On Sat, Apr 4, 2009, "Anthony W. Youngman" <lilyp...@thewolery.demon.co.uk> said:
> Okay, I think I can modify this to a definitive version now ... sorry for my tactless reply earlier, I should have checked the present text rather than assume you were quoting it. >>>1.64 concert pitch >>> >>>The pitch at which the piano and other non-transposing instruments >>>play the concept of transposing instruments is irrelevant to this entry and should be left in its entirety to 1.311 I think it is both sufficient and correct to state A convention for tuning the instruments of the orchestra. >>> Officially, it is defined by whom? wiki? I suspect there is a cartel of instrument makers who have established the standard for what they will manufacture, but they have no say over how their products will be [ab]used. Each orchestra has an understanding with its players, their union(s), and guest performers. For some it is A=440, others 443,444,445... Some Early music ensembles perform at other reference pitches for a variety of reasons we needed elaborate on (A=395, 415, 435, 460..) but should mention. >>>as "A = 440", meaning that the note A >>>in the treble clef indicates a sound >>>that has a frequency of 440Hz. have we established a standard for pitch notation? A4 is what we are discussing here. >>>There are other standard frequencies, >>>but they have mostly fallen into disuse. HAH!! tell that to the academy of ancient music. Clients of our software are playing in some of those ensembles! >>>Instruments with a single sounding part (woodwind, brass) follow a >>>different convention just one? > Or we can > simply point people at the Wikipedia entry for "concert pitch", wiki is a moving target of varying quality, this topic is not evolving so fast that we cant maintain, and we should be self-contained. >>>1.311 transposing instrument >>> >>>Instruments whose notated pitch is different from concert pitch. mmm, better might be to begin with the reason for the convention. -=-=-=-= Many of the instruments of the orchestra are available in different sizes, each with a differrent fundamental pitch; we speak of them collectivly as a family, and the fundamental pitch is nominative, eg, a Trumpet in Bb, a Horn in F, a C Clarinet. An experienced player with skill on one size of instrument can often play the others with similar skill, but is challenged to read for each of several instruments. One solution is the convention of transposed parts. One instrument of each family is taken as reference, all music for it is written at the sounding pitch. Music for other members of its family is written at a transposed pitch, so that when played as if it was the reference instrument, the notes produced will be as the composer intended, and the musician needs no change in reading skills. As an example, C Clarinets use music written at pitch. Music for a Bb Clarinet is written transposed up by a second so that the note read (and fingered) as 'C' will actually play as the 'Bb' the composer wanted. -=-=-= been a while since I read a list of which instruments employ transposed parts, maybe just simply list em and leave it at that. > the note whose wavelength is equal to the length the mathematical design of instruments is way beyond scope. The stuff of multiple doctoral dissertations when done up properly. End corections and all that. those who doubt me can go look up some of the literature - Benades several tomes of course, but also Cornelius J Nederveen, _Accoustical Aspects of Woodwind Instruments_ rev ed ISBN-13: 9780875805771. -- Dana Emery _______________________________________________ lilypond-devel mailing list lilypond-devel@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-devel
