Boink Tinkle
Thursday 10th January
That’s the sound of a penny dropping.
I always wondered why F# and Gb aren’t the same note. I understand that on certain instruments, they are produced in a different way and actually sound different, but on something even-tempered like a piano or organ, what’s the difference?
It was pointed out to me in a very simple way today.
Consider a C-major scale containing F#:
C D E F# G A B C
Now consider a C-major scale containing Gb:
C D E F Gb A B C
The difference is in context. Exactly the same sound is produced for the F# and the Gb, but the notes around it are altered.
Clever, that.
*thwacks forehead*
if I had a things I’ve wanted to know for over a decade category, that would be in it!
boink tinkle indeed! (plus that noise it makes when it’s swirling around like the prison on planet krypton at the start of Superman)
sweavo
11 Jan 08 at 9:09 am
That’s right. The first scale is C major with an augmented 4th. The second is C major with a diminished fifth.
As you say, on an even-tempered instruments (those with an equiharmonic scale), the actual note that you hear is exactly the same.
You picked an interesting example - the interval between root and aug4th/dim5th is three whole tones and is considered the most dissonant of all harmonies in Western music. Known as the tritone, it has Satanic connotations! Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone for more.
Sam
11 Jan 08 at 2:33 pm
So what do you get if you drop a piano on Arthur Scargill????
Ab minor.
*giggle*
Mr H
11 Jan 08 at 2:46 pm
So what do you get if you drop a piano on Arthur Scargill????
A: A Flat.
(Is there an A note?)
John
11 Jan 08 at 2:58 pm
So what do you get if you drop a piano on Arthur Scargill????
It depends on altitude, since concert pitch varies
sweavo
11 Jan 08 at 5:01 pm
Hot Cross Nuns?
stu
11 Jan 08 at 5:11 pm
He doesn’t. He doesn’t have a nose.
Rich
11 Jan 08 at 7:53 pm
I say I say I say.
A red piano and a black Arthur Scargill collided at sea.
(The punchline is left blank as an exercise for the reader.)
Simon's Tall
12 Jan 08 at 12:51 pm
Those *are* the batteries
Sam
12 Jan 08 at 5:15 pm