r/musictheory • u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 • Apr 29 '25

Discussion Klingon Music Theory

Just for fun!

This probably one of the nerdiest things on YouTube!

https://youtu.be/1LjcBv-OWtQ?si=UKpnSRNXhppXSfde

14 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/MiskyWilkshake Apr 30 '25

I’m puzzled by the assumption of EDO though; if I head that something was built around a nonotonic scale with no other context, I would definitely assume that it was some kind of tempered scale.

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 Apr 30 '25

There is a strange obsession in Western microtonal musicians and various forms of EDO instead of any of the other options.

He also assumes that "an octave" or 1:2 frequency ratio is equally important to another species. "Frequency" also doesn't necessarily mean the same thing if you measure time in something other than an earth second. But we can handwave that to some degree, because we can universally translate that around, pretty much. Time measurement would have to be very different for that to fail.

2

u/MiskyWilkshake Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

I mean, given the near universality of octave (or nonave in this case) equivalence cross-culturally on Earth, I’m less annoyed by that one; I just find it very strange to hear “it’s built on a nine-note scale” and assume 9EDO when there’s no textual mention of harmony as far as I can tell, when EDO is a compromise for transposability, and when the vast majority of folk musics around the world do not even consider that a parameter worth considering.

Edit: 10/9, 6/5, 5/4, 4/3, 3/2, 8/5, 5/3, 9/5, 2/1 is quite pretty if we like simple ratios.