The Temperament Phenomenon Of Neutral-tone

Hitherto researchers have not taken a fair attitude towards the phenomenonof neutral tones which have been considered unscientific. As a result, for a longtime there has not been enough research on the neutral intervals whosetemperament attributes go beyond the known tuning systems. However,extensive research in recent years has found that there is actually a scientificbase for the existence of this kind of tones. They are called "neutral intervals"because they lie between major and minor intervals. Our ancestors had fullknowledge about them and made much use of them. Over centuries of practicaluse they formed the rich neutral-tone modes and aesthetically expressivetechniques of composition. From the viewpoint of temperament systems,however, the neutral intervals have not been systemized to the perfectionexpected from a tuning system. Ethnomusicology has shown the necessity of anacademic study of folk music with the focus on theoretical research into theneutral intervals. This research will prove that what has until now been mistakenly regardedas irregular temperaments does in actual fact follow underlying logical andmathematical rules. The prime numbers 7, 11 and 13 have been found to be thekey to all neutral tones and thus the crucial element for systematizing neutralintervals. Ethnomusicology calls for a re-evaluation of neutral intervals asnothing less than another kind of tuning system in line with aesthetic standardsof regular temperaments. These underlying rules will help formulate the theoryfor neutral intervals, which will lift this musical tradition out of that unjustifiedcloud of dilettantish tuning of folk instruments, which has for so long been thepredominant interpretation of neutral tones in folk instruments. There are altogether six chapters in this dissertation. Chapter One makespersonal comments on the Chinese and foreign research on the temperaments,music structures and organology of neutral tones, and on the development ofresearch methods. Chapter Two to Chapter Six comprise the main body, whichdiscusses neutral tones from various angles: ·Acoustics ·Temperament standards ·Analysis of modes and their application in minute detail (e.g. the tone-measurement data of unearthed musical instruments, the inclusion of neutral-tone in the physical design of folk music instruments of various nationalities, etc.). This part also analyzes neutral tones from the perspective of the wider socio-cultural andhistorical connections among different nationalities and discusses related aspects. · The temperament analysis of neutral-tone modes made in this dissertation can cover all neutral tones, whether fixed (like those used as a basic unit of scales) or unstable, sliding tones. Therefore, understanding the systematic nature of neutral tone is the key tofully understanding and mastering the vast variety of "yin qiang" (sliding tones)in the folk music of many Oriental and some European nationalities. Once thissystematic nature is understood, we will be able to explain the temperaments ofneutral tones and provide the theoretical framework for the research intoharmonics and melodics.