Singing
The human voice is among the most pitch-flexible instruments in common use. Pitch can be varied with no restraints and adjusted in the midst of performance, without needing to retune. Although the explicit use of just intonation fell out of favour concurrently with the increasing use of instrumental accompaniment (with its attendant constraints on pitch), most a cappella ensembles naturally tend toward just intonation because of the comfort of its stability. Barbershop quartets are a good example of this.
Read more about this topic: Just Intonation
Famous quotes containing the word singing:
“Tomorrow let loveless, let lover tomorrow make love;
O spring, singing spring, spring of the world renew!
In spring lovers consent and the birds marry
When the grove receives in her hair the nuptial dew.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and
strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
work,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“A woman is a branchy tree
And man a singing wind;
And from her branches carelessly
He takes what he can find.”
—James Kenneth Stephens (1882–1950)