Klarinet Archive - Posting 000334.txt from 2004/11

From: orm1ondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] pitch standard
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 16:03:58 -0500

Another aspect of pitch should be mentioned, at least:

There are documented 'illusions' wherein an irregular harmonic structure
fools the listener into mis-identifying a 'pitch' even though the
correct fundamental is present. There are also cases wherein the
listener responds 'correctly' to a sound's pitch even though fundamental
is missing --- that is, the upper partials supply sufficient clues.

Thus we should resist, to some extent at least, talking about 'pitch' as
though it was a single number.

I've wondered sometimes whether it's always fair to say that a person
"has no ear" when, in fact, the person's problem may be that he/she
can't exclude everything except the fundamental as they decide about the
pitch.

Perhaps Tony Pay's comment that two orchestras played simultaneously 50
cents apart, and it didn't sound as awful as he had expected, can be
explained this way in part at least?

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