Klarinet Archive - Posting 000605.txt from 1995/05

From: Donald Yungkurth <DYungkurth@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Thoughts and questions on weird keys
Date: Sun, 21 May 1995 00:07:41 -0400

I don't feel I have a great ear for pitch and I certainly don't have perfect
pitch. I've always felt at a bit of loss when the color or character of
various keys is mentioned, because I just don't hear it.

I've often wondered if this concept isn't a carryover from the days prior to
the use of the tempered scale. Before tempered tuning of keyboard
instruments, the key of C was tuned to be "perfect", F and G were good, Bb
and D a bit less perfect and Eb and A a bit further from perfection. More
remote keys became still less perfect. In this system of tuning, individual
keys had individual characters. String instruments could adapt to this
tuning, but they have the ability to adjust pitch to any tuning they choose.
Consequently, string soloists can probably color keys as they choose, if they
have the ear to tell the difference.

All of the fuss about Bach's Well tempered Clavier implies that the problem
of good intonation went away with the tempered scale. It may have provided
an acceptable compromise for keyboards, but it changed nothing for wind
players. Wind instruments are still stuck with the harmonic series of
overtones, but need to play in tune with scales based on equal temperment.
Once the tempered scale was accepted, musicians had to learn to eliminate
the idiosyncrasies of different keys to play in tune with equal temperment.
Because of all this, I feel that the color of the various keys is a
carryover of historical interest that has little meaning today with the
tempered scale as used in Western music. Whether or not it means more to
people with better ears than mine, I will probably never know.