Talk:Unison

Wikimedia link

Broken. Not sure if it's disappeared from wikimedia or just never worked. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.6.229.189 (talk) 10:45, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Removed

The unison can be abbreviated as P1.

The unison represents wholeness, totality. It is to harmony what the whole note is to rhythm, or what the whole tone is to melody..

See also: diapason, monophony.

I don't think any of this is true. In musical set theory a unison would be 0 and in just intonation a 1 or 1/1, but not P1. I can't recall an incidence where unison is used metaphorically for wholeness. I also do not see how it a unison is a whole note. Hyacinth 00:23, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Perhaps referring to unison as wholeness was something of a stretch. I am putting back P1, though. Unison is one of the four "perfect intervals", the others being the octave (P2 P8), perfect fifth (P5), and perfect fourth (P4). (I have actually seen these labels being used.) --AugPi 01:25, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

P.S. Unison is not a whole-note. What I meant is that

Unison : harmony :: Whole-note : melody .  

But this analogy is also something of a stretch.

I get the P2 now, thanks for clarifying. A perfect octave is P8, a unison would be P0, but is usually just called unison. I'll check at my library, I think I find a quote regarding the unison and its symbolisim by Robin McConie. Hyacinth 01:43, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

See: Interval_(music)#Abbreviated.

Regarding P1: You are correct! . Hyacinth 02:14, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Disambiguation

I think 'Unison' should be a disambiguation page, listing the four things that are here:

• music term
• UK trade union
• short-lived UK political organisation (incidentally, UK isn't specified and should be)
• Celine Dion album (shudder)

The music term would become Unison (music). Rd232 17:13, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

How about "Unison (disambiguation)" for the disambig and "Unison" for the music article, as it is "clearly predominant" (Wikipedia:Disambiguation#Types of disambiguation). Hyacinth 19:10, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I suppose so, though I'm not keen on that style; but the dominance is pretty strong. The current sit is messy. Rd232 00:50, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I'm not sure what I meant by this...! Anyway, we now have Unison (disambiguation). Rd232 21:29, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Unison an interval?

Why is unison an interval when there is zero interval between unison notes?--Light current 01:15, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

-Indeed! That is what I have been discussing with my colleagues in the tuning list sometime ago. A search on `unison` in the search engine of that yahoogroups will bring up my reasoning and responses. Oz.

second diminished

Hi there, I'm kinda new to this level of accurateness on intervals and the such, but I was told that (on non-tempered instruments) a B flat is not the same as an A sharp.

Of course, on a piano, or any fretted string instrument this can't be taken into account, but as I said, on any non-tempered instrument like strings on an orchestra or the human voice, there might actually be such a difference. I'm not sure how the intervals on the diatonic scale were created, but I know it has something to do with the harmonic scale... well...

The point to which I'm trying to get is that I believe the diminished second is not the same as an unison. And instead of having any information reflecting this fact(?), all I see is a link on diminished second to this page, isn't this somewhat misleading?

VdSV9•♫ 15:40, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Requested audio

I have added two audio examples to the article. Hyacinth (talk) 05:45, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

Additional citations: "In unison"

Why and where does this section need additional citations for verification? What references does it need and how should they be added? Hyacinth (talk) 10:23, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Zalino Quote: argumentation outdated

"But a line is not composed of points, since a point has no length, width, or depth that can be extended, or joined to another point."

This argumentation seems outdated. A line can in fact be seen as being composed of infinitely many points. At the time this quote was made, mathematics was not quite comfortable with infinities yet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.70.199.195 (talk) 09:51, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Proposed addition: Unison in pianos section

I previously submitted a draft article titled "Unison (piano)" through Articles for Creation. The draft was declined with a recommendation that the material be merged into the existing Unison article under its own subsection relating to pianos.

Accordingly, I propose adding a section describing unison tuning in pianos, where the concept of unison is particularly important to successful musical performance.

Proposed text:

Unison tuning in pianos

In pianos, most notes are produced by multiple strings tuned to the same pitch, forming what piano technicians call a unison. In the middle and upper registers, three strings (trichords) typically sound each note, while lower notes may use two strings (bichords) or, in the lowest bass, a single string (monochord).

Accurate tuning of the strings within a piano unison is essential to producing a clear tone. If the strings differ slightly in frequency, audible interference occurs, producing fluctuations in loudness known as beating. These fluctuations can make the note sound rough or unstable. When the strings are precisely matched in pitch, the beating is minimized and the note sounds clear and focused.

The tuning of piano unisons is an essential part of piano tuning and musical preparation, as small pitch differences between strings can significantly affect clarity, projection, tone quality and perceived sustain.

Thank you; I welcome feedback. Joelthesecond (talk) 15:04, 13 April 2026 (UTC) Joelthesecond (talk) 15:04, 13 April 2026 (UTC)