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

[tiM]

You're completely right, sorry about forgetting about all musician that
don't use keys ;), it was getting late at the moment I wrote it. But I guess
we agree on the fact that a C is not equally pitched as B#. And as a result
there's a difference between a B# and C chord.

Thanks for correcting me,

tiM

-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Youngman [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: vrijdag 11 augustus 2006 9:38
To: tiM Sportny
Cc: address@hidden
Subject: RE: triangle chord notation (bit of toppic: why c != b sharp)

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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