Unison string course scordatura
This is what one could call ‘standard detuning’, meaning that a full (unison) string course, whether it’s a trichord, dichord or monochord, is tuned to a different unison.
E.g.: Lowering all the C4 strings to quarter-low C4.
Sound examples:
Fig.1
An extract from 'Cairns (for piano and sinfonietta)' by Jon Øivind Ness (Fig.1), where two quartertone-low pentaton scales give the possibility of having very small intervals (quartertones) on the piano.
See tuning here: Score and Technical Info.
Ben Johnston: 'Suite for Microtonal Piano', performed by Phillip Bush
Then follows Ben Johnston’s "Suite for Microtonal Piano" (the opening movement "Alarum"), a ‘classic’ from 1978 where the piano is tuned according to just intonation.
Examples of works including this technique:
- Jon Øivind Ness: Cairns
- Bjørn Erik Haugen: Hertzkino
- Øyvind Mæland: Boiling Web
- Gerard Grisey: Vortex Temporum