 8.6 inches
Print length

208 pages
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ross W. Duffin, the Fynette H. Kulas Professor of Music at Case Western Reserve University, is the author of the award-winning Shakespeare's Songbook. He lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition (November 17, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393062279
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393062274
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,230,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,397 in Music (Books)
- #2,052 in Music Theory (Books)
- #5,832 in Music History & Criticism (Books)

Customer Reviews:
272

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Ross W. Duffin

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Ross W. Duffin is a Canadian-American scholar, educator, and choral conductor, specializing in historical performance practice of early music. He is known for his work in early English play songs (including William Shakespeare) and in historical tuning systems. As host of the weekly syndicated radio program, Micrologus: Exploring the World of Early Music, he established a national audience. Duffin held the Fynette H. Kulas Chair in Music at Case Western Reserve University, where he taught for 4 decades and was named Distinguished University Professor. He has published books, music editions, and scholarly articles on music from the 13th century to the 19th, and has won awards for his scholarship and editions.

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4.5 out of 5

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James Louder

A short and pithy gem

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2014

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In the musical practice of our day, the twelve half-tones of the equal-tempered octave reign almost unchallenged. That it could be otherwise, that indeed it once was otherwise, and might be again is something about which most musicians--even very distinguish ones--neither know nor care. Why they SHOULD care is the burden of Duffin's outstanding little book. Musical temperament is a subject with a reputation for obscurity: impenetrable mathematics striking ghoulish horror into the soul of the practical musician. Duffin opens the subject in language that musicians and non-musicians alike can understand. Most discussions of temperament revolve around the problems posed by keyboard instruments, which is natural, since that is where the hardest choices have to be made. Duffin, however, enlarges this to concentrate upon stringed instruments and vocal intonation, situating his subject in the heart of the common-practice period. In so doing he brings temperament out of the ghetto of Earlie Musick and into the forefront of classical music, in the proper sense of the word. Duffin has wisely decided not to clutter his main text with secondary material, notably biographical details about the historical authorities behind his argument. These are relegated to side-bars which the reader may consult or not, just as he or she pleases. The writing is lively and engaging, a pleasure to read. Although this is a work for the non-specialist, all the scholarly apparatus is provided. The text is properly supported with end-notes and there is a very good select bibliography for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the subject.

14 people found this helpful

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Kevin F King

Informative and fun!

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2022

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If you are interested in early music (say Baroque or earlier) this is a great book for understanding the temperaments that were used back then and why they were preferred to equal temperament (which was well known). The explanations are very clear. There is a little math but not much. Most people will be able to handle it. The book is also very entertaining and a lot of fun to read. I can't recommend this book enough.

2 people found this helpful

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frankp93

Easy-going Take On An Ages-Old Musical Concern

Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2010

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This isn't the first book I've read on tuning and temperment and I'm not sure how I'd react if it were.

I got the feeling Duffin was really fired up to rebut Stuart Isacoff's "Temperment" published awhile back that asserted the Temperment Wars were largely settled by Rameau's time. Isacoff, in addition to being a writer is a pianist, which may make him suspect in Duffin's view.

Fair enough and Duffin's prose is much more pleasant to read than Isacoff's, but beneath the surface, "How Equal Temperment Ruined Harmony" is often circumstantially argued, stuffed to the gills with filler bios (I don't care that Duffin acknowledges the Oxford Dictionary - they deserve co-authorship if not co-royalty for taking up so many pages). And the cartoons are by and large awful and unneccessary. They make the typical Dummies cartoons look like the New Yorker by comparison.

Beyond this Duffin is no doubt a knowledgable and passionate advocate for his view.

He's not asking musicians to abandon "ET" (good luck with that), but instead asking them to broaden their range of intonation possibilities and understand why and when a varied approach to melodic and harmonic adjustment may yield surprising and satisfying results. In asking us to be open and experiment the book serves a purpose. When Duffin implies "try it and you'll never go back", he comes across as somewhat less than open-minded.

