public · concluded

The Ratio and the Ear

Harmony begins as arithmetic and ends as compromise. A dialogue on why a perfectly tuned instrument cannot play in every key.

Move 16

concludes of Move 1 — From the monochord's clean ratio to the living, slightly out-of-tune chord.

Harmony, then, is not the absence of dissonance but its skillful placement: arithmetic that agreed to bend a little, so that the music could move.

The dialogue is concluded

A perfectly tuned instrument can play one key flawlessly; we chose, instead, to play them all.