intonation

Examples of intonation in the following topics:

• Articulation and Pronunciation

  • Articulation focuses on making individual sounds and pronunciation focuses on stress, rhythm, and intonation of the syllables in the word.
  • Pronunciation refers to the ability to use the correct stress, rhythm, and intonation of a word in a spoken language.
  • Your job in pronunciation involves recognizing the different syllables that make up a word, applying the stress to the right syllable and using the right up and down pitch pattern for intonation.
  • You can change the meaning by varying the intonation pattern.

• Further Study

  • A number of YouTube videos provide comparisons that you can listen to, for example comparisons of just intonation and equal temperament, or comparisons of various temperaments.

• Pitch

  • All languages use pitch pragmatically as intonation (or inflection as is used in some text) to communicate different meanings—for emphasis, to convey surprise or irony, or to pose a question.
  • Practice saying sentences with different intonation patterns to change the meaning.
  • For example, if you make a statement with falling intonation at the end, you can turn it into a question by raising the intonation at the end.

• Tuning based on the Harmonic Series

  • More modern Western music, on the other hand, does not sound pleasant using Pythagorean intonation.
  • In just intonation, the fifth and the third are both based on the pure, harmonic series interval.
  • Just intonation makes two accommodations to allow its pure intervals.
  • The other accommodation with reality that just intonation must make is the fact that a single just-intonation tuning cannot be used to play in multiple keys.
  • In constructing a just-intonation tuning, it matters which steps of the scale are major whole tones and which are minor whole tones, so an instrument tuned exactly to play with just intonation in the key of C major will have to retune to play in C sharp major or D major.

• The Ragas of Classical Indian Music

  • The tanpura is usually tuned to a pure perfect fifth, so, just as in medieval European music, the tuning system is a just intonation system.
  • As in Western just intonation, the octave is divided into twelve possible notes, only some of which are used in a particular raga (just as Westerners use only some of the twelve notes in each key).

• Temperament

  • A harpsichord that has been tuned using the Pythagorean system or just intonation may sound perfectly in tune in one key - C major, for example - and fairly well in tune in a related key - G major - but badly out of tune in a "distant" key like D flat major.
  • In modern times, well temperaments have been replaced by equal temperament, so much so in Western music that equal temperament is considered standard tuning even for voice and for instruments that are more likely to play using just intonation when they can (see above).
  • As mentioned above, just intonation is sometimes substituted for equal temperament when practical, and some musicians would also like to reintroduce well temperaments, at least for performances of music which was composed with well temperament in mind.

• The Importance of Language

  • Speech contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, rate, pitch, volume, and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation, and stress.

• Reducing Barriers and Promoting Healthy Conversations

  • The stress and intonation may also keep the listener active and away from distractions.

• Best Practices in Public Speaking

  • Rehearsing the speech out loud after writing it can assist you in nailing down good timing and refining your intonation.

• Enharmonic Spelling

  • They sometimes drift, consciously or unconsciously, towards just intonation, which is more closely based on the harmonic series.
  • For definitions and discussions of equal temperament, just intonation, and other tuning systems, please see Tuning Systems.