3 ms·

Non-musician who taught himself all this stuff here, I feel your pain. That said, Abb isn't another name for G - it's a distinct thing which, when played on ty

Non-musician who taught himself all this stuff here, I feel your pain. That said, Abb isn't another name for G - it's a distinct thing which, when played on typical musical instruments, is played the same way as a G. Basically note names to note frequencies is a many-to-one mapping. If you want to understand the hairy details start by googling just vs equal temperament. But I went down that rabbit hole, and it hasn't made my procedural music any better, so I wouldn't really recommend it.

acjohnson55 9y ago
It's not a fixed mapping. It's more like a function that produces a mapping. It depends on the selection of: - A pitch standard, like A440, which anchors one arbitrarily chosen note to a specific frequency. - A tuning system, which defines the frequency ratios between notes. Almost all modern music assumes _A440_ and _12-tone equal temperament_. In 12TET, adjacent flats and sharps map to the same frequency. It's said that they are _enharmonic_. But there are many other systems where this isn't true. In _just intonation_, notes are defined by simple frequency ratios, and there is no enharmonicity at all. Every number of sharps and flats map to different frequencies.
- madhadron 9y ago
  Even this is not quite right. For keyboard instruments, that have a fixed set of pitches that notes map to, you have to choose a temperament, a fixed set of pitches for each note (unless you're on a clavichord, where you can adjust it a bit by how hard you strike the key). Fretted instruments may or may not be tempered. Guitars are, since the frets on it limit the pitch range of a given note, though it is still a range. Viols aren't, because the frets are soft gut and used to brighten the sound, so the pitch range is much wider for a given note. For string or wind instruments playing without keyboards, there is no temperament. Each note represents a range of possible pitches, and what pitch you choose depends on the notes around it. For example, if you are repeating or holding a note, you don't want it to change pitch. But if the harmony around that note is changing, it may be in tune at one point in time, then out of tune at a later one. String quartet playing involves a great deal of working out compromises about what pitch each note should have.
  - acjohnson55 9y ago
    Good point! I admittedly was writing this off as "performance details" of music written in a modern 12-tone paradigm, but you're definitely right that plenty of music is written specifically for ensembles with continuous pitch with those nuances in mind. See also, a cappella vocal music, particularly barbershop. Even for guitar, some players tune to favor particular chords shapes sounding maximally consonant, even though the frets are designed for 12-TET.
brooklyn_ashey 9y ago
its also about chord spellings within a context- how a musician, especially in a string quartet, thinks about how to play the note based on how it is spelled (eg is it the third, fifth, seventh or some extension of a chord?) the spelling tips you off to its context based on the key and other factors you feel but don't have time to contemplate when sight-reading.

acjohnson55 9y ago

It's not a fixed mapping. It's more like a function that produces a mapping. It depends on the selection of: - A pitch standard, like A440, which anchors one arbitrarily chosen note to a specific frequency. - A tuning system, which defines the frequency ratios between notes. Almost all modern music assumes _A440_ and _12-tone equal temperament_. In 12TET, adjacent flats and sharps map to the same frequency. It's said that they are _enharmonic_. But there are many other systems where this isn't true. In _just intonation_, notes are defined by simple frequency ratios, and there is no enharmonicity at all. Every number of sharps and flats map to different frequencies.

madhadron 9y ago
Even this is not quite right. For keyboard instruments, that have a fixed set of pitches that notes map to, you have to choose a temperament, a fixed set of pitches for each note (unless you're on a clavichord, where you can adjust it a bit by how hard you strike the key). Fretted instruments may or may not be tempered. Guitars are, since the frets on it limit the pitch range of a given note, though it is still a range. Viols aren't, because the frets are soft gut and used to brighten the sound, so the pitch range is much wider for a given note. For string or wind instruments playing without keyboards, there is no temperament. Each note represents a range of possible pitches, and what pitch you choose depends on the notes around it. For example, if you are repeating or holding a note, you don't want it to change pitch. But if the harmony around that note is changing, it may be in tune at one point in time, then out of tune at a later one. String quartet playing involves a great deal of working out compromises about what pitch each note should have.
- acjohnson55 9y ago
  Good point! I admittedly was writing this off as "performance details" of music written in a modern 12-tone paradigm, but you're definitely right that plenty of music is written specifically for ensembles with continuous pitch with those nuances in mind. See also, a cappella vocal music, particularly barbershop. Even for guitar, some players tune to favor particular chords shapes sounding maximally consonant, even though the frets are designed for 12-TET.

brooklyn_ashey 9y ago

its also about chord spellings within a context- how a musician, especially in a string quartet, thinks about how to play the note based on how it is spelled (eg is it the third, fifth, seventh or some extension of a chord?) the spelling tips you off to its context based on the key and other factors you feel but don't have time to contemplate when sight-reading.