Miracle temperament
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In music, miracle temperament is a regular temperament invented by George Secor which has as a generator an interval, called the secor, that serves as both the 15:14 and 16:15 semitones. Because 15:14 and 16:15 are equated, their ratio 225:224
, sometimes called the septimal kleisma, is tempered out, and two secors give an 8:7 interval, a septimal whole tone. Three of these 8:7 intervals, or six secors, make up a fifth, so that 1029:1024
, an interval sometimes called the gamelan residue[citation needed], is also tempered out. This gives the 7-limit version of miracle.
A septimal whole tone of 8:7 as we have seen is approximated by two secors, and a minor third of 6:5 by three secors. In miracle, a minor third plus a septimal whole tone is also equated with the 11th harmonic. This means that the gap between a minor third plus a septimal whole tone
and the 11th harmonic (an 11:8 ratio), 385:384
, an interval sometimes called the unidecimal kleisma[citation needed], is also tempered out. Miracle, therefore, is the temperament tempering out 225:224, 1029:1024 and 385:384 at the same time.
For tuning purposes, a secor of seven steps of 72 equal temperament is often used. While this also tempers out 4375:4374, the ragisma, doing this is not regarded as a part of the definition of miracle temperament.
Miracle temperament, particularly in the distributionally even scale known as Blackjack, a scale of twenty-one notes derived from twenty successive secors, has been used by several composers, including New York composer Joseph Pehrson.
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