7.2 Distances between notes
It is not simply the number of notes that varies from pitch system to pitch system, but also the size of the intervals between those notes. You may remember that in Western music, each note in the 12-note pitch system stands 100 cents away from its immediate neighbours. This distance is anything but universal. In the pentatonic music from Sunda you have just heard, each note is around 240 cents away from its neighbours (Cook, 2014).
The relationship between notes is set out in Table 2, which lists the notes introduced on the preceding page as well as their approximate distance from one another in cents. Note that actual distances often depart from the average given here.
The lowest note, in Western terms, is at the bottom of the table and the highest is at the top.
Table 2 Structure of saléndro pitch system
| Number | Name | Distance from singgul in cents | Distance from previous note in cents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5̣ | Singgul or petit | 1200 | 240 |
| 1 | Barang or tugu | 960 | 240 |
| 2 | Kenong or lorloran | 720 | 240 |
| 3 | Panelu | 480 | 240 |
| 4 | Bem or galimer | 240 | 240 |
| 5 | Singgul | — | — |
Activity 11
Listen to Audio 4, which presents a simplified version of the 5-note Sundanese saléndro pitch system, moving from low to high and then back down again. It was generated using the Leimma music environment, a browser-based resource created by Khyam Allami for creating, hearing and playing pitch systems.
Creating room for a wider range of pitch systems
Khyam Allami’s music environment is a response to a widespread absence of readily available electronic instruments, applications, and programs that accommodate pitch systems other than the Western one (for example, pitch systems where notes are 240 cents apart instead of 100 or 200). At the time of writing, it is easy to find online interfaces that emulate the piano, but much more difficult to find ones that replicate instruments or ensembles structured by alternative pitch systems.
OpenLearn - Introduction to music theory 2: pitch and notation 
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