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Robert Walker

Yes. for sure. Here I assume you mean seventeen equal (there are many seventeen note unequal scales as well).

In this tuning, you have 17 keys instead of 12 to circle through. In any tuning that’s connected together by fifths, however approximate, you can always try progressions by fifths and there are often many other things to try.

You can listen to the start of Easely Blackwood’s 17 note tuning here (track 8) Easley Blackwood: Microtonal

This is what he says about this tuning in his program notes:

“17 notes: This tuning has much in common with 12-note tuning because both contain dia­tonic scales of five equal major seconds and two equal minor seconds.

In 17-note tuning, howev­er, each major second spans three chromatic degrees rather than two (as in 12-note tuning); in both tunings minor seconds span one chro­matic degree.

17-note triads are very discordant due to the large major third, so the fundamental consonant harmony of the tuning is a minor triad with an added minor seventh.

The scale is very good due to the relatively small minor sec­ond, and minor seventh chords may serve as tonics in the Dorian, Phrygian, and Aeolian modes. The Etude consists largely of passages in these modes connected by chromatic modula­tions unique to 17-note tuning.”

Another piece in 17 equal, with harmonic progressions Crocus - 17 equal temperament, 9 tone mode by Wongi Hwang

I think the first equal temperaments to be explored historically (after twelve equal) were 19 and 31 equal. See my answer to To be totally unconventional, should a piano with keys of E# and B# be produced? Would it be more versatile and more interesting?

About the Author

Robert Walker

Robert Walker

Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.
Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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