[net.audio] Key shift effects

wildbill@ucbvax.UUCP (William J. Laubenheimer) (05/07/84)

> A professor of mine once pointed out that if
> all of that virtuoso piano music (Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff) written in
> C# minor or Db major were played in C min/maj, it just wouldn't sound the
> same.  The "warmth" with which the keys are regarded may be subjective or
> conditioned, but the ability to distinguish them from C min/maj seems to be
> universal.

> (Did those guys write in those guys just to show how good they were, playing
> 	in such a difficult key?  Typical!)
> 					Rich Rosen   pyuxn!rlr

	The fact is that there is an actual physical difference between
the keys. This occurs because the tuning of any keyboard instrument
represents a compromise between the true temperaments of the 12 different
root tones available in Western music. In effect, there are two choices
which can be made: either you can tune one particular scale (such as A)
in its true temperament, and accept the effect this has on the other
scales, or you can compromise and tune all the notes a little off, which
results in no scale being exactly in tune, but also no scale being
so badly out of tune that it grates on the ear. This system is known
as the even- or well-tempered system, and is the motivation for Bach's
set of propaganda pieces known as \\Die Wohltemperierte Klavier// (lit.
\\The Well-Tempered Keyboard//, meaning "keyboard instrument".

	The result of using even temperament is that some notes are a bit
sharp, and some others are a bit flat, and which notes are which vary
depending on the scale you choose to play in. This purely physical effect
has a great deal to do with the psychological effects noted above. More
information is probably available in a good book on piano tuning, or
possibly in some music history books. I also think there was an article
on piano physics sometime in Scientific American. If you have their
"Physics of Musical Instruments" reprint collection available, it may
be in there.

	As far as playing in keys with lots of sharps and/or flats
being difficult, you'd have to talk to a pianist about that. Speaking
from my own limited experience, the problem is more along the lines
of remembering which notes are to be sharped or flatted than actually
hitting the notes. Once you know how the work is supposed to go,
this problem tends to take care of itself.

                                        Bill Laubenheimer
----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science
          ...Killjoy WAS here!          ucbvax!wildbill