I had a general problem with Duffin's tone, which frequently condescends. He seems at times to assert that no one other than himself is in on this long-lost secret wisdom. It might just surprise him to discover that many non-classical musicians are just as sensitive to and deal with intonation issues - even some of us hopelessly mal-intonated players of fretted instruments.

Duffin raises historical questions that are valid, interesting and worth contemplating by all musicians. Unfortunately, many of them can never be definitively answered. Did the tuning system begat the music or did the evolution of musical practice toward greater chromaticism gradually shape the systems? Did the massive popularity of the piano in the nineteeth century as the symbol of middle class culture unduly "mis-condition" generations of naive music lovers into blanket acceptance of the artificial equal termperment? With the overwhelming majority of (western) music possessing both melody and some form of harmony, is Duffin's purist approach really feasible for all but the solo performer?

All interesting ideas worth considering and a good read (and fairly quick if you skip the boring bios).

11 people found this helpful

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Kelly Dowhower

This is some great stuff!

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2010

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I found this book very informative and humorous. I love it when stuffy old "perfections" are shown to be the ignorant, bigoted lie that they are. LOL! First, I was tickled that Bach's "well tempered" had nothing-zero-nada to do with EQUAL temperament. It's a lie---period. Also, I found it illuminating that equal tempered circle of 5ths is a cheat of sorts. Each 5th is shortened about 1/50th of an actual mathematically "correct" 5th. This book is filled with such gems of information!

One reason I like this book is because it puts the "purists" in their place---the people who think Schoenberg is terrible and so on---dopes that think that only traditional harmony gets the stamp of approval from Gawd! These ultimate judges of what is right and wrong might very well dislike Bach if they heard his music in it's original state.

In any case, I love facts that shake up the cobweb laden, old curmudgeon classical zombies that just hate music that they can't comfortably sip wine to.

5 people found this helpful

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Really useful book with valuable information!

Valuable book!

Reviewed in Sweden on August 25, 2023

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Useful for all musicians who want to broaden their horizons.

Fraser

Buy it for the references, not to hope it clarifies anything.

Reviewed in Canada on April 20, 2020

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Terrible book but still worth purchasing...maybe.

Why do I say it's terrible? The book is your quintessential word-salad, commonly wrote by those in "higher academia", where the author never wants you to forget they also possess extensive knowledge on fine scotches and vintage wines, never failing to exhaust lofty vocabulary to ensure the fact.
The book offers informative, yet mostly useless for pertinence, backstories about the characters, their families,etc; splashing them crudely amongst the immediate point, when such inserts should've been catalogued at the rear...if at all; it's entirely distracting but perfectly suits the overall weak form of this opinion piece.

Why would I recommend you buy it? Three reasons: 1) you may very-well enjoy the self-flagellating style the author enjoys; it's the perfect book to sit at home and read... because no-one wants you at their parties.
2) I believe that sometimes, even if not enjoyable, an experience might help make more sense of something confusing you.
3) This is the most useful part of the book: it's absolutely abundant with references that could lead you to further explanation of the topic of tuning.

So, yes, buy the book (though try to get it as cheap as possible), but don't expect it to provide you any conclusive answers; it's just not that good in that regard, the book completely lacks the amount of sufficient clarity, diagrams, cross-examples, etc, to assure the ready completely fathoms the scope. This book is best suited to someone who's already well-versed on the various talking points, yet wants to read someone's insight on the topic.

oz monk

A great critical review of the musical problems of ET

Reviewed in Australia on February 5, 2021

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I read this book in one go after buying it. Very informative, easy to follow. A must read for any serious musicians!

Verena Laxgang

ein Muss für jeden professionellen Musiker und eine Empfehlung für Interessierte

Reviewed in Germany on February 28, 2016

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Ein sehr informatives Buch unterhaltsam geschrieben. Ich denke, jeder professionelle Musiker sollte sich mit diesem Thema beschäftigen und hier ist das sogar noch amüsant dazu.

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Adrian Heath

Version papier, avec Images et schémas

Reviewed in France on July 8, 2015

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Une presentation des façons d'accorder un clavier peu approfondie, mais divertissante.
On peux retrouver l'auteur sur YouTube..

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