guide-tone

A term used by Fokker to indicate the 1/1 of a utonality; that is, the high pitch that forms the 'root' of a chord composed of members from the subharmonic series, all of which have a numerary nexus.

The guide-tone is the LCM or LCD of a set of ratios. It can always be found on a lattice diagram as a point in one of the corners of the structure.

See Euler genus for examples.

[from Joe Monzo, JustMusic: A New Harmony]

See also fundamental, and my translation of Patrice Bailhache's Music and Mathematics: Leonhard Euler.

---

(to download a zip file of the entire Dictionary, click here)

For many more diagrams and explanations of historical tunings, see my book. If you don't understand my theory or the terms I've used, start here

I welcome feedback about this webpage: corrections, improvements, good links. Let me know if you don't understand something. return to the Microtonal Dictionary index return to my home page return to the Sonic Arts home page