Sunday, April 08, 2007

Cycle of Fourths - Misses by One


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A cycle of fourths looks like the chart on the right.

In 53-tone to the octave equal temperament, 22 steps makes a perfect fourth. Start on E, and see what happens after 13 modulations. Instead of coming back to 17, you end up on 16. So what do you do when you don't come our right? I slide up by one and make up the difference. Otherwise I suppose I could go around again. How many would I have to cycle through? 54. Naturally.

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