source file: mills3.txt Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 09:54:42 +0200 Subject: Re: Keys, Emotions, Tempering, etc... From: Mark Nowitzky Also-Sent-To-Newsgroup: rec.music.makers.piano X-Article-Creation-Date: Mon Sep 15 08:39:01 1997 GMT Hi Gil "et al", In article <3410c7ea.187664762@snews.zippo.com>, bigbug@hooked.net wrote: > If the observation is correct -- that different keys have different > emotions -- then it ought to be testable, and someone ought to be able > to tell the difference, with a little training. . . It might vary from > one piano to the other. A given key might sound one way on your > piano, a different way on another. There's a lot of out-of-tune pianos out there, but as long as the keys have drifted equally (usually in the "flat" direction), it doesn't seem to affect the emotion of the piece. (Of course if the keys have drifted unequally, it's time to get the piano tuned, or to throw it off the roof of Baker House, in Cambridge, Mass., USA.) My own pet theory is that as you listen to music, your ears accept the imperfections in tuning that are presented to them, and knows what was "meant". So the same idea/emotion/whatever comes across, whether you're using equal temperament/meantone temperament/just intonation/whatever. > By the way, I have developed a trick that can fool people into > thinking I have perfect pitch. There is a fan in our office, which is > always on, and it maintains a constant pitch all day and night. . . > middle C in fact. So you can play any note on the piano, and I can > tell you what it is. Neato, huh? > > If you listen hard enough, almost every room has a hum or two in it. . > . or at least a convenient object you can tap to find a pitch. Although I claim to have perfect pitch, the piano I grew up with was about a half-step flat, which permanently messed with my accuracy. So I too sometimes lean on the crutch of the hums of electrical devices. Most devices emit a "60 cycle" hum (at least that's what it is in the USA - some other countries use stuff like 50 cycles). That'll give you a note somewhere between B natural and B flat, presuming A natural is 440 cycles per second (which, again, may not be true in other countries, nor for other centuries for that matter). So you can usually use that as a reference tone. WARNING!!!: You may get a note different than "B half flat" from devices with rotating parts, such as fans and other motors, since gears and variable-speed controls can alter the frequency. Things like light bulbs are more reliable, but you gotta find a loud one, like a flourescent bulb. Great thread! --Mark P.S.: Hermann L. F. Helmholtz rules, in any country or century! He would have loved this thread (if they had the internet in the 19th century). +------------------------------------------------------+ | Mark Nowitzky | | email: nowitzky@pacificnet.net | | www: http://www.pacificnet.net/~nowitzky | | "If you haven't visited Mark Nowitzky's home | | page recently, you haven't missed much..." | +------------------------------------------------------+ SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: gregs@mail.usyd.edu.au Subject: Writing Csound from Scala1.3 PostedDate: 18-09-97 02:15:55 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 18-09-97 02:15:43-18-09-97 02:15:43,18-09-97 02:14:57-18-09-97 02:14:57 DeliveredDate: 18-09-97 02:14:58 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA v1.1 (385.6 5-6-1997)) with SMTP id C1256516.00016F53; Thu, 18 Sep 1997 02:15:40 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA05416; Thu, 18 Sep 1997 02:15:55 +0200 Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 02:15:55 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA05661 Received: (qmail 14822 invoked from network); 18 Sep 1997 00:10:20 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 18 Sep 1997 00:10:20 -0000 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu