From: Philippe Verdy (verdy_p@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Wed Mar 24 2004 - 13:29:14 EST
From: "Doug Ewell" <dewell@adelphia.net>
> Stuart is absolutely right. "Enharmonics" like C♯ and D♭ may share the
> same "glyph" (outward appearance, sound)
I was told it was not true for some musical instruments like violin where sounds
are modulated around a median tone, and for which a excercized hear can make the
distinction between the two musical tones played by a good musician (because the
violin allows effects that are not based on exact harmonics, that a musical
partition cannot simply denote only with a simple position and a sign on the
partition grid).
So a tremolo played on C♯ will sound differently than the tremolo played on D♭,
notably if the note is played on several chords, or the chord is pushed by the
finger on the hamp of the instrument (on guitars) or the finger slides on the
hamp of the violin.
Also there are traditions in the way notes are named, depending on the main
musical key of the partition which "drives" the tonality of a whole musical
sentence. So C♯ and D♭ are used in distinct keys and harmonies. This tradition
of naming musical tones according to the key harmony is very strong in classical
music.
Other instruments are also concerned, notably the big and beautiful harmonic
organs in chrurches, and even the modern electronic organs that allow lots of
effects, even though each organ pipe or bell can play only one "note" (in fact
they play a very rich range of harmonics and subharmonics).
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