Many know the cornerstones of music: halftones and whole tones. However, there’s a mode of expression generally unknown to Western audiences: Microtonality.
Microtonality refers to the usage of intervals of tones within whole or semitones. When hearing these tones individually, many assume them to be out of tune. However, when structured purposefully, the seemingly unorthodox system can create compositions like none other. Due to several psychological and biological reasons, we associate anything other than twelve equal temperaments with pure unpleasant dissonance, which is why microtonality is somewhat of an acquired taste among listeners.
In the past, microtonality has been assumed to be a niche when, in actuality, foreign spaces have been utilizing microtonal systems for centuries. African, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Southeast Asian music cultures all use microtonal divisions as their gold standard for instrumentation. Such examples would be the Indonesian gamelan and pelog tuning systems for their respective instruments, and the usage of microtonals heard in the Arabic maqam system of melody.
Instruments used to perform microtonality usually appear very similar to Western instruments, with a few invisible modifications. Microtonal pianos allow for quarter tones to be played while still having the option to play in 12 equal temperaments (the most common Western arrangement).
The atmosphere created by microtonal music varies greatly, but is uniform in one way: a strongly identifiable motif of somber-sounding arpeggios and scales accompanied by bewildering chords.