This makes a lot more sense on a mean-tone tempered instrument like NSP,
than on a notionally equal-tempered one like a piano.
Different keys do have perceptibly different intervals between the various
degrees on NSP,
so G-d is pretty true and E-B is on the flat side;
but on a piano a fifth is a fifth is a fifth (nearly).
John
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of
Richard York [rich...@lizards.force9.co.uk]
Sent: 03 February 2011 18:25
To: NSP group
Subject: [NSP] Esoteric tuning relationships
I am sure I'm not the only person here who gets different feelings
about different keys. G always feels fairly stable, A is a bit more
exciting, Em is darker than Am , and so on.
When playing an A minor tune I wrote for nsp's on the piano to see what
harmonies it wanted, I was playing in Am, the written pitch, to get the
right feel.
It comes out on the pipes in more-or-less G minor of course, but still
has that feeling of lift of being on A rather than G.
While I lack the finger facility to play it in Gm on the pipes I
suspect it would feel different there, just as it does on real Gm on
the piano.
I put this down to my pipes being tuned with G as their home key, as it
were, so the maths is probably the same in relation to G on the
piano if you can work out what I mean by this imprecise expression.
I realise this could get far far more complicated than my maths will
begin to understand, so will content myself with wondering if anyone
else gets this feeling, and if it transposes itself the same way for
you between nsp's and concert pitch instruments.
Or am I just approaching ever nearer to being certifiably in need of
locking away?
Best wishes,
Richard.
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