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There's a ton of good information here, but it seems to assume a guitar or piano, where there's only one key or fretted space for each note. For a fretless str
by AlbertCory 4y ago
There's a ton of good information here, but it seems to assume a guitar or piano, where there's only one key or fretted space for each note.
For a fretless stringed instrument, they are indeed different notes, and the same note within a single piece can sound different depending on whether the line is moving up or down.
If that sounds heretical: I got this from the Alexander String Quartet, in the Q&A session after their performance. They have a measurement of microtones (I think they're called "clicks" but I forget), and all four of them have to agree on how many clicks up or down from the center of the note they're using.
- palimpsests 4y agothe unit of measurement is called a “cent”. there are 100 cents between each 1/2 step in 12-tone equal temperament.
- AlbertCory 4y agoThanks. I thought "clicks" didn't sound right.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- wizofaus 4y agoI find that a little odd when vibrato can be as wide as 70 cents (70% of a semitone) further up the fingerboard. It makes sense for certain chords in highly tonal music though.
- AlbertCory 4y agoThey coordinate that, too. I asked about the movie A Late Quartet (a great movie, btw, with the immortal Phillip Seymour Hoffman), and they said, "in the movie, they say 'our vibratos aren't lining up' and that's something I actually would say in a rehearsal."