source file: m1535.txt
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 07:53:45 -0500

Subject: Re: Neutral Third

From: Gary Morrison <mr88cet@texas.net>

> Can someone explain to me the neutral third, how it functions, how it has been
> used historically

   I confess that I'm not very well-versed on historical usage of neutral thirds,
but it's probably fair to say that blues has the most common use of neutral
thirds.  I have some personal experience with them though.

   Neutral thirds are usually (as far as I'm aware) taken to be 11:9 ratio
intervals.  11:9 turns out to be remarkably close to the square root of 3:2 -
remarkably for such a simple ratio that is.

   I wrote a short composition in 88CET tuning intended to explore neutral
thirds.  Four steps in 88CET (the nonoctave equal temperament whose primitive
step size is 88 cents) is pretty close to 11:9.  I don't have copies of that
composition on a web page or anything like that (yet anyway!), but I could
perhaps send you a cassette of it, or something to that effect.

   But based upon my own experiences with it, here are some relevant comments:
1.  Without a doubt, it's most valuable usage is for its own character, but
    like it or not, the most likely reaction to it is instead as an ambiguous
    third:  We're so used to classifying thirds as major or minor that most
    people, upon hearing a neutral third, will try to call it one or the other.
2.  That in itself is a powerful musical tool:  In that context the effect can
    can really tantalyze your audience, because they can hear the same
    interval ten times, and each time they hear it, their impression changes:
    "it's major... no, it's minor...  no, wait, it IS major..."
3.  If that is your musical goal, then a third slightly flatter than 11:9 is
    probably a better bet than 11:9 itself.  Although 11:9 is indeed quite
    close to the middle position between the two, our ears seem to
    gravitate more toward major than minor.  So to make it as difficult
    to decide as possible, you have to bias it toward minor a little bit.
4.  Neutral thirds, all in all to my ears at least, create an impression of
    ambiguity and indecisiveness.  Chords composed entirely of neutral
    thirds have a fascinating "lost in space" unclarity to them.