On Wed, Mar 31, 2021 at 11:47:05PM +0100, antlists wrote:
On 31/03/2021 20:20, Callum Cassidy-Nolan wrote:
You are correct, there is no distinction between these two notes,
because in terms of pitch they are the same.
Actually, they're not ...
If you're talking about "well-tempered" instruments - basically keyboard -
then IN PRACTICE they are the same note, but the whole well-tempered system
is a bodge to make sure instruments sound "okay" in any modern scale.
I assume by "well-tempered" you mean equally tempered.
There seems to be a common misconception that the tuning systems that
preceeded equal temperament were somehow satisfactory for a single
scale, and that we needed equal temperament only to overcome that
problem, but that is not the case. Even if you try to only tune the
seven white notes, it is not possible to both have acoustically correct
thirds and fifths. Equal temperament may have made it possible to use
all keys equally, but that's not why it was adopted. Even for a single
scale it is better than the alternatives.
That's why, as soon as the mathematics (root extractions) required for
tempered tuning were discovered, it rapidly became the standard.
As soon as you move to instruments capable of playing any pitch (the violin
family, the trombone family, probably others I've missed) or "bending" notes
- basically all the wind instruments - then you'll find they tend to play
circle of fourths or fifths, and not well-tempered, and d# and eb are most
definitely different notes (although very close).
The issue of black notes is a red herring. Even if you restrict
yourself to one pitch, "A" let's say, you will find that there isn't a
single correct value for it. The A which is a major third above F is not
the same pitch as the A that is fourth fifths (less two octaves) from F
(if anyone interested is reading this, I urge you to try the math for
yourself - it's usually quite a surprise to everyone the first time). So
even if you just want to tune two white notes you run into problems.