Ellis D. Quarter Tones: A text with musical examples, exercises and etudes

Long Island: Harold Branch Publishing Co., 1975. — 91 p.Today, most of the music one hears in our (Western) culture, is based on the equal tempered scale (i.e., twelve equally spaced notes to an octave). However, since jazz and black music burst on the public consciousness around the turn of this century, the dominance of the equal tempered system has been seriously challenged.
The musics of jazz, blues and rock and roll, with their use of "blue" notes, bent tones, melismas and glissandi introduce pitches not found in equal temperament and anyone familiar with these forms of music knows the tremendous power and excitement these notes "in the cracks of the piano" can generate.
There is a whole new exciting world to be discovered (and rediscovered) in the area of intervals and intonation. The use of quarter tones is a step in this direction. For the future there is much experimentation, research, and just plain making of music to be done.Introduction
The Background-Equal Temperament
The History of Quarter Tones
The Notation of Quarter Tones
My Personal Interest
Fingering Charts
Basic Quarter Tone Scales
Exercises for Dexterity and Ear Training
Melodic Studies Using Quarter Tones
Bibliography