RE: triangle chord notation (bit of toppic: why c != b sharp)

[Anthony Youngman]

Actually, that bit about "all instruments are tuned in a mathematical
way" is just plain wrong :-)

Think about it ... apart from the open strings, how do you guarantee
that an a# is a b-flat on a violin? Or any other violin-like stringed
instrument, for that matter?

I play the trombone, and I always tune it fractionally sharp. That way,
I can flatten even the open notes by ear to give a note that's exactly
in tune. And - and this applies to ANY brass instrument - because you
can think of a brass instrument as having a "single string" to which you
can apply "harmonic stops" (ie which force notes to be a harmonic of the
fundamental) then all brass instruments are, by their very nature, out
of tune with themselves. So most of them have a tuning slide operated by
the 4th finger that allows you to tune while playing.

What does that leave? Just the woodwind. And even there, with lip
pressure and other stuff, you can 'bend' a note up or down. Okay, I
can't speak with authority for woodwind, but the most spectacular
"bending" story I've heard was about a young trombonist. His teacher
suddenly realised this lad, although able only to move the slide as far
as fourth position, was playing perfect b naturals (seventh position).
In other words, using lips alone, he could force the instrument three
semitones flat!

In other words, the "tuned percussion" (which includes piano) is about
the only family of instruments which is forced to play in "well
tempered" mode. Pretty much every other instrument can be played with
proper harmonic tuning.

Cheers,
Wol

-----Original Message-----
From:
address@hidden
[mailto:address@hidden
.org] On Behalf Of tiM Sportny
Sent: 11 August 2006 02:24
To: address@hidden
Cc: address@hidden
Subject: Re: triangle chord notation (bit of toppic: why c != b sharp)

 In modern music were all instruments are almost tuned in a 
mathematical way, there is no practical relevance so we try to easy
things 
up a bit. My personal oppinion is, just write down how you think it's 
easiest to play. I once had a piece of music written in F key, full of 
naturals in front of every b flat. And it didn't sound alteratic. Well, 
theoreticly it sounds diffenent, but don't try to be so interesting and
just 
say it's in C key. I don't even bother the difference between Cmaj7 and
Em/C 
but maybe that's a bit to careless.


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