Why in Oktave seven notes, although OCTO – "Eight"?

First, people just enjoyed the singing of birds, the murmur of the stream, herb rustle and other sounds of nature. And then began to imitate them, writing her first music. The interest in the music record arose when they understood: oral folk creativity distorts the initial melody.

When exactly appeared a good gradder, still unknown. In the textbooks of the musical theory, it is usually written that the system of tight literactions from seven notes has developed Pythagores in the 6th century BC. NS. According to legend, one day he went into the worker’s workshop and was inspired by a harmonious chime from strikes by anvil. Listening to the sounds published, the mathematician determined that heavier hammers made a lower sound. Then experimented with strings, changing their length, and understood: the longer the string, the lower the sound, and vice versa. Moreover, the reduction in the length of the string twice gave the same sound, but at octave above.

But the interest in records of notes existed immediately in several parallel developing ancient civilizations. Methods in each have their own. In Egypt in the middle of the 4th century BC. NS. For this used hieroglyphs, denoting the shining: Sun, Moon, Stars. True, there the score consisted of five notes. And in the ancient Babylon and Syria used a syllable record of musical sounds.

Guido d’Asszo’s music palm – MANUS GUIDONIS

The next important milestone in the development of a good letter was the Epoch of the Middle Ages in Western Europe. Under Pope Gregory I, the formation of Gregorian singing and systematized church frets. Here on the stage and went out Guido d’Israzzo, who is considered by the Rodonacham of Music Diplomas and Notopy. He lived in the XI century, he came up with a way to memorize simple melodies on the first syllables of acrosth prayer to John the Baptist:

Despite the fact that the modern system of a tank letter was framed only by the XVI century, these seven notes – to, re, mi, fa, salt, la, si – and entered octave.

But seven only clean notes, and there are five-alterated, that is, elevated or lowered on the half. It turns out only 12. Indeed, if you count on the piano not only white, but also the black keys from one note "before" to the other, the sounds will be 12. They are located among themselves through the intervals of Haltone or the Small Second. But the main steps to which Oktawa is divided, still seven. Therefore, the notes allocate seven. And the eighth stage serves to close the previous octave and the beginning of the new.

So there will be no time between notes before and Si octave. It will be upon reaching the next before, that is, notes in Oktave not seven, as it is customary to think, and eight. Therefore, with the name of this term, or rather, with its translation from Latin to our, everything is true. Oktawa is the "distance" between the nearest Sounds of the same name, the frequency of which differs by two times.

And all this is true only if we are talking about seven-sided lights, such as major or minor, as well as the Lada of People’s Music. Of course, the sound can be broken down in smaller intervals. So, Chinese national tools usually use a sound out of five steps, that is, six sounds. And on individual oriental guitars, additional laboratory notches appear to divide the block on 1/3 tones or ¼ tone.

That’s just for the ears of the European inhabitant, accustomed to so many centuries to a uniform halftone temperature, such a difference may be invisible. More than half of the people are able to capture only some people. For example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart heard the error of sounds of up to 1/8 tones. Absolute healers often possess violinists, as well as performers of other string instruments.