The JUST INTONATION PRIMER

Do you want to start making music in Just Intonation, but don't know where to begin? Or do you just want to find out what all the talk is about? The Just Intonation Primer will give you the information you need, in a succinct and readable form. With 84 pages of text and over 50 charts and diagrams, The Just Intonation Primer explains the essential concepts of Just Intonation in terms that practicing composers and musicians will understand.

Praise for The Just Intonation Primer:

Probably the most practical guide for learing the subject. The text is clear, including explication of the math, and definitions are precise.

W.A. Mathieu — Harmonic Experience

I highly recommend this book as a textbook for theory classes and as an introduction to more detailed and idiosyncratic works on JI... Independent composers frustrated by the limits of 12 [tone equal temperament] should read this book...

John H. Chalmers, Jr. — Xenharmonikôn

David Doty is the appropriate person to create such a work... he has the requisite subject matter expertise in generous measure, and he has been in a position to know what students of the subject want and need. The book that results is a concise, practical, informative, and very affordable text.

Bart Hopkin — Experimental Musical Instruments

...Doty has emerged as one of the preeminent contemporary theorists of JI, showing himself to be a gifted expositor as well as a careful and imaginative thinker. Hence the Primer is likely to become the main text and reference for American composers interested in the resources of JI.

Dudley Duncan — Ars Musica Denver

Unlike many previous texts dealing with tuning theory and its applications, The Just Intonation Primer is intended for readers with an elementary knowledge of common-practice music theory and no training in higher mathematics. Its object is to prepare the reader to begin practical work in Just Intonation and to understand more advanced texts and articles. Previously, the few books available on Just Intonation have been difficult to obtain and more difficult to understand. The primer will make it easy for any interested musician to understand the fundamentals of Just Intonation and begin making real music.

Among the principal topics addressed in the primer are:

  • What is Just Intonation?

  • A brief history of tuning in Western music

  • Acoustic and psychoacoustic background

  • Basic definitions, conventions, and procedures

  • Intervals, chords, fixed scales, and extended tonal space

  • Practical Just Intonation with real instruments

About the Author:

David B. Doty is a composer, author, instrument builder, and synthesist, and a leading authority on Just Intonation. He is a founding member of the Just Intonation Network and has edited the network's journal, 1/1, since its inception in 1984. He has worked exclusively in Just Intonation since 1975, composing primarily for American Gamelan and MIDI systems. His compositions in Just Intonation can be heard on his CD Uncommon Practice.





To Order The Just Intonation Primer

The Just Intonation Primer is available exclusively from the Just Intonation Network. The primer is priced at $9.00 for current Just Intonation Network members and $12.00 for the general public, plus shipping. Select the appropriate PayPal button to Order now.

Members: USA: $9.00
(plus $2.00 shipping)

 Members: Canada or Mexico: $9.00
(plus $5.00 shipping)

 Members: International: $9.00
(plus $8.50 shipping)
Nonmembers in the USA: $12.00
(plus $2.00 shipping)

 Nonembers: Canada or Mexico: $12.00
(plus $5.00 shipping)

 Nonmembers: International: $12.00
(plus $8.50 shipping)

To order via mail

Make Checks Payable to:
The Just Intonation Network
1142 Villa Avenue
Belmont, CA 94002

California residents must include sales tax (8.5%). For orders from outside the U.S., please send a check or money order in U.S. dollars drawn on a U.S. bank. Sorry, no credit card orders except via PayPal.