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formerly known as etaoin...
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I haven't read neither the book nor the reviews, but after composing a nice long reply to AnnaS and the etc... I mistakenly erased it (grrrrr)... but I think I remember the punch line.
"...At the heart of their dispute is the question of how the tones of a musical scale should be selected."
After all of that dispute they'll come up with the answer *they knew all along - - - "By ear".
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By ear. Yes, Musick.
Not to write about scales per se, but:
And beauty is in the ear of the beholding culture. We've written about this before on this board, but it bears repeating:
Different western cultural orchestras tune their concert A's differently--American orchestras tune to a different A from European orchestras. And the baroque orchestras tuned to the lowest A I'm aware of.
So, there are ears and there are other ears.
I don't mind at all since I don't have perfect pitch.
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After loosing any hope to understand anything in this thread, I am asked to add my two cents... well, I will try I am able to play the computer indeed, but I fear that I am not able to write the sounds as in the English way. Our "notes" are do re mi fa sol la si do. Don't remember where the intervals are simple or double, anyway from a note and the same note in the following octave( is that correct?) there are twelve such semitones.
Well, La is, for example, 440 hertz ( in basic, sound 440, 10 gives a sound "la"for 10 units of time) The following La is 880 hertz.
In between, in the well tempered way of tuning, all the notes can be obtained in this way: la = 440 la + one semitone = 440 times (twelveth root of two) la + two semitones = the previous number times (twelveth root of two) and so on. Approximately, (twelveth root of two) = 1.059463094359295264561825. It is an approximation, of course, since the number is not rational = it is proven that it cannot be written exactly with a finite number of decimal digits.
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twelveth root of two
I love it.
la = 440
Ed. note: La is our A
This puts paid to the idea that the European concert pitch is different nor the USn's.
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I have it on excellent authority that European orchestras tune to a 444 A, Faldage. And I have it on equally excellent authority that the baroque orchestras tuned to an A somewhat flatter than the 440. I will go back to my sources, dig 'em up, but I'm sure of this. Now perhaps in Italy the 440 A is used, and perhaps this somewhat sharper A tuning to 444 is not consistently used throughout Europe, but I'll look up sources because I've heard many a conductor mention the difference between American tuning and European tuning--and I doubt these men were in error.
But I'll see. Have been wrong before and could be again, but I doubt it this time.
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I have it on excellent authority that European orchestras tune to a 444 A
But not in Italy?
I agree on the older lower pitch tuning. A414 sticks in my mind. From Emanuela's notes on the twelfth root of two=~1.06; 440/414 =~ 1.06 so A414 is approximately one semitone down from where we do it today. 444/440=1.0090909..., roughly a sixth of a semitone. This would be scarcely noticeable to even the most perfectly pitched ear.
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there are regional differences in the US as well. the Boston string players like to tune up to around 442, which drives the oboe players nuts, because it makes it hard for them to keep the whole instrument in tune... etc., etc.... my understanding of the old days is that the instruments(strings) couldn't handle the higher tension of the higher tunings, and only as instruments inproved could the higher tunings be used consistently. string players like higher tunings because it makes the instrument brighter, therefore it seems louder. tuning has oscillated throughout history...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pure interval? The first time your baby really "sees" you, and smiles.
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Our "notes" are do re mi fa sol la si do.
and our "Notes" are do re mi fa sol la ti do!
(from Do a Deer, a song from the musical "The Sound of Music" about the Von Trapp Family singers, based on Maria Von Trapps book. the word in bold is close to how we say the names of the notes. Do, a deer, female deer doe Re, a drop of golden sun ray Mi, a name i call myself me Fa, a long long way to run fa(r)-the r is not voiced sol, a needle pulling thread sew-the l of sol is not voiced La, a note to follow sol, la Ti, a drink with jam and bread tea that will bring us back to do!
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