system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Western music has missed out on a ton of creative possibilities by restricting itself to a 12 tone system.

The major and minor scales have a thorough basis in harmonics: the major scale is composed of the first and second harmonics of the fundamental tone (i, v, iii), the dominant (v, ii, vii), and the subdominant (iv, vii, i). The minor scale is just an inverted major scale, and so it may be similarly constructed (Schoenberg describes this beautifully in *The Theory of Harmony*). Thus, the major and minor scale have a foundation in physical phenomena, so it is reasonable that they should appear throughout a large portion of music.

On the other hand, the twelve-tone system we see in Western music does not come (at least not canonically) from a physical phenomenon; instead, it comes from a numerical coincidence, namely that 2^(19) is approximately equal to 3^(12). Thanks to this coincidence, a 12-tone system allows us to play a good approximation to a major and minor scale in any key. This was a revolutionary discovery as prior to this realization, an instrument would have to be tuned to a particular key, but now, instruments could be tuned (within a small margin of error) to all keys simultaneously. Bach's *Well-Tempered Clavier*, a series of fugues that go through all 24 major and minor keys, famously demonstrates the power of this 12-tone system. Ever since this discovery, the vast majority of Western music has been composed in 12-tone equal temperament.

But there are alternatives that have been ignored almost entirely. For instance, a 19-tone system actually gives a better approximation approximation to the major third and a *much* better approximation to the minor third, at the cost of a slightly worse approximation to the fifth. A 31-tone system also gives excellent approximations to the important intervals, though having so many notes is arguably a bit cumbersome from a notational standpoint. A 19-tone system, however, actually fits into the standard Western musical notation system; we just now distinguish sharps from flats of the key above.

I am not arguing that 19-tone equal temperament is a better system than 12-tone, but I do think that by ignoring the alternatives, composers have neglected a massive amount of artistic possibilities that are unavailable in a 12-tone system. Many modern composers have experimented with microtones, creating pieces that do not fit into any equal-temperament system, but to my knowledge, very few have composed works that still fit into an equal-temperament system, but not the standard one. I think that doing so would open up a new world of possibilities in music composition, and that our society has missed out on an infinitude of beautiful music as a result.
gpt
Whatever tonal system you use, two factors limit its applicability: the ability to discern notes and produce pleasing scales. It was researched discerning quarter note intervals can be taught, but that doesn't mean the arabic scale can faithfully reproduce all western-scale songs. Furthermore, arabic and indian scales have a form of complexity to them that wouldnt reflect well in all types of feelings conceived through music. But id agree it be probably best if we taught music including quarter notes. 

Although we might've missed out in the past, electronic music certainly progressed far beyond this limitation. Every detune you add in a synthesizer could be used to convey even more complex emotions or any reproducible sound for that matter. So we missed out, but the lack of discerning skills in listeners could've dimished the popularity of such music in the first place. Right now its either a deliberate choice or a lack of musical education.