Tsal Music
The predominant musical system of Tsal is a system of 31-tone equal temperament.
Harmony
The motivating factor behind 31-EDO becoming the dominant tuning system of Tsalian music is its strong approximations of the 5th and 7th harmonics and their corresponding limit intervals, which have long been regarded in the Tsalian theory as consonances.
Naming
In Tsalian theory, just intervals are named after gemstones in a practice dating to ancient times. Pairs of inversions are "greater" and "lesser" variants of the same stone, though the simpler ration in each pair is considered the primary inversion and is often referred to using the gem alone.
| Common 7-Limit Just Intervals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ratio | Interval Name | 31-EDO Approximation | ||||
| Tsal "Gemstone Notation" | English | Tsal | English | EDOstep | ||
| 2:1 | Diamond | Octave | C | 0 | ||
| 3:2 | Ruby | Perfect fifth | G | 18 | ||
| 4:3 | Lesser Ruby | Perfect fourth | F | 13 | ||
| 5:4 | Sapphire | Major third | E | 10 | ||
| 8:5 | Greater Sapphire | Minor sixth | A
|
21 | ||
| 5:3 | Amethyst | Major sixth | A | 23 | ||
| 6:5 | Lesser Amethyst | Minor third | E
|
8 | ||
| 7:4 | Emerald | Septimal minor seventh | A
|
25 | ||
| 8:7 | Lesser Emerald | Septimal whole tone | D
|
6 | ||
| 7:5 | Qomuk | Lesser septimal tritone, Augmented fourth | F
|
15 | ||
| 10:7 | Greater Qomuk | Greater septimal tritone, Diminished fifth | G
|
16 | ||
Some intervals beyond the 7-limit also have gemstone names, but these intervals are less likely to be considered consonant.
| Rarer Just Intervals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ratio | Interval Name | 31-EDO Approximation | ||||
| Tsal "Gemstone Notation" | English | Tsal | English | EDOstep | ||
| 11:8 | Topaz | Undecimal superfourth | F
|
14 | ||
| 16:11 | Greater Topaz | Undecimal subfifth | G
|
17 | ||
Rhythm
Tsalian music commonly employs irregular rhythms. One common pattern in use is the "frog rhythm", a four beat cycle in which the first and third beats are longer. This corresponds to a 10/8 (3+2+3+2) time signature in Western Terran music theory.