The abandonment of natural intervals in the equal temperament system of the 20th century resulted in the loss of the sonic quality of the musical instruments, which
influenced the changing sonority of composers’ musical works. It could be argued that the 12-TET equal temperament has also influenced Lithuanian traditional tunings,
but research carried out by R. Ambrazevičius (2005) and V. Germanavičius (2022) on Lithuanian traditional vocal and instrumental music has shown that the 12-TET
temperament is not widespread. The idea of this project is to identify the origin of one of the essential features of Lithuanian folk music – microtonality – and its links
(similarities and differences) with the unequal temperament systems of Europe (meantone and irregular temperament systems) and the Middle East (Turkish, Arabic). It
is hypothesised that the European tuning systems of the 16th to 20th centuries influenced Lithuanian folk music and its tuning system through the spread of Christian
music (especially organ music), coming to Lithuania from Italy and Germany, and on the other side, Lithuanian folk music interaction was influenced by the music of
non-Christian cultures of Karaims, Tatars and Jews, that have existed in Lithuania since the Middle Ages. The novelty and relevance of the idea of this artistic research lies in the comparison of the intervals of the traditional Lithuanian unequal tunings and the European and Middle Eastern unequal temperament systems, in order to
identify the degree of identity and differences of the interval ratios. The second main aim of the project is to implement the discovered features of unequal tunings of
Lithuanian folk music into contemporary professional music. For this reason, it is planned to create an original large-scale orchestral work and a chamber music
composition, using in both of them the micro-intervals and tunings typical of Lithuanian folk music. The third main aim of the project is to improve the notation system
of contemporary music with the possibility of fixing the microtonal unequal tuning of Lithuanian folk music scales. Thus, new methods and practices of notation of
microtonal music in the creation of new musical compositions will be proposed
Project funding:
Research Council of Lithuania (RCL), Projects of Postdoctoral fellowships funded by the state budget of the Republic of Lithuania
Project results:
New music compositions, scientific articles, participation in trainings and presentations at conferences
Period of project implementation: 2024-01-15 - 2026-01-14
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
