Xenharmonic Music

Xenharmonic Music

Xenharmonic musical tuning systems are those that don't conform to or closely approximate the common 12-tone equal temperament. The term was coined by Ivor Darreg, from xenia (Greek ξενία), "hospitable," and xenos (Greek ξένος) "foreign." He famously stated: "This writer has proposed the term xenharmonic for music, melodies, scales, harmonies, instruments, and tuning-systems which do not sound like the 12-tone-equal temperament."

Xenharmonic tunings include those such as 5- and 7-tone equal temperament, which are perhaps excluded under "microtonal" rubric, since their intervals are larger than those of 12-ET. The term "microtonal" may have also been seen as too restrictive in that it was strongly associated with the quartertone movement, and with composers like Julián Carrillo, who only worked in equal temperaments that were multiples of 12. Darreg was among the first to argue that any equal temperament could be a valid source of musical materials.