What Is Temperament?
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Temperament is the adjustment of the intervals within an octave to deal with inherent shortcomings of the Western 12-tone scale. Pythagoras allegedly discovered this phenomenon by testing different lengths of string and determined that by adding up the sum of lengths of string for intervals within a given range of notes, this total length of string would be longer than a length of string that sounded the same range of notes without being divided up into intervals. Therefore, the intervals within an octave require a greater length of string than the undivided octave. As a result, the intervals within the octave must be adjusted by slightly compressing them. Perhaps the physical properties of the vibrating string itself, especially at the ends of the strings, have an effect on the required lengths. Historically, there was disagreement with how to deal with this problem for hundreds of years. Various systems were developed and disputed to account for this discrepancy, whereby certain inte
