>My guitar teacher, Aldo Minella, has an absolute ear , and I remember he was >suffering when he heard something not in tune, and by this I mean less than >5 commas difference ( books say human ear can't tell the difference below >5 commas, but I also met other musicians who could tell it , and I think I >have the same "problem"). I don't have an absolute ear, but I would say
I don't know what the usage in Italian is but so as not to confuse the English speakers - you probably mean "cents" and not "commas". A cent is 1/1200 of an octave (100 cents = 1 equal tempered semione). Most books on musical acoustics quote a threshold of 4 cents for human pitch discrimination. I don't remember what the basis is or whether anyone has tested to see if those who claim they can do better really can. One of the the perceptual clues that things are not in tune is beats between the overtones. If the beats become so slow (because the overtones are so close) that the period of the beat is longer than the note, that clue disappears. Comma is usually used to refer to discrepencies in pitches. The main one you are concerned with is the Pythagorean comma - 12 perfect 5ths and 7 perfect octaves "should" get you to the same note - but they don't: 12 perfect 5ths get you about 23 cents higher (~1/4 semitone) than the seven octaves. Temperament is the business of where to sweep the 23 cents under the rug. ...Bob PS: If anyone asks you "why temperament ?", the shortest answer is "2 to the N th power = 3 to M th power has no non-trivial solutions for integer N and M" If nothing else that should leave the questioner in stunned silence while you make your escape. :-) ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Replies: (remove the "ZZZZ") Ekko Jennings: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bob Clair: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
