Where does this come from, and can I check it?

That doubles the steps in an octave to 24. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a music fact?

Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Some composers write in quarter tones

That doubles the steps in an octave to 24 Quarter tone pieces require instruments with fine control, or fretted and keyboard instruments retuned for the piece. The effect can sound unsettling to ears used to semitones. Several twentieth century composers experimented with it, and it also appears in Arabic and Turkish traditions. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

Music trivia

More facts like this

A minor key lowers the thirdFlattening one note changes the whole emotional colour of a scale Simple frequency ratios sound calmOctaves are two to one and fifths three to two, and they blend rather than clash Baroque music ran on a bass line and chordsThe continuo filled in harmony from a figured bass The circle of fifths orders every keyMoving one step adds a sharp or removes a flat Sonata form sets two ideas against each otherExposition, development and recapitulation is the usual pattern Vibrato wavers about six times a secondSmall, regular pitch wobbles make a sustained note sound fuller

Tags: microtonal, harmony, modernism

Some composers write in quarter tones: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: That doubles the steps in an octave to 24. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a music fact?: Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.