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1/12 Ton ?Luft?

English translation: Twelfth of a tone difference

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:1/12 Ton Luft
English translation:Twelfth of a tone difference
Entered by: Chris Rowson (X)

13:52 Jun 13, 2002
German to English translations [PRO]
Music / Music
German term or phrase: 1/12 Ton ?Luft?
Beispielsweise spielen Hörner und Posaunen gleichzeitig die Terz cis-e ? allerdings einerseits aus dem Obertonspektrum von A, andererseits aus dem von Fis, was in diesem Fall bedeutet, dass die beiden kleinen Terzen unterschiedlich groß sind und sich quasi ineinander schachteln lassen, mit 1/6 beziehungsweise 1/12 Ton ?Luft? ? und mit scharfen Reibungen im Zusammenklang.
Brainstorm
Austria
Local time: 15:24
Twelfth of a tone difference
Explanation:
For a first shot. I really would like to know if the question marks are in the original. This is talking about some pretty advanced, non-conventional sound technique, and if they are there, then it is question also of non-conventional language technique, which needs to be reflected.

However, ignoring the question marks, it seems to be like this.

The horns and trombones play the third C# - E at the same time [I think he means one horn plays C# and one plays E, while also one trombone plays C# and another plays E, though it´s not completely clear].

BUT one pair of instruments is playing them out of the A overtone series and the other out of the F# series. (I hope you understand how brass instruments of this type produce their notes out of the harmonic series, otherwise you are going to have trouble with this text.)

The result of this is that the two C#s, one from a horn and one from a trombone, are slightly different from each other, and thus beat against each other, and similarly the two Es are slightly different. The 1/6th and 1/12th are the amount by which the two pairs of notes differ from each other. It hink it is the the two C#s which are 1/6th of a tone different from each other, while the two Es are 1/12th of a tone different from each other, but it might be the other way round, I´m not a breass player myself.

A tone is a defined ratio. I don´t know the mathematical formula, it is the tonal distance between for example C and D, when they are tuned in equal temperament, which makes all of these one-tone differences (C-D, D-E, E-F#, etc.) identical ratios. The 1/6th and 1/12th are these fractions of this ratio. What the composer is doing is playing modernistic/mediaeval games with having these instruments play in non-equal temperament, which they tend to do anyway, due to their nature, though usually modern players do their best to even this out to equal temperament. Here they are required to play in the pure intonation which is more natural for these instruments.

Hope this helps :-)
Selected response from:

Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 15:24
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2Twelfth of a tone difference
Chris Rowson (X)


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


44 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Twelfth of a tone difference


Explanation:
For a first shot. I really would like to know if the question marks are in the original. This is talking about some pretty advanced, non-conventional sound technique, and if they are there, then it is question also of non-conventional language technique, which needs to be reflected.

However, ignoring the question marks, it seems to be like this.

The horns and trombones play the third C# - E at the same time [I think he means one horn plays C# and one plays E, while also one trombone plays C# and another plays E, though it´s not completely clear].

BUT one pair of instruments is playing them out of the A overtone series and the other out of the F# series. (I hope you understand how brass instruments of this type produce their notes out of the harmonic series, otherwise you are going to have trouble with this text.)

The result of this is that the two C#s, one from a horn and one from a trombone, are slightly different from each other, and thus beat against each other, and similarly the two Es are slightly different. The 1/6th and 1/12th are the amount by which the two pairs of notes differ from each other. It hink it is the the two C#s which are 1/6th of a tone different from each other, while the two Es are 1/12th of a tone different from each other, but it might be the other way round, I´m not a breass player myself.

A tone is a defined ratio. I don´t know the mathematical formula, it is the tonal distance between for example C and D, when they are tuned in equal temperament, which makes all of these one-tone differences (C-D, D-E, E-F#, etc.) identical ratios. The 1/6th and 1/12th are these fractions of this ratio. What the composer is doing is playing modernistic/mediaeval games with having these instruments play in non-equal temperament, which they tend to do anyway, due to their nature, though usually modern players do their best to even this out to equal temperament. Here they are required to play in the pure intonation which is more natural for these instruments.

Hope this helps :-)

Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 15:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 26

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ingar A. Milnes: From the theoretical point of view this is absolutely correct. Tuff stuff, though!
59 mins
agree  LegalTrans D: Perfect, Chris! "Luft" is also used when there is barely enough space for one thing to squeeze inside the other.
1 hr
  -> I also know it like this from chess, where it refers to making a square for the king so he doesn´t get mated on the back rank :-) Even in English!
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