Hi, On Tue, 2 Nov 2004, Benjamin Esham wrote:
> On Nov 2, 2004, at 6:20 PM, Anthony W. Youngman wrote: > > > Bear in mind, E and F-flat aren't actually the same note. Not only are > > they > > different points on the key scale, but in a properly tuned scale they > > aren't > > even the same frequency! Very close, but not the same. > > Interesting... this flies in the face of everything I've ever been > taught :-D Not really. I am sure you heard something about the "well tempered clavier". It was one of J.S.Bach's greatest achievements: it allowed to play through various keys (another thing Bach was great at) without the accords sounding wrong. > Please elaborate on the difference; also, what tuning system are you > using? You can find out about this on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well-Tempered_Clavier and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meantone_temperament I have to oppose the term "properly tuned", though. There is no such thing as a "proper tuning" (see especially "Meantone temperament"). Some people are convinced that the Pythagorean temperament is the "correct" one, because of its nice mathematical properties. This is, of course, a weak argument (i.e. Newton's theory is much nicer in mathematical terms than Einstein's theory, let alone Quantum Mechanics). In the Western world, we usually hear equally tempered instruments. That is not totally true, though: trumpets, for example, suffer an especially strange situation: some notes are played just by altering the embouchure, so the interval is constrained by physical laws and the frequency can only be an integer number multiplied by the base frequency. For other notes, the length of the vibrating air is changed, and this is used to adapt it to a "more equal" temperament. Alphorns don't have this distinction, therefore it sounds wrong to Western ears when someone tries to play something else than just Tonica-Dominant-Subdominant. BTW, yodeling, which has the same musical roots as the alphorns, has the same temperament. Hth, Dscho _______________________________________________ lilypond-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-devel
