nprofile1qyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kytcqyqu3dn6rhqvudytglx6x334zyl4f59ld9rnupthgwcv4rzp89vck2ctp9jf (nprofile…p9jf) - Paul Davids is one of my favorite music explainers on YouTube, but I hadn't seen this video of him talk to oud players. Thanks!
Wikipedia makes it sound like these days, the quarter tones are (theoretically) done in equal temperament, so we just chop the octave into 24 equal pieces with frequency ratios between notes being 2^{1/24}. That would be sort of boring, mathematically. I'd be happier if oud players, like Western violinists, lean toward just intonation or Pythagorean tuning. Then there could be some interesting math in how they choose the quarter tones!
Of course in reality they may not care so much about this math, but as a mathematician I'm always hoping to find some math here and there. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWbgBrkUWFg