utonality

English

Noun

utonality (plural utonalities)

1. (music) A family of pitches that can all be expressed as ratios with a specified fixed tone, such that all ratios have the same numerator; a subharmonic series.
   • 1966, Jonas Mekas, Film Culture - Issues 40-42, page 6:

     Fixed tonal systems find utonalities disturbing. There are four utonalities prominent in the chromatic gamut.

   • 1982, Percussive Notes - Volume 21, page 71:

     A similar correlation is evident in the physical layout of the Kithara II, which consists of twelve banks of six strings, each bank tuned to a specific, although incomplete, otonality or utonality.

   • 1995, 1/1: The Quarterly Journal of the Just Intonation Network:

     Contrasting otonality and utonality allows Johnston to mark distinctions between a melody and its inversion.

Related terms

• utonal